Last month my mum passed away at the age of 85. Amidst the sadness and loss have been moments of light and encouragement as people have shared their experiences of who mum was. Despite their varied backgrounds, relationships and timeframes in which they knew her best, there are some key things people are consistently naming as qualities they appreciated about her. It’s at times like these that we reflect on a person’s impact in our lives and in the wider world.

As many prepare for Christmas we are conscious of the stark contrast between festive wishes of peace, hope and joy and the painful realities of life in so many parts of the world. This month we consider our response as leaders in times when we can feel powerless and remember that great change can be birthed in difficulty.

The news of the last couple of months has been dominated by the US Presidential election which, of course, has implications not just for those who live there but for many others around the world.  It is the inter-connected nature of the global world we live in that means that choices outside of our control can impact us all in profound ways. 

What's your reaction to the knowledge that one of your roles as a leader is to inspire others?

This month we are looking at what we mean by inspiration and, for those who may feel daunted by the expectation, how to make it more achievable.

“I couldn’t give up. I kept telling myself to smile, soak up the energy of the incredible crowds and just put one foot in front of the other."
- Rose Harvey

One of the stories from the Olympics that caught my (Andy's) attention was of Rose Harvey who was one of GB’s marathon runners.  She only finished 78th in a time of 2hr 51min 3sec, but the amazing thing was that she did so with a broken leg!  The question I ask myself is, where does someone get the resilience to do something like that?

“It’s better to have a great team than a team of greats.”
— Simon Sinek

The Euros were a tough watch for many English football fans who expected their team to live up to their potential as one of the favourites, finally putting to bed the near misses of recent years. Somehow, they made it through to the final without ever looking their best!  The challenge for England manager, Gareth Southgate, and pretty much all national team managers, is this: how to take a group of players who do not regularly play together and maximise the strengths they bring to their club teams whilst moulding them into an effective collective unit?

"The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear."
-Nelson Mandela

(I'm sure Nelson would have applied this to women too!)

Imagine standing at the edge of a platform 300ft above a rushing river with a bungee rope tied to your ankles. What’s your body doing in this moment? What thoughts are rushing through your mind? What factors help you to make that jump?

"It isn't the changes that do you in, it's the transitions."
 

Some commentators are calling 2024 the year of democracy.  With 40 countries and around 1.5 billion people going to the polls in 8 of the 10 most populous countries in the world, it will undoubtedly be the biggest year for democracy in history.

“There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas”[1]

How can we provide our introverted colleagues with the best opportunities to shine?

“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.”
Maimonides: Medieval Philosopher
 

Last week our new sofas arrived, after an embarrassingly long time of indecision! I (Ruth) have often wondered how something seemingly so simple and, in the grand scheme of things, so insignificant, can have taken such a ridiculously long time to make a decision about!

Culture, rightly, runs deep. It sits alongside our personality, character, passions and life experiences in making us the people we are. Our upbringing and formative experiences impact every area of our lives – the big things and the little things.

Anyone who agrees to compete in Strictly Come Dancing knows they are signing up to a season of intense discomfort.

So, why are celebrities desperate to throw themselves into the scary world of Strictly? 

At the beginning of November Storm Ciaran inflicted a lot of damage including flooding in the South East of England and many trees being uprooted.  In some cases, it took a lot of time to clear the debris and get back to normal.  Metaphorically speaking, storms can do a lot of damage to us mentally and emotionally when we have leadership responsibility.

“There’s no such thing as an expert leader.  Just like there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Leadership is a practice.  And we’re all students.”  

BBC Radio 4's recent programme ‘Does work have to be miserable’ identified meaningful work as one of the five key contributors to making people happy in the workplace.  A measure of mundaneness is perhaps inevitable, but if a role does not provide an overall sense of meaning and purpose then it will be pretty difficult for anyone to thrive whilst doing it.  

"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."

Simon Sinek - Start with Why : How great leaders inspire everyone to take action

As someone who enjoys cricket, I (Andy) was fascinated to see the reactions to England’s recent performances against Australia and the leadership taken by both the captain, Ben Stokes and the coach, Brendon McCullum. 

70% of team engagement is attributable to the manager. Helping managers do the right things would be a great step towards upping the engagement of teams. Is there value in ‘replacing’ managers with coaches?

Unconscious bias is when we make judgements or decisions on the basis of our prior experience, our own personal deep-seated thought pattens, assumptions or interpretations and we are not aware that we are doing it.

As Prince Harry explained in 2019, ‘the way you’ve been brought up, the environment you’ve been brought up in, suggests that you have this point of view – unconscious point of view – where naturally you will look at someone in a different way.’

In a study on authentic leadership undertaken amongst a broad range of leaders both in terms of age, experience, ethnicity, gender and the context in which they operate, no universal traits, characteristics, skills or styles were found[1].  Is that surprise to you?  It was to the team that conducted this research.  Instead, what they found was that each individual’s approach and style emerged from their life story and their experiences which were different person-to-person.  

Why is it that some leaders pass the baton of leadership to others with grace and dignity while others hold on to the reins of power for far too long?