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One of the key elements of the Distributed Leadership is the concept of Sensemaking…which, simply put, is making sense of the environment in which we find ourselves. And it is one of the key elements, I would suggest, that is needed in an election campaign. When you think about it, it seems pretty logical that understanding the environment in which you find yourself  is pretty key to winning an election…what is the mood of the public, what is their state of readiness for change, what things are important to them etc. But the thing is, all sides of politics seems to be chronically bad at it….and I think part of the reason is their excessive fascination with opinion polls.

Now don’t get me wrong, opinion polls are no doubt a very valuable tool. But they are just that…a tool, and one of many ways of establishing an understanding of the circumstances they are facing. At the moment, however, they seem to be being used as the definitive answer to a complete understanding of the environment. Unfortunately good sensemaking is much more than that. Read the rest of this entry »

I think that the main element of the Sloan Distributed Leadership Model that we are going to see during the Australian election campaign is that of Visioning…this is what an election is after all, convincing people to vote for your vision of the future. As the campaign goes on though, there are a number of things you should look out for. But let me say first up that visioning, as a general rule, is not handled that well by anyone…politicians, business leaders, community leaders alike. It’s relatively easy to come up with a compelling image of the future…most people can do that…but convincing people to really buy in, especially for the long haul, is not so easy. And this is where the elements you should look out for come in.

Firstly a good vision is based on a core ideology…something that is central to very existence of the organisation. Core ideology is itself made up of two elements…core values (what you stand for)  and core purpose (what you do). The important thing about these elements is that they cut to the very core of the organisation, so they are not so much based on activities that you are currently involved in but on the philosophies you believe in. Read the rest of this entry »

So it’s finally happened…the Australian election has been called. Now we’ll get to see some leadership in action…maybe! It’ll be interesting to see how much real leadership comes out from either side…or how often leadership is put aside in the name of political expediency. I’ll be keeping an eye out!

I’m not sure exactly why I like this article by Peter Bregman so much…I’ve been trying to give it some context in my mind but I’m struggling a bit…and I’m not sure exactly how it applies to leadership either. Well I have some vague, not fully-formed thoughts about how it might but I’m finding it a little bit hard to articulate. So I’m just going to blurt some stuff out and leave you to connect whatever dots you choose do.

I think the idea of deliberately pursuing boredom to stimulate creativity is so simple and yet so inherently sensible. I like the way Bregman finds the positives in something we are all taught to avoid. As he says… Read the rest of this entry »

Well the dust has settled on the events of last week and the removal of the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is seeming more like a distant memory every day. It’s amazing how quickly we adapt isn’t it…it appears to be very much business as usual again in the political world. So now might be as good a time as any to reflect on the part the new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, played in the whole episode.

You only needed to have read the papers and visited the comment section of on-line articles  over the last week to see that there is a wide range of thoughts on the level of her involvement and the rights & wrongs of what she may, or may not, have done. While a lot of this has been focused on her ascension to ‘leader’ I think this is an interesting event to look at from the perspective of followership.

I think the first element of followership Read the rest of this entry »

I was going to write about the leadership issues facing Kevin Rudd over the proposed Resources Super Profit Tax….but a bit late now me thinks! A very sad event during the week because I personally have a lot of time for what he was trying to achieve. And I also can appreciate the personal devastation he and his family must be feeling…I think we forget that politicians, for all they might annoy us at times, are human beings as well.

The upside is that I think Julia Gillard is an extremely talented person who will do a great job. Not only has she been handed a good base of reforms on which to build but she has skills in the very areas that Kevin Rudd lacked…and which, it seems, led to his downfall. This will allow her, I believe, to successfully implement some of the reforms that Kevin Rudd was not able to.

So lets talk about the skills that Kevin Rudd lacked. Read the rest of this entry »

I think this is a really good example of the kind of thinking and leadership we need more of….and I’m not talking about my personal blog, I’m talking about the Robin Hood tax! Like it or loathe it, it is at least an attempt to look outside normal ways of thinking to find a solution to a problem. Inventing doesn’t need to be ground-breaking…it can be a new way of applying old ideas.

Check it out…..and have a read of my personal blog while you are there!

I do love it when things seem to be coming together. I know that I have banged on about the book Natural Capitalism to the point that you are probably being sick if it…but boy is it great when you see some of the concepts  being put into action. Check this out….a group called the Earth Economics have re-valued the lower Mississippi Delta in-line with the same kind of principles espoused in Natural Capitalism. It makes for interesting reading…and makes me feel really good that there are positive things going on.

Bob’s blog looks pretty interesting in general actually.

Hiya all

I’ve  added another page over at the website. This one is about the Sloan 4 Capabilities Leadership Framework. Head over and have a read…..http://www.clarksonread.com/articles.html

First up an apology if this entry is a bit rambling and all over the place. I have about a million ideas rushing around my head and don’t really want to censor them too much by worrying about little things like grammar and structure….I wonder how long before some of my students use that one on me!

I  was all set to publish an entry about Australia’s current Resources Super Profit Tax and then my mum stepped in and changed it all. To clarify, she didn’t edit the blog entry, she just gave me something else to write about instead. My mum is an amazing person, with one of the most unique minds I have ever encountered. I hold her accountable for the way my mind works…and works…and works…and never seems to bloody stop, even when I want it to! No, seriously, she is very much responsible for my outlook on life and the way I think about things. But she also bugs the hell out of me sometimes (sorry Rose! :-(……:-) ). Read the rest of this entry »