Coronal Leadership

The Covid Learning Curve.  

Global leaders have hardly emerged as role models in recent months. Most started with denial, moved on to panic and then shifted to blame. These are not qualities that turn up in the leadership lexicon. They are more like examples of what leadership is not.

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Handling Difficult People

Focus on the problem, not the person

Difficult employees are hard to deal with. Some have niggling issues for which no solution seems apparent. Management is slow to react. The situation festers. The politics around it grow complicated.

In most jurisdictions there are clear-cut rules for dismissible offences. More challenging are people who are simply ‘difficult’. They may be chronically late, disrupt team efforts, indulge in excessive politics, be rude and aggressive, or passive and non-compliant.

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Beware the Big Wins

Successful learning

Recently published research suggests smiling excessively in victory can lead to defeat in the next round. 

There may be something to it. The results, yet to be widely repeated, touch a nerve. I do know that in business the after-effects of a big win can be dangerous.

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Leading from alongside

Do nice guys always finish last? 

Some do. I know a few who have, and plenty who have come first. I also know not-nice people who’ve done well and many who’ve failed.

That’s the trouble with cliches. They rest on a few examples but rarely on solid evidence. 

There’s also the issue of definition. What’s ‘nice’? Is it polite and supportive, or just people-pleasing? What about ‘humility’? Does it mean humble and meek, or being comfortable with who you are?   

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So what if there's a recession

Coping with cyclical inevitability. 

Forecasts of recession are common this time of the year. Trawl through the financial press and you’ll see all sorts of gloomy predictions. Most will be wrong. Forecasters don’t have a great track record. Research shows barely 15% of them will get it right. 

Should we worry?

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