KeithCoats – Leading through the Storm: Four Things Leaders need to do

The year was 1929, it was towards the end of the third quarter and everything seemed fine. The promise of economic prosperity beckoned and optimism was at an all time high, especially in the United States. The steady building wave of optimism had led to an orgy of speculation and the belief that the beast that is economic crisis had been caged and mastered once and for all. The proliferated through numerous books and articles on the wisdom of the science of business management was offered as the Master of the beast.” We are apparently finished and done with economic cycles as we have known them” said the president of the New York Stock Exchange in September of that year..

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BarrieBramley- A New Contract is being Born

The 1990’s were characterised by much change. Political, Social, Environmental and Business. On a business front the most significant was possibly the destruction of the employee/employer contract. An understanding that had served both parties well for many years, was destroyed.

Until the 1990’s the advice most people received from their parents was, “Get a job in a big company, stay there, and work your way to the top.” This advice was built on an understanding that most companies offered security (in the form of long term/life time employment) in return for loyalty (you literally became the company man or woman once you stepped through the office doors).

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CollinSmith – Book Review – Talent is Never Enough by John C Maxwell

I recently read a book titled ‘Talent is Never Enough’, written by John C. Maxwell. In this book the author emphasises the truth that talent is often overrated and frequently misunderstood. A common error made by people standing on the sideline, is accrediting an individual’s great accomplishments to talent alone. The book reminds us that this view is, in most cases false and misleading. After all, if talent alone were enough, why are there so many talented people who are not highly successful?

Business leaders the world over are obsessed with the term talent, many of these leaders think talent is the answer to all of their problems. Author of ‘The Tipping Point’ and ‘Blink’, Malcolm Gladwell, notes that many companies and consultants put finding people with talent ahead of everything else. Gladwell believes this talent mindset is the new orthodoxy of American management.

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CaseStudy – Building a Culture of Cooperation and Leadership in a Private Bank – Creative Communication

CLIENT: A leading private bank with 3.95 million clients in South Africa and the UK

PROBLEM:

* Difficulty in connecting with people across the generations

* Management wanted more spirit and unity within the organization

* Low morale, high staff turnover and resistance to change.

SOLUTION:

* The client wanted creative, relational solutions that were different to those offered by other consultancies.

* TomorrowToday acted as a source of innovative and cutting-edge ideas

* Created a variety of programmes that were customized around the client’s style.

These included:

1) Interactive story circles to assess employees’ perceptions of culture

2) Facilitation and design of training workshops

3) Presentations at conferences and workshops

4) TomorrowToday created a game using the format of a popular TV game show to improve morale and educate staff.

5) Designed themed podcasts and audio CDs with a mentoring application.

Topics included diversity, gender issues, generations and corporate social responsibility.

RESULTS:

Managers noticed staff were more positive, inspired and enthusiastic

Morale and unity improved

Improved product knowledge

TomorrowToday was placed on a retainer for 2 years as the client saw the tangible benefits that were added.