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Dear Ann,
After a winter staring at bare branches, I'm
delighted to see the sycamore outside my window sporting
bright new leaves. The apple blossom is out, the cherry
blossom has been and gone, and the bluebells are so
early I've included some choice Yorkshire ones
here.
Our themes this month, vision and ego,
might seem a bit disconnected. However, the potential
for egos to derail the bigger vision is so great that
Susan Debnam's book is a timely addition to any
leadership library.
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Why have a vision? |
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Over the past three months or so I've been
working with a client company to refresh its
vision. There has been a lot of discussion about
what that vision should be, and what it can do for
the organisation over the coming
years.
Going off for a country walk is a
well worn metaphor, but still useful. Are you out
for a gentle stroll and to find out more about the
surroundings? Is your intention to test your
skills in difficult terrain? Are you aiming to
take stunning landscape photos?
Depending
on your answer, you might just drive (or get a
bus) to a starting point and set off, or you might
go armed with a large scale Ordnance Survey map, a
compass, a back pack full of camera kit and sturdy
hiking boots.
Your vision, often with an
accompanying strapline, tells the world what you
are about. It needs ultimately to be easy to
explain, to help you focus on what to do and what
not to do, to be achievable and realistic, and
also to inspire you and stir others' curiosity.
You can use it for a department or a small
business - it doesn't just belong in the domain of
the multinationals.
So, for example, my
vision for Ann Lewis Coaching is to help as many
individuals and organisations as I can to see
where they are going and to move purposefully in
the right direction. People sometimes want help
because they've set off without a map, or found
they want to go somewhere other than where they
are going, or have got lost on the way or been
bitten by the local wildlife, and my strapline has
become "getting You back on track".
What's
your vision?
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Book Review |
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Susan Debnam, "Mine's Bigger
than Yours"
We've all met them, and we've all suffered from
them, unless our own is so huge that we fail to
recognise it for what it is. Yes, I mean big egos
at work.
Susan Debnam challenges the myth that good
leaders have to be charismatic, enigmatic and
consummate power-players. Ego of itself is not
dangerous, she says, but like a powerful sports
car, it can wreak havoc in the hands of someone
who cannot see its capacity for destruction.
Having explained what ego actually is and what
it does, and suggested a checklist of traits of
the ego-driven individual, Debnam provides a
toolkit for raising your self-awareness, tips for
handling an ego-driven colleague, and a process
for developing an ego-free (not ego-less)
organisation where people are respected and able
to give of their best.
A timely book which should be on every leader's
bookshelf. Click on the picture to access the
'minesbiggerthanyours' website.
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