Of Life... and Management

Here's the golden nugget of the day:

"An incompetent manager treats minor tasks as major tasks -
while major tasks do not get done at all."

We all know somebody like that. Here's hoping it's not the person you see in the mirror in the mornings. In order to avoid this, prioritisation and planning are the keys and you always need to keep an eye on the bigger picture and where any given task fits into this picture. Does it help you achieve your long-term goals or not? Is it important? If you can't answer in the affirmative to either of those questions you probably should not focus too much on the task at hand, but identify the tasks which really do require your attention.

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

Today I want to share an article I wrote a couple of years ago about Emotionally Intelligent Leadership. Read the brief introduction below and then download the full PDF article.

All leadership works through emotions. All undisputed leaders have earned their reputation because their leadership was emotionally compelling to a large or small group of followers.

Leadership in corporations goes beyond reaching a goal and ensuring that a job is well done. Nothing is more important for the leaders and managers of organisations than to have leadership skills, the social and emotional competencies required to manage their own and other people’s emotions, to drive the organisation’s collective emotions in a positive direction, and to avoid or control dangerous emotions.

Studies have shown that a leader’s ability to manage own moods and to influence the moods of others usually has a dramatic impact on business results. Since leaders have such an important role in bringing out the best in people, and since this has direct implications on the bottom-line results of the organisation, it pays for corporations to invest in emotionally intelligent leadership at all levels of the organisation.

Read the full article about Emotionally Intelligent Leadership.

Jack and Suzy Welch (finally!) Have Their Own Web Site

Last week, the long awaited Jack and Suzy Welch web site was unveiled, following on from the great successes of their podcasts, columns and videos created in conjunction with BusinessWeek.

As the former CEO of GE and a former editor of Harvard Business Review respectively, their credentials are definitely impressive and the site allows you to look for insights into various topics facing managers and leaders in both small and large businesses.

Before delving too far into the treasure trove I would recommend that you spend a couple of minutes reading about their underlying principles.

Head on over to the Welch Way and prepare to be inspired.

Test run of "Beyond Time and Knowledge"

Last Tuesday, Ron Young and I did a first dry run of our new exciting concept called "Beyond Time and Knowledge" (just a working title so far) in front of an exclusively invited audience at Les 4 Moulins in France.

The foundation for the concept is that we live in a world that has become too focused on gadgetry and technology, which leads to people losing track of who they are; what their goals are; and how they can attain those goals.

The underlying principle is that there are some management evergreens, which people of all ages, and in all walks of life, could benefit from learning and that by having a clear focus in both your personal and work life you will also be able to benefit from technology to a greater extent. Knowing where you are going and how you are going to get there will allow you to select the right tools for the job.

We had an incredibly powerful day, where the guests really felt that they had received some valuable inspiration and we got some great feedback in terms of both the contents and the format of the presentation.

The plan is that we will develop the concept into a multitude of products and services from books to articles, tests and seminars and we will probably be ready to unleash "Beyond Time and Knowledge" on the world in 2009.

I am immensely excited about this project, as it will be a first for me to develop a concept with a co-presenter. I have collaborated with others on writing books in the past, most notably "Heart Work" with Dr. Reuven Bar-On, who originally coined the phrase "Emotional Intelligence", and "A Complaint is a Gift" (retail version) with Janelle Barlow. I will continue to lift the veil a bit more as the year progresses so you can follow the development of this exciting project, and I hope that you will actively wish to participate in the development of the concept by giving me feedback along the way.

In the meantime, if you would like to attend one of the small and closed test seminars in the Autumn of 2008 for a marginal fee to cover accommodation and meals, please feel free to send me an email.

Be more proactive and be less reactive

Many people have asked me in my seminars, over the years, 'What one thing would you wish to teach your children?'

My answer is 'Be more proactive and be less reactive'.

You can learn to apply simple, but very profound and powerful, methods, techniques and tools to enable you to spend a little more of each day working on important, goal focused, tasks and activities.

• Why give in, and become a servant, to the incessant demands of work and daily life? Why not give out to the world, instead?
• Make some meaningful life goals.
• Start by dreaming the impossible dream!

I will write so much more about how to do this in coming blogs, and you can learn this from my Practical Leadership Seminar.

For more information visit:

www.clausmoller.com

Managers can - and should - learn how to manage

A couple of years ago I wrote a short article about management, which I feel is as relevant as ever. Therefore I wanted to share it with you, my blog readers. Below you will find a brief synopsis and a link to where you can download the article from HSM on Bnet.

"Management is a skill that should be acquired by everyone who relates to other people. The very idea of letting a pilot fly an aircraft without a pilot’s certificate seems ludicrous. Nevertheless, managers are given the task of leading other people even if they do not have any management training. What’s more - managers are often so busy trying to handle their day-to-day working life as professional specialists that they do not even have the presence of mind to feel guilty about failing to live up to their role as managers. This applies to some senior hospital doctors, architects, professors, IT managers, chefs, master builders, accountants, etc.

So what does it take to manage a company or an organisation to achieve good, lasting results? Do any universal management principles even exist? The answer to both these questions is "YES", says Claus Møller. Approximately every third year, a new management principle comes into fashion, and most people adopt it immediately in their organisation without even knowing why – except not to seem old-fashioned. It is interesting to note that the organisations that achieve the best, lasting results are the ones that, at an early stage, set up some clear and simple management principles, make sure that everybody knows their role and the rules for getting a yellow or a red card – and stick to these principles instead of jumping from one management fashion to another.

In this article Claus Møller argues that the prerequisites for achieving good results are not just professional skilfulness, professional business excellence, but also general business excellence."

Click here to read the full article on Bnet.

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