The Sovereign’s parade marks the culmination of the year-long commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. It’s an entertaining spectacle, a monument to many hours of dedicated training and effort, but also a tremendous folly and a glittering example of misplaced precision - the ability to focus intently on the wrong thing.
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There is an implicit narrative about self-discipline in pretty much everything I’ve written about in these posts. With the turn of the year and with at least a couple of lbs of spare Christmas pudding hanging around my midriff, now seems a good time to be thinking about discipline and its role in chasing our goals and improving at the things we care about.
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The use of mirrors in ballet training has a long history, dating back to the eighteenth century. The idea is that the dancer receives immediate visual feedback and using this audience point of view, is able to efficiently develop technique and style.
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John McCrae was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Canadian Army. He had previously fought as a volunteer in the Boer War and at the outbreak of the First World War, aged 41 he volunteered again and served as a gunner and a medical officer. In 1915 McCrae took part in the Second Battle of Ypres – during the battle his friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was killed by a canon shell as he went to check on one of their artillery positions. He was 22 years old.
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Resilience is often described as a key characteristic of a tenacious and successful leader. Here our 4 best ways to build leadership resilience.
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This post is not about compliance as a legal or regulatory requirement. It is about compliance as an attitude that means ‘do as you’re told, no questions’, with followers and team members reduced to the status of drones. Leaders aiming for this sort of compliance are kidding themselves; it’s a sure sign of having your priorities wrong.
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In the early 19th century the Prussian military developed an innovation so sophisticated that it gave them and the German Military an advantage that lasted at least 150 years. It’s an innovation that’s just as relevant today and not just to the military because it contains within it many of the secrets for success for organizations coping with disruption, pressure and change.
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A great number of teams are basically shit. Most are average and a few realize their potential and become great. In a shit team most of the fundamentals are wrong. In an average team some of the fundamentals are wrong. In a great team the fundamentals are as solid as iron and guide everything the team does. Great teams result neither from alchemy or luck. In over 20 years of being part of every sort of team, here is quick flash of things I’ve noticed.
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The title may be humorous but the point is to reflect on some questions that might improve leadership. Even if hopefully none of these symptoms applies there is still a challenge to reflect on why there is so much poor leadership around and how we stop these behaviours taking root in those we have a responsibility to develop.
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African Wild dogs hunt in packs and rely for their survival and success on team work and collaboration. They adopt different hunting strategies depending on the prey and typically have a success rate of between 60 & 90 per cent – higher than any similar sized predators. Lions and hyenas typically average a success rate of around 25 per cent. Reflecting on what it takes to be an outstanding team player here are our ten rules:
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