Anybody who knows me, knows that I am a Liverpool supporter through and through. My firstborn and eldest son, once the the name ‘Liverpool’ had been roundly condemned at the time of his his debut some 24 years ago (still can’t understand the rejection), was eventually named Keegan. Enough said. This week Liverpool manager Rafa [...]
Departing for Beijing
I am about to board a flight to Beijing where I will be involved in the Global Leaders Conference (GLC) together with Graeme Codrington (TomorrowToday/ UK) and Nick Barker (Director of the Asia Pacific Leadership Program). I will be presenting on ‘Rethinking Strategy’. Looking forward to this trip – one which always yields wonderful insights, [...]
INVITATIONAL LEADERSHIP – a Model for the Future
Introduction: Proposing future models is always going to be a risky business. Of course, get it right and one is potentially elevated to “guru” status and placed among the Nostrodamus and Faith Popcorn’s of the world. British management writer / broadcaster / economist, Charles Handy has said that we need to expend energy attempting to [...]
Dear Yves…a Conversation Around Values
Following a presentation on Invitational Leadership at a two day workshop for senior leaders at a prominent multi-national, the CEO of the company and I engaged in a chat about values and the role they play in a company. He invited me to email him some thoughts around the four values his company had framed. [...]
Learning Leadership: Change Needed!
Traditional leadership learning programmes are in need of revision. In spite of a massive emphasis and investment in leadership education, the return on this investment has often disappointed. This in part can be explained by traditional models of developing leaders not keeping pace with the rapidity and complexity that characterize the context in which leaders [...]
Trust Matters
In a technological age of instant, easy and cheap communication speaking to one another has never been easier. Why, just in a few hours I am scheduled to be in a skype conference call that links Hong Kong, Boston and Durban! So although it has never been easier to connect, knowing who to connect with [...]
The Hidden Work Leaders Need To Do
Kurt Lewin’s well known maxim states: There is nothing so practical as a good theory. Most leaders I know, when it comes to leading people are somewhat thin when it comes to the theory side of things. Most lead others based on their own experience of having been led – where often the, ‘how not [...]
From the Balcony?
Ron Heifitz of Harvard makes the distinction between the ‘dance-floor’ and the ‘balcony’. For leaders, being on the dance-floor is often more inviting and comfortable than being on the balcony. Why? Well, it was on the dance-floor where they first got noticed; it is on the dance-floor where they excelled; it is on the dance-floor [...]
Keith in China
The 2010 Global Leaders Conference has been relocated to Beijing (from Shanghai) and promises to be the best yet. This will be the third edition and has seen this event grown from strength to strength. The conference brings together a diverse group of participants including those from both the corporate world as well as the [...]
SLI – Strategic Leadership Intelligence
The Strategic Leadership Intelligence programme is an exciting new initiative and collaboration between Graeme Codrington, Pete Laburn and Keith Coats. All of us are heavily invested in several current local and international leadership education programmes run through leading business schools; All of us are concerned that much of constitutes current leadership education is missing the [...]


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