Browsing Archive: February, 2009

Starting to Capitalize on Followership

Posted by Glenn Francis on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, In : Followership

About 3 years ago I took part in a "leadership" exercise. The exercise was designed to see who among a randomly thrown together group of people would emerge as a leader.

My group was about nine people strong. Most of them were above average height, athletic and had a military background. I on the otherhand have no military background (unless you count the Air Cadets), am shorter than average and not quite as fit as I should be. The activity was dubbed "team survival" the failure of which was i...

Really - What is followership?

Posted by Glenn Francis on Monday, February 23, 2009, In : Followership

I'm not sure what leadership is. Are you? In my quest to find a defintion I have come across some three hundred plus definitions, none of which have been very useful in helping me predict who in a group of teens or college grads will eventually rise to the top. It's easier to look at successful leaders in retrospect and say "Ah, so that's what it takes to be a leader". However, successful leaders come in all shapes, sizes and flavors, so for every "Aha!" moment I have on what a leader is, I h...

On Self-Leading Teams, Part 1

Posted by Glenn Francis on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, In : Self-leading cultures

In the summer of 2000 I was on a business trip in Bangkok. The hotel I was staying at seemed very nice .... the staff were friendly, the rooms were clean and the facilities well kept up. The hotel's motto at that time I was told was "Always the best for every guest." Imagine my surprise when at breakfast I discovered that my melon tasted a little off. Turning it over, I noticed that the shell had the telltale signs of mold. I took it over to one of the duty servers who told me I shouldn't wor...

Keeping it Simple

Posted by Glenn Francis on Wednesday, February 11, 2009, In : Communications

The year was 2001 and I was doing a guest speaker spot on presenting at a prominent foreign university. The speaking points were commited to memory, the slides and video were all prepared and I was superbly groomed. About two hours before I was to stand up and deliver I met with the event sponsor and his tech guys and did my best to walk them through the presentation. I had organized the talk into three "big buckets" covering style, content and impact. Each bucket had two or three subpoints.

I...

Common and Fatal Leadership Mistakes

Posted by Glenn Francis on Wednesday, February 11, 2009, In : Leadership

I had the privilege of attending as a guest a lecture by Warren Bennis. Anyone who has read anything about leadership and followership should have come across something by this "leadership leader".

At the lecture, he spoke on common and fatal leadership mistakes. I've posted the speech below ... the miracle of Youtube once again at work. Unfortunately for the time-pressed of us, the full lecture is over an hour long, so I'll blurb you on the the key points. I'd like those of you in the know to...
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Upcoming Challenges for Leaders

Posted by Glenn Francis on Monday, February 9, 2009, In : Leadership

A few years ago, I worked with a group of executives with a major consumer products company in Australia. As we started our planning activities I noted an interesting group trait that needed addressing before we could move on to more productive work. Whenever we would finish a session with an agreement, the individual members would leave and discuss matters again over dinner or in their offices. Sometimes the discussions were calm and rational, other times they were heated. The next morning h...