2009 Leadership

Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all my visitors from around the World.

2008 has been a fantastic year on both a personal and professional level. My little boy Conor has changed my life dramatically, and positively. Watching him over the first fourteen months of his life has left me in no doubt whatsoever, that we are born without fear (except loud noises and falling!) and realise intuitively that failure is not an issue- we just need to learn from it and move closer to our dreams.

This is a message we all need to learn as we move into more challenging, yet rewarding times.

Yes – success is going from failure to failure with great enthusiasm as Churchill alluded to; as long as we take the learning points onboard that we accumalate along the journey.

2009 is without doubt the year for Authentic and Inspirational Leadership not just at Government and Corporate Level, but also at community and domestic level.

We need to realise that to transcend and move on from current circumstances, we too need to focus on the positives, upskill and build on existing relationships putting us in good shape when the market turns.

We need to take responsability at some level and commit to making a difference by also communicating positive, empowering messages. Words create reality and if we all started to substitute ” recession” for “challenge” or “opportunity to learn,” this new level of consciousness would change markets.

So take the lead in this respect.

Without doubt in 2008 there has been an abscence of real leadership from Governments and National Development Agencies – I look forward to this changing in 2009.

” We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde

In 2009 let us all look at the stars!

PS The start of 2009 will see a brand new look and feel website – enjoy!

Find out why so many have recruited him as a keynote speaker in Europe, Asia and the US.

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The two why’s of business?

Why are satisfied customers leaving?

Why are employees moving elsewhere?

Have you procedures in place to survey existing customers – both internal and external?
Probably more importantly, have you the will to learn from survey findings or do you take the insane route where you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result?

Find out why so many have recruited him as a keynote speaker in Europe, Asia and the US.

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Motivational Leadership

Are you doing what you want to do in your life? Or are you just blowing through? I’m challenging your life right now. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Would you take a trip around the world? Run a company? If you are not doing what you want, that’s where I want you to go. The week is about you doing what you want to do for every week of the rest of your life.”

Does it surprise you that these are the words of a very forward thinking CEO – Bill Watkins of Seagate at the start of their annual teambuilding event.

Find out why so many have recruited him as a keynote speaker in Europe, Asia and the US.

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Leadership Insight

“ We need everyone in this room to believe in the mission of the company and if they don’t, theres nothing wrong but you shouldn’t be here.”

Howard Schultz, CEO Starbuck – address to staff on January 07 2008

Find out why so many have recruited him as a keynote speaker in Europe, Asia and the US.

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New Leadership/Management agenda set by Irish research

340,000 Irish workers moved jobs in 2007, a Small Firms Association report has shown. This represents a voluntary turnover rate of 17%.

Thus having an effective strategy in place to retain employees is now a strategic imperative considering the mobility of the marketplace, and the high costs of recruitment – a strategy that needs to be more far reaching than just raising employees salaries. The latter will not be refused, but it only buys you time, not productivity or commitment.

Exit polls undertaken by the SFA give an insight into the profile of the new employee:

- 102,000 were unhappy with people.
- 85,000 felt contribution was not recognised.
- 68,000 because of lack of advancement.
- 47,600 because of salary.
- 17,000 were bored with their job.
- 20,400 for other reasons.

Honouring these results, Leaders must work on the following challenges:

Creating a community within the workplace – as mentioned on earlier entries research has shown that an employee is much more productive if he is working with friends.

Empowering employees to make a difference – as is the case in many forward thinking organisations allow employees time to pursue voluntary activities.

Creating a compelling vision that reflects their employees dreams, hopes and interests.

Developing their people – as technologies converge, they are fast becoming your only chance of a competitive advantage.  Training and development should be enshrined in the company culture, not just an optional extra offered sporadically. Part of this development should include feedback where the employees performance is constructively reviewed on a regular basis. Progress should be recognised and a structure should be put in place to help employees overcome any challenges eg working with mentor, training, whatever.

Find out why so many have recruited him as a keynote speaker in Europe, Asia and the US.

Continue reading this article »