Category: Leadership

Fashion & Retail, Leadership

Tom Ford’s top tips to build a Fashion Label

| CEO Mentoring|Leave a comment
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We want to share a very business insightful article from VOGUE AUSTRALIA and journalist Julia Frank on Tom Ford’s top advice on building a Fashion Brand. With our Mentors and Subject Matter Experts, we understand, live and breath Fashion and Retail every day. You have below and in the article from Vogue a great  summary that will make your investment in time and money very profitable indeed. If you need more help, guidance and support or just operations expertise, send us an email or connect on social media such as Twitter. 1. “Trust your instincts when it comes to design.” 2. “Never sell a controlling interest in your name. Ever. Ever.” 3. “Decide for you if fashion is an art or an artistic business. This will affect how you set up your company.” 4. “If your president or chief executive officer thinks they know the difference between dark burgundy and…

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Leadership, My Professional Growth

The Loneliness in Leadership

| Peter Lund|Leave a comment
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  When we speak of “leadership” most people unsurprisingly think of CEOship. The reality is that although CEOs are certainly leaders, there are other leaders in the organisation apart from the CEO. Every person who has the responsibility for other people, is a leader of those people, regardless of where in the organisation they find themselves. The CEO is the leader of the entire organisation, but the field supervisors, for example, are responsible for, and the leaders of, the people and functions under their control. A leader is frequently very lonely in the role – not because they don’t have people to talk to, but because they can’t say certain things to certain people. This is not about “friendship” but about effectiveness. Everybody wants to be friends with the leader – it feels nice, it empowers the friend, and it strokes the ego – and that’s all OK and fairly…

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Leadership

How to survive in a large firm? The 10 Laws for Success.

| Jack Jacoby|Leave a comment
management-ceo

I have had the opportunity of experiencing and observing corporate life and culture from within the organisation as a manager, CEO and board member; and from the outside looking in, as an advisor, consultant, researcher, shareholder and observer. I have thus been able to reflect on the operations and effectiveness of corporations and organisations in the for-profit, not for-profit and government sectors; and on the people within those organisations. In that context, I am firmly convinced that to survive and ‘prosper’ (from a career perspective) in an organisation, one needs to understand the corporate context in which the ‘game is played’, and be competent in the ‘playing of the game.’ I am of the view that people within larger organisations who have career aspirations within or beyond those organisations, need to practice the 10 Laws of Corporate Survival. 1. Non-Existence of a Cultural Vacuum. Understand that the organisation is not…

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Leadership

Trusting Management …

| Paul Griffiths|Leave a comment
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Much has been written about the loss of trust in management. These discussion almost always deal with the loss of ‘trust from below’ – i.e. trust by employees or subordinates of senior management. What they don’t deal with is the loss of ‘trust from above’ – i.e. the loss of trust by the board and shareholders in management. Causes for this include management: Setting expectations and failing to deliver. Saying things that are later demonstrated to be false. Withholding part of the ‘truth’. Only putting one side of the argument for an initiative proposed by management. Pursing initiatives that only management will personally benefit from (i.e. establishing KPIs when those KPIs are the basis of management’s remuneration.) Pursing personal gain ahead of corporate gain. Sabotaging initiatives that benefit shareholders ahead of management (e.g. golden parachutes, etc.). Promoting colleagues beyond their competency. Allowing risks and problems to remain unresolved beyond necessity….

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Leadership

The cancer of Management

| Thierry Bayle|Leave a comment
management

Today with Jack, as corporate advisors, we have met and dealt with hundreds if not thousands of managers at all levels of the organisation over a total of 60 years between us. When we reflect on them and their performance, and despite their general desire to perform well for their employer (and its shareholders), we can’t help but hold an uncharitable view of the management community. 1. It is the rare manager indeed, who will welcome attitudes and opinions that flag dangers to the organisations. By implications, those negative opinions might create a perception of that manager as lacking skills because they should have identified and dealt with the issue or danger themselves. It is a threat to the manager and will in most cases be rejected by the manager. Consultants who ‘tell it how it is’ experience this all the time. The consultant or advisor might be blamed for not…

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Leadership

Champions, Change Agents and Change Advocates

| Jack Jacoby|Leave a comment
change management - your success as a ceo with mentoring

Champions, Change Agents and Change Advocates are people within the organisation who are knowledgeable about a change initiative, who promote and support it, and with whom employees and stakeholders can direct their questions and concerns. They form a bridge between the change initiative (and its management team) and the organisation, and are an important conduit for communication in both directions. Each Champion, Change Agent and Change Advocate may be assigned to a part of the organisation (or stakeholder group) with which they have familiarity and where they are well regarded and respected. Why is this important? The Champion (or Change Agent, Change Advocate) are essentially the face of the project. Over time it’s common for people who work with the Champion to directly approach the Champion with issues, concerns, advice etc. Such dialogue is encouraged as it assists the project understand the temperament and responses of the business in a…

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General Information - Miscellaneous, Human Capital, Leadership

Relax – It’s Friday

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We live in a serious World however, once in a while, we need to relax and laugh. Apart from giving you a little break, we wish the Friday video to open your eyes on a new way to see things. We want the video to bring critical thinking. 1. Check this video and see how a Cafe in the USA  (Roanoke Coffee Shop) decided to make a difference in our world. He decided to tackled in a very unique creative way rude people who would forget to say “hello” or “please” when ordering their favourite coffee. Viral at its best! 2. We hold no shares in the business featured in this video however it shows very well communication challenges inside this organisation. How do you communicate? How do you make sure your Team understands the message and knows how to apply it? Does the message produce the expected results? Our…

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Contribution from Subject Matter Experts (SME), Leadership, Minimising Risk, My Professional Growth, Top questions to ask

How to tell if you need a Mentor?

| Jack Jacoby|5 Comments
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People often assume that leaders automatically come up with the right answers because of the position they hold. The thought is that “they wouldn’t be leaders if they didn’t come up with the right solutions most of the time.” One would like to think so, but the reality is different. The leader of a business or organisation on Monday morning, may have ‘only’ been an executive last Friday. On Friday, they were good, perhaps very good, but not perfect. How did they become perfect over the two days between subordinate and boss roles? Leadership is as much about learning, evolution and personal growth as it is about the innate skills of leadership. The reality is, they didn’t. One of the ways that the gaps in skill, experience or world-view can be filled is by using a suitable mentor to assist the leader contemplate and make key decisions. A mentor should…

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