A huge majority of CEOs worldwide (93%) say that sustainability will be critical to their company’s future success. Despite the recent economic downturn, leaders are more comitted to sustainability than ever before. These are the headline findings of a study among nearly 1,000 CEOs, business leaders, members of civil society and academic experts making it [...]
Read more...The Importance of Self-Reflection
September 15, 2010, by Stephan Polomski
My key finding: we as society execute excellent research based leadership studies, know about excellent theoretical leadership models and communication methods and consider best practice examples of leadership we observe or hear about. Out of history and current research, basically, our societies know everything valuable about this very topic. Our whole knowledge of how to [...]
Read more...Loyalty Matters
September 6, 2010, by Heinz Landau
Loyalty is a great strategy for employees, customers, managers and business owners. It maximizes economic and emotional value. We all know that the long-term success of any company depends upon the quality and loyalty of its people. Succesful organizations are built on relationships. It takes time to develop social bonds with our employees, our customers, [...]
Read more...Leading With Honesty And Integrity
August 28, 2010, by Heinz Landau
The ousting of Hewlett – Packard (= HP) Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd earlier on this month has been widely discussed in the business sections of newspapers and magazines all over the world. For those unfamiliar with the story, let me quickly recap the main points.
There was a claim of sexual harassment against Hurd by [...]
Driving Corporate Performance by Gender Diversity
August 17, 2010, by Stephan Polomski
Demographic studies forecast a sensitive shortage of technical experts and managers in Europe in the next years, latest from 2015 on. The need for top talent in natural science, technology and engineering shapes the structural frame in which companies in Europe start to rethink their recruiting and development strategies for human capital. All of a [...]
Read more...The Consequences Of Poor Leadership for BP
August 5, 2010, by Heinz Landau
The huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history, lifted the veil off BP’s leadership face. It brought to light an ugly picture of irresponsibility, insincerity and non-caring leadership.
Over the years, the meaning of the abbreviation BP has changed. Originally standing for British Petroleum, the company came up [...]
A New Class of and for Leaders
July 26, 2010, by Stephan Polomski
During a recent leadership training running for four days I asked myself as a participant once again the everlasting question what leadership is? We were trained to function in a framework of conflicts and to serve existing structures with its rules and paradigms. The training dealt pragmatically with the cruelty of today´s business and showed [...]
Read more...Intercultural Awareness – A Crucial Part Of Caring Leadership
July 16, 2010, by Jennifer Rustige
Thailand is beautiful and so are its people. They are beautiful for their gentle and kind way to treat each other, for their sensitivity, for their smiles and for their mindfulness not to hurt each other. All these wonderful attitudes on the other hand are frequently causing many challenging situations in the field of leadership whenever the Thai and Western culture are supposed to form an effective unity. What are the reasons for this and why is caring such an important part of leadership in Thailand? Here is some insight into intercultural awareness and its implications.
Read more...Three Leadership Lessons To Be Learned From Germany’s Football Coach
July 6, 2010, by Heinz Landau
The German football team has so far (we are at the semi final stage when I am writing this blog) clearly shown the best performance of all countries participating in the FIFA world cup in South Africa. The fast-paced style of attacking football that Germany has displayed in recent weeks can only be compared with [...]
Read more...Focus, Consensus, and Trust by Performance Management
June 28, 2010, by Stephan Polomski
These days, talking about performance management, I am wondering if the performance management system most of us know and practice is the right approach in order to foster high and excellent work outcome within the strategy channel. In many cases it comes with a management by objectives checking strategic fit and a behavioral part checking [...]
Read more...Strenghts-Based Performance Management
June 16, 2010, by Heinz Landau
The annual or semi-annual performance review is hardly an event to look forward to. Often enough, employees are scared, sometimes they are afraid of being treated unfairly. Even as the manager, you are not looking forward to the performance management review session. The process is often over-complicated and a comprehensive form has to be filled [...]
Read more...The Dark Side of Care II
June 7, 2010, by Stephan Polomski
For me, care is a difficult notion. Karl Popper said: “The attempt to make heaven on earth invariably produces hell.”
Where does care begin, and where should it stop? When do we talk about care, and when are we dealing with business? Is it possible to care, when we are aiming at profit maximization? And are [...]