By Ian Sampson If you are a TED fan it is quite likely you are one of the 6.5 million people who has seen Ben Zender give his talk on Music and Passion (Zender is, amongst other things, the Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra). The talk is a wonderfully inspiring piece about classical music. It also has […]
A Guided Walk For Leaders
By Ian Sampson A few months ago I published an e-book entitled: “Misleading Conduct.” It is about the dreadful things that poor leaders do to their people in organisations. If you are a subscriber to our Experientia newsletter you may have been sent a copy with our compliments. As with any work that describes something […]
Lessons On Leadership
By Ian Sampson I read a story this morning in Forbes magazine about a leader who failed to act when he saw a young woman abusing an older woman on a bus. What stopped him, when he knew he should or could have done something? He said it was self-preservation in the end that constrained […]
Understanding Cultural Imperatives
By Ian Sampson This post comes from Incheon, South Korea where I am working for a week using the Process Enneagram as a basis for consulting on a seemingly intractable problem. One of the key elements in the Process Enneagram, which underpins our Powerful Leadership in Action Program, is to uncover and understand contextual, structural and culture aspects […]
Leading Thought
By Ian Sampson I have a Google alert that daily gives new the new leadership articles on the web. It is fascinating to watch the ebbs and flows of thought about what works and what doesn’t in fostering new leaders or addressing issues with present leaders. From my reading of things the current thought seems […]
The Power Of More Than One
By Ian Sampson High profile leaders of the past and present have usually been great at one aspect of leadership and merely good to so so at several others. For example, George Bush was good at strategy in mobilising US citizens in the War on Terror but was pretty ordinary on fiscal responsibility, as witnessed by his $1.2 […]
New Thinking Is Required
By Ian Sampson One of the biggest issues that bedevils cause based organisations is surely: “How do we get the funds we need to deliver on our mission?” The traditional sources of revenue are increasingly difficult to access. The opportunities for generating new funding continue to be incremental rather than quantum leaps. The cost of […]
Leadership Inaction?
From Ian Sampson During my recent visit to Pakistan, my host at the Islamabad Club chuckled and said : ” Do you mean “Leadership In Action” or “Leadership Inaction?” “It has to be the first,” I smiled in reply. “Leadership Inaction” is an oxymoron. Leaders are sometimes still but their quietness should not be confused […]
Backword … On Misleading Conduct
From Ian Sampson The Misleading Conduct series started out as a few “notes to self” on leadership, based on my own experiences, as well as many years of observing and working with and for leaders in all kinds of organisations. As I shared some of these thoughts with friends, a kind of virtual conversation has […]
Misleading Conduct # 17: Make Day To Day Management A Misery For People
From Ian Sampson In a Wizard of Id comic I once read, the King saunters up to the sculptor chiseling away and says: “I want my new statue to remind the peasants of what I’ve done for them. What should I place in my hand a spear or a sword?” The last panel has the sculptor hanging upside […]
