A note to young leaders. Flattery is OK … unless you inhale. And the best way to avoid inhalation is to laugh. Legend has it that prior to delivering a speech to an American university, Winston Churchill was introduced with hyperbolic praise. Churchill ambled to the lectern, paused theatrically, then declared in his polished British […]
A note to young leaders. Selfishness is loneliness, by definition. Greed is a one-way street – and a dead end. So if you’re driving on it, don’t idle. Drive fast. The sooner you turn around, the better. Take the exit called “Contribution”. It doesn’t take you back to where you started. It’ll take you somewhere […]
A note to young leaders. If you’ve ever been written off as a loser or a has-been, remember the story of Mr 18%. In 1988, John Howard – then Opposition Leader – was mocked on the cover of The Bulletin magazine under the headline: “Mr 18%. Why on earth does this man bother?” The jibe […]
A note to young leaders. School and university are great training grounds. But life – and business – differ from them in one fundamental respect. In school, you’re given a problem. Your task is to solve it. In life, you’re given a blank sheet. Your first and most important task is to decide what problem […]
A note to young leaders. Each morning, the vast majority of human beings rise and promptly don an overcoat of worries, regrets, strivings and sorrows. It calls to mind a Beatles lyric: “Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight, carry that weight, a long time.” But we are not our overcoats. If only we realised that […]
A note to young leaders. Be loyal to people and principle, not to companies and corporations. Companies are legal fictions. People are real. People remember. Companies forget. In 1999, as I wrestled with the question of whether – and when – I should leave Macquarie, I sought the wise counsel of the late John Caldon, […]
A note to young leaders. A young man in Buenos Aires once swept the floors of a chemical lab by day and worked as a nightclub bouncer by night. That man would one day become Pope. When Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis, his first act was to return to his hotel, pay […]
A note to young leaders. If you’re ready, don’t wait for permission to stake your claim. In 1985, an unknown designer named Tommy Hilfiger made his debut with a bold billboard towering over Seventh Avenue in New York City. It read: “The 4 great American designers for men are: RL, PE, CK and TH.” Most […]
Read More… from Stake Your Claim: Why Waiting Isn’t Leadership
A note to young Christian leaders. Christianity is not a noun. Christianity is a call to action. It’s no accident that the book chronicling the early Church is called “Acts”. In the parable of the good and faithful servant, God does not say: “Well said”, “Well intentioned” or even “Well prayed”. God says: “Well DONE, […]