President Trump and the end of the world
Well Donald Trump has been the American President for almost a year now and there are now signs that the end of the world is upon us yet. It is currenlty about even odds thta he will no tcomplete his first term and time will tell.
Certainly his cont
In the words of the German proverb: "What's the use of running if you are running along the wrong way?"
Why are so many top leadership programs failing?
Well, firstly much of the 'leadership' training has really been 'management' training. This can certainly be helpful but we shouldn't expect an improvement of leadership out of it. As Colin Powell so succinctly said, "leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management thinks possible". Secondly, leadership programs have relied purely on 'behavioural' training with the assumption that practice makes perfect. While this is important, it takes time and reinforcement to change with this mechanism, and the latter has often been missing.
There are two other important, and more impactful ways to cause behaviour change and one of these works instantly. Our MarkTwo Leadership programs are designed to incorporate these two more impactful ways and that's why many of our participants have told us they learned more in our 2 day program than a 5-day Harvard business school leadership course.
Lastly, the basis of the approach has been fundamentally flawed, and it has missed a key aspect of human nature. So let's first look at the history of leadership development.
A potted history of organisational leadership development
There have been successive approaches to try to improve the leadership in corporations.
- Trait Approach (1930-50s): Leaders are born not made and effective leaders show common traits. If you were one you would rise to the top. This was a neat black and white approach. If any organisation was going to buy into it (and they did) then it would be the British Army but even they gave this up 100 years ago.
- Behavioural Approach (1940-60s): Effective leaders adopt certain styles or behaviours. This was the start of realising that leaders are made not born, and different behavioural schools adopted different 'key' behaviours. Unfortunately, immediately you realise that behaviour is not random but 'caused' by something internal (intention) and external (the environment), you realise this approach is missing too much to be effective on its own.
- Contingent Approach (1960-80s): What makes a leader effective depends on the situation. This approach can be helpful but focuses solely on the external/behaviours which makes it more a "management" approach. It misses the key internal (intentional) part of the whole process and so misses the core part of leadership (self-leadership).
- Emotional Intelligence Approach (1990-2010s): Emotional intelligence has a far greater impact on the leader's performance than their intellect (or IQ). The recognition that leadership is necessarily about relationship first, and 'no relationship then no leadership' was a big step forward. However, it still misses too much, such as level of complexity. Also few of us would call someone a very good leader who had very high EQ which they used to manipulate others. That is often a key characteristic of a narcissist!
- Motivational Approach (2010s-): There is no known universal set of traits or personality styles which predict a good or great leader but what distinguishes leaders is their ability to motivate themselves and others. This means that developing leadership and leadership intelligence is best helped by giving people an understanding of the fundamental levels of human motivation. Also that we can all be truly altruistic and that leadership by definition always comes out of a selfless motivation.
Along the way there have been other less significant attempts to understand leadership such as:
- Transformational versus Transactional approach and the former is a macro approach to leadership which inspires change by setting a vision and values. Transactional is a micro approach with a focus on developing individuals. Overall it is a more narrow version of a personality approach which is linked to the earlier and minimally effective trait approach.
- Complexity theory approach (such as Stratified Systems Theory) which makes some excellent predictions and insights into management but fails as a significant leadership model as it does not separate the field of 'thinking' complexity from 'feeling' complexity. It is like trying to play golf with a cricket bat. No matter how skilled one is, it will be pretty hard to play a good game.
- Competency approach which has been helpful as a framework but then requires a methodology to make it effective.
So there are many ways to try to develop leadership and challenging assignments and coaching relationships back in the workplace are critical. But most of all is getting your staff working in the right direction and that means giving some formal training in the motivational approach.
Interestingly, Stanford Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of Leadership BS:Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time), says that in the real world a narcissistic or morally challenged personality is more likely to be effective. But another way to look at it is that such leaders could get away with it when things have been less competitive and stressful but as the world gets ever more complex and challenging it is only the very best leaders (not managers) who will succeed. These types of leaders have consistently been more successful and more altruistic.
MarkTwo Wellbeing Tip - Vegetable Oil Cooking 'linked to cancer and brain disorders'
According to leading scientists, cooking with vegetable oils releases toxic chemicals linked to cancers and other serious diseases. For instance, Professor Martin Grootveld of De Montfort University, Leicester, UK found that "a typical meal of fish and chips" cooked in vegetable oil contained 100 to 200 times more toxic aldehydes than the safe daily limit set by the World Health Organisation. This was backed up by separate research at Oxford University.
The scientists recommendation is to use coconut oil, olive oil, butter or even lard when frying or cooking at high temperatures. Conversely, the National Health Service in the United Kingdom recommends replacing "foods high in saturated fats" (such as these) with low fat versions. It can be hard to know what to do!
However, a New Scientist report in 2016 titled, FAT LOT OF GOOD-Is official dietary advice fuelling the obesity epidemic and making us sick, has surprising evidence suggesting the long standing National Health Service advice is not just wrong but harmful. As always, it is worth doing your own research and the smoke points for refined coconut oil (232ºC), extra light olive oil (242ºC), and ghee (clarified butter-252ºC) all seem to pass the test for frying.
MarkTwo Money Tip
Choice magazine recommends you think twice before buying an extended warranty on an item because they add little to your existing warranty at a hefty price.
1) You're invited to Mark's motivational talk on leadership
Human Motivation and the Illusion of Power
Attend this rare and stimulating public event where you'll be able to network with other leaders, listen to a live motivational 20 minute TED-format talk by leadership expert Mark Oliver and also have the opportunity to ask questions. By attending this event, you will leave with a deeper insight into the seven levels of human motivation to help you become a better leader.
Get details and your complimentary place by clicking here
Where: Melbourne CBD
When: 5.45pm on Wed 24th May, 2017
2) Boost your leadership intelligence over 2 days:
Experience our 2-day Transformational Leadership program that will give you practical tools to immediately improve your leadership intelligence and inspire better performance from your team. Executive managers who've attended top European Business School (Cranfield)'s 5 day International Energy Program have said this is better and that they “learnt much more about leadership” in the 2 days on this MarkTwo program than in 5 days on the business school programs. It's also much cheaper in terms of time and money.
Click here to book while places are available
Where: The Wellington Room, The Brighton Savoy, 150 Esplanade, Brighton, Victoria (Tel: +61 3 9592-8233)
How much: 2997 Australian dollars (exc GST) and this course is fully tax deductible (check with your accountant)
For more details or to book now
Click here to see full list of events and get this sort of response from people you feed back to:
Thank you very much for the fantastic 2 days earlier this week. Mark is sensational, as is the program! I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited greatly from the experience and the learning - Eva Kesidis, Assistant Principal, Westall Secondary College
Click on the video below to see more people sharing their experiences.
Quote of the Quarter
When a good leader leads the people respect and praise him.
When an average leader leads the people ignore him.
When a poor leader leads the people despise him.
But when a great leader leads, the people say 'we did that ourselves' - Lao-Tzu
TED Talk - How to run a company with (almost) no rules
What if your job didn’t control your life? Brazilian CEO Ricardo Semler practices a radical form of corporate democracy, rethinking everything from board meetings to how workers report their vacation days (they don’t have to). It’s a vision that rewards the wisdom of workers, promotes work-life balance — and leads to some deep insight on what work, and life, is really all about. Bonus question: What if schools were like this too?
MarkTwo's Work - 2017 (so far)
United Kingdom (early January): Mark went back to UK and had meetings in London while picking up more information and views on how the country was looking forward to Brexit (o rnot as the case may be).
Switzerland (January): Mark and Ruth each ran 3 hour sessions for about 40 Assistant Professors at ETH Zurich (one of the world's top ten universities) before heading off to Monte Verita (the mountain of truth) in the Italian part of Switzerland to help facilitate ETH Zurich's Winter School. It was a magnificent event with professors from around the world, and Mark and Ruth were privileged to help.
Mark and Ruth Oliver combined to excellent effect recently to provide advice and training on developing leadership skills and mindfulness to doctoral students, postdocs and their professors. They came from 20 Universities from around the world to attend a 'Winter School' ...Mark and Ruth joined the 5 day school and were fully integrated throughout. I am convinced that the extremely open and interactive discussions between the participants was greatly promoted by their joint and several contributions. This lead to highly desirable transversal mixing in the yoga sessions and during the classes on leadership, with significant impact on the scientific activities. I am sure many essential life lessons were learnt! - Professor Sarah Springman CBE FREng, Rector, ETH Zurich
MarkTwo Public Programs and Advanced Coaching Accreditation (early February): A core group of experienced consultants/teachers gained accreditation in the UHM Professional Coaching Accreditation.
Thank you so much for... the truly fantastic (whilst yet full-on as forewarned :-) 4 days of training... It was an incredibly positive, insightful and growth-oriented time... enchanting and deeply beneficial four days. - Alex MacFarlane, Consulting and Clinical Psychologist, Western Sydney University
India (February): Mark was invited to present on leadership to the IMA India's 21st Annual CFO Roundtable at Mussorie. He then travelled to present to CHRO groups at Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, as well as having some one-on-one's by appointment. Delhi has been voted the World's No. 1 airport 2014-16 in one survey but that did not stop him form being stopeed for bags with 'explosive residue'. This was a surprise not least as he had just flown through Melbourne and Hong Kong airports. After the third positive reading Mark suggested that they check with another machine, and yes their machine was faulty, and he was merrily waved through.
Really after a long time, I [have finally] met and listened to an insightful speaker - Mr.Vivek G Mendonsa, Marketing Director, Lawrence & Mayo Group, India
Thank you for sharing your valuable experiences and insights on leadership. It was also a privilege to catch for a brief while and engage you on discussing challenges of Indian Leaders - NK, Human Resources Director, JSW Group, India
Upcoming Events
Human Motivation and the Illusion of Power
Attend this complimentary TED type talk in the CBD lasting under 20 minutes. Contact us to book
Public Transformational Leadership Program 27 - 28 March - Public Workshop
Executive managers and supervisors can gain a deep and pragmatic understanding of leadership and how it differs from management. Expand your self-awareness and have greater "other awareness" to realise your full leadership potential.