I was privileged to be on the first cohort of the MA Leadership at Henley Business School between June 2016 and April 2018. It was an amazing experience having the opportunity to study leadership and implementing my learning in my organisation. The biggest takeaway for me personally though was learning how to lead authentically, in…
Fragile – Resilient – Anti-fragile
We hear a lot about building resilience, whether that is in organisational systems or individuals. Resilience, in the dictionary is defined as ‘the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity’. For a person, it is defined as ‘the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness’. Resilience means knowing how to…
Friendship bracelets, necklaces and crowns
Lockdown has been a challenge for all of us. Those with children at school have had to double-up as teachers while finding time to do the day job at night. Whatever we have done has been achieved under exceptional circumstances. Annual appraisals have needed an approach to evaluation much like diving is marked in competitions:…
How to support healthy performance in a technology-based remote workforce?
We are all experiencing it: Remote working has advantages for integrating work and life demands but also creates challenges for health and performance. I like the flexibility of working from home but I miss my commute! The time to disconnect from work and some quiet time before taking charge of home life. I miss my…
Before, now, and after: The pandemic impact on working mothers
Mother’s Day was observed in the UK on Sunday, but one wonders: have working mothers in Britain many reasons to celebrate? In late January, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in the House of Commons: “We owe mums everywhere an enormous debt of thanks for doing the enormously difficult job of juggling childcare and work at this…
What a past presidency can teach us about the future of leadership
Rather uncomfortable – we as an active part of the Trump leadership phenomenon? A first uncomfortable thought. How much of the Trump phenomenon is in all of us, at work, in our leadership or community behaviour? Have you, at times, subordinated everything, including some of your values, to winning? A leisurely approach to accountability? Economical…
Trump’s pardons and medieval grants of mercy
In his final hours as American President, Donald Trump has made headlines by issuing pardons – but did you know the power has its roots in English history? Professor Adrian R Bell from Henley Business School and colleagues Helen Lacey (University of Oxford) and Andrew Prescott (University of Glasgow) explain. US President Donald Trump’s final…
Back to normal like before Covid-19? No way!
For managers, politicians, employees, friends “Back to normal” seems to be the new outlook after a first vaccine is out and more to come. Understandably many seem to be obsessed with normal in current times. Well, it is either normal or unprecedented. Did we really think this was normal and do we want to go…
Biden his time
My dear friend John Rishton has an aphorism: commentary is easy, leadership is hard. John has been there. He was CEO of two major international organisations and FD of another. He knows the truth of what he has said. The USA presidential election is demonstrating the validity of the principle. The airwaves are now buzzing…
#Coronavirus and the numbers that clarify or obfuscate
Dr David Pendleton, Professor in Leadership, Henley Business School, University of Reading In the pandemic, our lives are ruled and dominated by numbers, especially when they change unexpectedly. The number of cases, deaths, infection rates (R), and hospitalisations are meant to inform us about the impact of the virus on the nation’s health. The employment…
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