Recent Articles

The term "leadership" takes many twists and turns. There are multiple meanings and, in my half century career, I have learned that those meanings are dependent on context and circumstances, what the cause is or is not and its enthusiasms, the interplay of individuals and the kind of chemistry… read more

Over the years I have been fascinated by the different terms that were used to describe 'people who have responsibility over (large) groups of other people'; in the sixties and seventies they were called Bosses, during my MBA studies in the eighties we called them 'Managers' and later the term… read more

The results I'd seen yesterday, my first day as the new MD, kept me awake late into the night. The sales figures, the financials, the declining market share, made me very worried. Of course, the positive indicators were pointed out: "the decline is less than the overall market"; "our customer… read more

Ever since Pepper de Callier told me about the Gallup survey, which concluded that more than 70% of all employees globally are either passively or actively disengaged, I have been bothered. I have no reason to doubt the conclusions of the survey. After all, having included two million people… read more

Everyone seems to talking about how different life is today. The world has changed dramatically. It is changing rapidly every day and will continue to look different in the years ahead. Europe is going through a drastic crisis and much worse is expected. China is growing rapidly and will one day… read more

A rich and varied personal and academic life and thirty years of inspiring U.S. Government service have taught me that the most successful leadership is leadership by example.

Children learn from their parents and teachers, and working adults from their superiors.

We become… read more

So, it's your first day in your new role as a Subsidiary CEO. You flew in yesterday, found your hotel, agonised over what to wear. You checked out how to get to the office and now the day has come. You've met a couple of the Directors on a few occasions. You know a bit about their backgrounds… read more

Change is the only thing we definitely know will happen next. Why is change management still a tricky combination of art and science? Here is what I have learned from building my own company in the 90's, then selling it to GE; six years with GE including a global job in the US; and five years as… read more

Today, the youngest adults are called Generation Y and, while sociologists don’t agree on the exact age parameters for this generation, partly because there appears to be a difference country-by-country, they generally fall somewhere between 20 to 35 years of age (in 2011). There are, however,… read more

Football, politics, women. Traditional topics for discussions over a beer. However, how often does one discuss a topic of women managing business? And would anyone believe that the 'big beer'… read more