The biggest job in the world
On 20 January 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, the eyes of the world turned towards Washington for someone to resolve their problems. But how will history regard him? Stephen Walker looks at the signposts to Obama’s success or failure and the skills needed to […]
Should leaders keep away from playing politics?
Good leaders are politicians in the most positive sense of the word, says Keith Patching. They recognise that leadership is not about being right, it’s about being sufficiently influential to take people along with them – and ignore politics at their peril. “If it were not for the politics, we’d get along fine.”Is organisational politics […]
Managers see redundancy as ‘inevitable’
Managers across the UK have accepted their own redundancy as ‘inevitable’, according to evidence compiled by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Analysis of calls to the CMI’s redundancy hotline, combined with a series of polls*, shows that Britain’s executives have moved from ‘concern about job security’ to ‘preparing for a job hunt’. Against a backdrop […]
Is the recession hitting women harder than men?
According to the CIPD, it is being widely asserted that the current recession is hitting women harder than men and that this should influence government policy decisions in response to rising unemployment. However, Dr John Philpott, chief economist and public policy director at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), says that there is […]
LeadershipZone: Blanchard, Adair and Buzan together
There is a new addition to TrainingZone this month: LeadershipZone is up and running, and has immedately brought together three giants of leadership. There are not many places that could offer chance to talk with Ken Blanchard, John Adair, and Tony Buzan. But on LeadershipZone you can.Ken Blanchard, the guru of spiritual leadership, gives LeadershipZone […]
Video: Sir Michael Rake – Setting the right tone at the top
Every leader has a responsibility to set the right tone at the top, to live the values the company espouses, and to really lead by example – just repeating the rhetoric is not enough. A staunch advocate of responsible business, Sir Michael Rake, the chairman of BT Group, offers insights into creating a company culture […]
The language of leadership
The ability to speak well can mark the difference between leadership success and failure. Martha Leyton and Martin Shovel of CreativityWorks specialise in helping people in leadership roles become inspiring speakers – and they’re here to answer your questions. Question: I’m chief executive of a successful third sector organisation. Over the past decade we’ve grown […]
Barack Obama: The power & the glory
Surely there are few people on the planet who don’t know Barack Obama’s name? How did he achieve such global reach in such a short space of time, and – asks Penny de Valk – will his feel-good factor last? Barack Obama as a leader has captured the hearts and minds of the world. The […]
Setting aside childish things: A leader’s speech
As the eyes of the world were upon him, Obama maintained his composure and in his trademark compelling style, delivered a speech that will be refered to in the weeks, months and years to come. It was a moment frozen in time, akin to watching the moon landings – a moment, surely, our children will […]
L&D 2009: Survival of the fittest thinkers
Despite the challenging climate, Graham O’Connell believes that we should approach the next 12 months with hope and determination – and that if we are to thrive in 2009 we will require a combination of common sense tactics and fresh thinking. Just over a year ago I welcomed in 2008 with a half full glass […]
Trainer’s Tip: Change management exercise
Change management is no doubt going to be a hot topic for the uncertain year ahead. This simple exercise, from Jan Springthorpe, helps managers experience how it feels to have change inflicted upon them, and explore those, often uncomfortable, feelings. Here is a very simple exercise that I have used with great success. It assumes […]
Leadership the Obama way
As Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the USA, Gemma Middleton says that while we can’t all measure up to his style of powerful leadership, we can aspire to it. Leadership development, she argues, is the key to narrowing the gap. Politics often creates an audible groan when brought up in […]
Five key leadership tips for the rocky road ahead
Leadership is at the heart of our recovery. Here are five key points that I hope will help businesses to prosper in the coming year: Stay positive but recognise the reality of your situationObama’s campaign is the clearest possible demonstration of the power of positive thought – don’t allow negative thinking to overcome your business, […]
Are your presentations more Gordon Brown than Barack Obama?
As Obama fever grips the planet, we’re reprinting Alistair Macdonald’s look at how not to make a presentation, and what great leaders can learn from Gordon Brown’s lacklustre style. Gordon Brown is a glorified bean counter, as cold as the newts in my garden pond but with rather less charisma. This is not a political […]
Where Barack leads, others can follow
Suzanne Bates, the author of ‘Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act!’, reports from Boston, America on the Obama effect, and explains how business leaders can follow the president’s inspirational style. President-elect Barack Obama has demonstrated during the transition period that he intends to become both Chief Motivating Officer […]
Rise to the challenge
With most organisations facing tough trading in the year ahead, Nigel Paine explains how to rethink your L&D strategy for the economic downturn. I have just spent a week in Philadelphia teaching doctoral students on the world’s first programme that combines business with learning. It is the first course out of a business school (and […]
Free management and business training resources
With a potentially penny-pinching year ahead, we asked Cheryl Taylor to trawl the net for quality and cost-free training materials. She came up trumps with this guide to free management and business training resources. If we’ve missed any gems, post a comment below or send an email to news@trainingzone.co.uk Free Management Library Changingminds Reviewing Business […]
Opinion: How shiny are your goldfish?
Training often starts with a shiny, happy participant who is eager to learn – so why doesn’t the shine last, asks Bob Selden? He suggests that enlightened trainees that know how they learn best are empowered to continue fishing in the right places. A colleague of mine called Dennis Pratt once described training as ‘polishing […]
John Adair: The rise of the new leader
In the current turbulent times, strong and focused leadership is set to become more important, but how do we get there? Leadership development guru John Adair advocates a radical change in current thinking. Speaking to Louise Druce, he asserts that the 21st century leader needs to be a blend of Western, Eastern and tribal traditions. […]
Best read features of 2008
It’s that time of year when we reflect on the highs and lows on TrainingZone.co.uk in 2008. Here’s the list of what grabbed your attention most on site in the last 12 months. Most of the features in our top reads have been written by our own staff – experienced feature writers Louise Druce, Verity […]