Change is at the heart of leadership. And making a compelling case for change is essential. But what if people are happy with how things are, and don’t see the need for change? That’s the situation faced by British politician William Wilberforce and his abolitionist colleagues in the late 1700s,… Read More »Leading change: lessons from the abolition of slavery
The issue of gay marriage has once again brought gay rights back to the top of the political agenda. But Gus Van Sant’s brilliant Milk reminds us just how far society has come on gay rights in the last 30 years – and the struggle and sacrifice of some of those… Read More »Five ways how Harvey Milk can improve your leadership
With the release of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, interest in the famous American President has never been higher. In Lead like Lincoln, I highlighted five key leadership lessons I personally took from the movie. Many other writers have identified additional lessons, both from the movie and the man himself. Mark Crowley’s… Read More »More leadership lessons from Lincoln
Watching Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, it’s striking how little America seems to have changed politically in 150 years. Two diametrically opposed ideologies still lie separated by a narrow middle ground. Similarly, it’s distinctive how relevant Abraham Lincoln’s leadership is for our contemporary world. Here are five lessons from Lincoln’s struggle to… Read More »Lead like Lincoln: leadership lessons from honest Abe
Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this, ever in flesh and blood, walked upon this Earth. Albert Einstein Of all great leaders through history, there can be few to match the aura that surrounds Mohandas K Gandhi, the Indian spiritual leader and subject of Richard… Read More »Lead like Gandhi: one trait every leader should learn
A key aspect of leadership is to give purpose and direction. But it can also be about providing hope: hope that circumstances will improve, that this time things will actually get better and people will start to feel valued and fulfilled once again. It’s a message explored in the 1991… Read More »The leadership of hope: The Last Castle
With Olympic fever gripping the UK, it seems a good time to revisit Miracle, the 2004 film that depicts one of the great Olympic underdog stories. I was only 11 during the 1980 Winter Olympics, but can still clearly recall the elation of the US ice hockey team following their… Read More »Seven Olympic leadership lessons from Miracle
There aren’t many movies based on Powerpoint presentations. So it stands to reason that Al Gore’s slide show on climate change, the subject of An Inconvenient Truth, is just a little bit special. Gore shows that if you create a compelling story around an important issue, a presentation is as… Read More »10 ways to make your presentation memorable