Many research studies provide evidence of the impact of culture on leadership. For example, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness study or GLOBE, one of the most extensive comparative leadership research projects, has recently shown that while ideal characteristics are the same in all countries, some leadership styles are endorsed more in some cultures […]
Read More… from Global Leadership: One Size Does Not Fit All
Imagine a cellist, taking on different roles depending on whether he/she is playing with a quartet, a chamber orchestra, or a full orchestra. Today’s leaders are not dissimilar; they come together in different arrangements to undertake most of an organization’s decision-making. These groups of leaders, or ‘ensembles’, debate changes in their company’s direction, or draw […]
Read More… from Leadership Ensembles: 4 Blueprints for Senior Decision-Making
Sunk cost bias has been blamed for everything from disastrous military campaigns to over-budget public works and is widely acknowledged as a serious obstacle to effective decision-making. Defined as the “tendency to continue an endeavour once an investment in money, effort or time has been made”, it leads people to “throw good money after bad” […]
Emotional intelligence — the awareness and understanding of emotions — has a variety of workplace applications and benefits. Leaders who perceive and relate to the emotions of those they direct are going to be seen as more caring and understanding leaders. Leaders who can better manage their own emotions will also develop more positive relationships […]
The KSV plastics company is in trouble. A myopic cost control program has created supply chain and production problems and made it difficult to deliver orders on time and to acceptable standards. One of its best customers, Avobus, looks likely to ‘walk’. Managers are working themselves into the ground to keep the business afloat – […]
Read More… from The Surprising Reality of the Leadership of Change
Most leaders now recognize (at least theoretically if not always in practice) the ineffectiveness of the old school top-down, command-and-control leadership style. The knowledge worker of the information age is not going to be satisfied with simply obeying orders from above. The best managers avoid micromanaging their employees, giving them instead the freedom to make […]
Read More… from When Allowing Decision Latitude Can Backfire
In a classic Harvard Business Review article published in 1981, Harry Levinson said “managing others… creates unending stress… Today’s managers face increasing time pressures with little respite.” Levinson’s view is not unique; in fact, leadership is still widely viewed as highly stressful. A 2013 Business Insider article describes being a CEO as an “incredibly lonely […]
Read More… from Leaders Less Stressed than Followers Due to a Sense of Control
In Aristotle’s great work the Nicomachean Ethics, happiness (eudaimonia) is not a feeling so much as a state — and a state with a distinctly moral dimension. Synonymous with ‘living well and acting well’, it arises from being part of and being active in a social life and a political community, and it originates in […]
Read More… from Aristotle, Ethics and the ‘Art’ of Leadership
The ‘nature v. nurture’ debate has been around for centuries, argued over by psychologists, sociologists and the like; the business world has not escaped from it either. Whether leaders are born or made has formed the crux of numerous studies, most swaying one way or the other. However, NUS Business School’s Dr. Richard Arvey puts […]
A growing number of studies in both the field and the laboratory demonstrate that people are imperfect co-operators — they tend to co-operate only if others do so, and a significant minority don’t co-operate at all. This pattern of behaviour causes unstable co-operation levels and often results in the disappearance of positive collective action over […]
Read More… from Co-operative Behaviour: Neuroscience Insights
