Leadership is most needed now than ever before. More and more stories are spreading of organizations that are being sued for misconduct, and paying millions of dollars to settle these cases against them for hurting people in their markets. According to the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) workplace misconduct has gotten worst over the years. In 2012 CNBC even released a statement that Fortune 500 companies were doing far worst than the average in America in terms of misconduct. In terms of international relations, animosity and tension has been building up and this has been seen in the numerous wars that have been waged and in the cold wars that have been silently brewing between countries. So what can we do about it?
A negative business culture is like a black hole it swallows everything good about the company.
Culture is one of the most important aspects of a business, if not the most important. Yet, it is unfortunately often overlooked, although many companies claim it is not.\
Imagine the performance of a company where its mindset, values, and behaviours contradict its aspirations and the image it tries to portray in the market!
Dysfunctional culture leads to mediocre products and services that lead to dissatisfied customers...and eventually to the demise of the business.
-Michael Kouly
“Don’t just ‘work’, make life happier.”
There are people who work mainly to get to the money. There are others who work to build a career. And there are people who regardless of money and career, work to create value that makes the life of others happier. Of course money is a factor in all three scenarios but the point is about the main psychological drive for work.
People are yearning for freedom. Liberate them to their greatness. That's leadership, even more, that's love.
There is that little voice inside. The one that says, tomorrow I will be better. Tomorrow I will be stronger. Tomorrow my life will be different. People keep waiting for life to happen to them… Time passes… And they still have that little voice, that longing for something more.
Leadership, is about recognizing that need in everyone and helping them gain the courage to follow that voice TODAY. It’s about making them realize that there will always be doubts, but if they don’t start somewhere, they will always stand still. It requires patience and care for someone to recognize the untapped potential in each and every individual. Leadership is not easy, it requires many virtues and more than anything else, LOVE.
"Authority is about creating stability. Leadership is about creating purposeful instability."
We authorize people to manage our lives so we live smoothly and relaxed. But over time this could turn into enabling dependency, apathy, routine and boredom.
Leadership is about kicking us out of stagnant and boring stability and creating an exciting mess that challenges our minds, and uplifts our hearts and souls.
What can you do to break the routine? To inject more excitement in your life? Do it now.
When you fail to succeed, succeed in failing.
I am sure that this will not come as a surprise to you, but you will not always succeed. There will be times when you have tried so hard and been so persistent, only to realize at the end that nothing of what you wished for came to fruition.>
But life is not about succeeding all the time. In fact, if you have never seriously failed than most likely, you have never really put yourself out there or done something of true significance. Everyone fails (learns by experience). Yes, you do too. The key is whether you are going to take failing with elegance and as a lesson to grow and learn from or are you going to huddle away into your personal hideaway, never to try again?>
-Michael Kouly>
If you do not educate your employees because you are scared that they may leave you, you will end up with mediocre employees and a dying business.
Classical authority seeks to create dependence, often because it is too scared to actually let its employees thrive and possibly threaten its supremacy. Leadership is about creating independent employees who can act with autonomy, mastery, purpose and a sense of ownership of the organisation.
If a business is as good as the people who conduct it, then investing in the education and training of the team is actually an investment in the quality of the products and services that the business offers its clients, who keep the business alive.
-Michael Kouly
"Care is the driving force of leadership." - Michael Kouly
The core of leadership is care.
It is care that will make you accept the sacrifices that are required to mobilize people.
LEADING THE PACK:
WHAT IT TAKES TO LEAD IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Are leaders made or are they born? What makes a truly inspiring manager, executive, CEO or politician? What is needed to create a healthy work environment? As President and Founder of the Beirut-based and world-renowned Cambridge Institute for Global Leadership, Michael Kouly is singularly well-placed to address the issues at the heart of leadership. Some of his answers may even surprise you.
