Moments
With
Marty

The board of directors is increasingly seen as the accountable body for ensuring ethical, responsible behavior from companies. But we still seem to be witnessing some pretty spectacular failures in corporate governance. To me, this isn’t at all surprising. The board has very little influence over what the management team does on a day-to-day basis. […]

What if your people knew exactly what to expect from you? What if they understood your style, the objectives that drive you, and the things you value the most? Most of us never give our people a window into these answers, and they have to learn what we expect largely through trial and error. I […]

I’m a big believer in avoiding the problems that inevitably emerge when you become too isolated, or spend too much time cocooned in your own little world. I’ve seen lots of companies lose their grip on reality, becoming inefficient and uncompetitive. That’s why I think it’s incredibly healthy to bring ideas and people in from […]

Collaboration is one of the big buzz words of 21st century leadership. It’s almost as if we’ve had a huge awakening about the need for people to exchange ideas, and work together to achieve a common outcome. I hate to be a Scrooge, but this is one of the core principles that underpins the theory […]

Conventional wisdom tells us that we have to put people before profits… that if we look after our people, they will look after our customers, and the business will thrive. Anyone who has the temerity to disagree with this sentiment exposes themself as an uncaring, self-interested sociopath… which, in turn, serves as a reminder to […]

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is often summarized as: the survival of the fittest. But, in fact, Darwin’s conclusion was that those who survive aren’t necessarily the fittest – they are the most adaptable. As a leader, one of your most valuable characteristics is your capacity for change. Change is constant. But many of us […]

We talk a lot as leaders about how to give feedback, and it takes many years of experience to actually get good at it. What we don’t talk about nearly as much is what to do when we’re on the other side of the table!  Receiving good quality, helpful, accurate feedback is essential if you […]

Being right Isn’t everything – it’s just a good start. I came up with this expression many years ago when I worked with an incredibly intelligent executive who struggled to get the outcomes she should have been able to easily achieve. She just couldn’t get buy-in from the people she led. Many leaders like to […]

Everyone thinks they know how to negotiate. Let’s face it, our negotiating skills are honed from birth, as we tussle with our parents to try to convince them to do what we want them to. We learn from a position of low power how to influence someone with greater power. Despite this, I learned a […]

More and more leaders are telling me that they’re totally burnt out. The factors behind the increasing levels of work stress are many and varied – burnout is a complex issue, and it’s become a really hot topic in the last couple of years. I’m pretty confident, though, that if you apply a couple of […]