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LEADERSHIP: FROM MARS AND ALSO FROM VENUS

published:2010-03-15 01:00:00

Discussing the percentage of women in senior roles is a quick way to start an argument. Some people, including some men, argue for gender equality – or a specific level of improvement. Others, including also women, argue that merit is all that counts. Less contentiously, as leaders, I believe we need both hard and soft skills – often categorised as male or female characteristics. IQ and EQ. Numeracy and literacy. Toughness and fairness. If you asked your colleagues, what would they say about your balance – and what might that mean? Here are some thought-starters.

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LEADERSHIP: THE ROLE OF THE CHAIRMAN

published:2010-03-08 01:27:00

Boards get a lot of flack and it's not surprising. They're the shareholders' representatives. And, in corporate crashes (think Enron or Royal Bank of Scotland), boards are often judged as having been inadequate or worse. But the issue is broader. Even boards of successful companies (and not-for-profits) are frequently seen as not adding sufficient value. So, what's the problem? From personal experience of doing governance reviews, I believe it's more about board leadership and hence operational effectiveness; less about the issues of individual or group honesty and independence, which tend to attract the headlines and legislation.

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LEADERSHIP: BREAK THE HABIT

published:2010-03-01 01:00:00

A recent article in The Economist ("The three habits ... of highly irritating management gurus"*) focuses on generalisations that gurus pass off as wisdom. The article makes plain that many of their "new" ideas are old; and, most of their case examples lack merit. For me, though, the absurdity is expecting you to replace your own default behaviours with theirs. Why swap one set of habits for another, when leadership should be about problem-solving: working out what to do in a specific situation that brings together a particular group of people and a particular set of business challenges. It's about something new; not what worked elsewhere or for someone in a different situation. It's certainly never about a single approach. So, are you a guru-child or your own leader?

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LEADERSHIP: YOUR KEY TO ORGANISATIONAL AGILITY

published:2010-02-22 01:00:00

What would you give to achieve higher revenues, more satisfied customers and employees, improved operational efficiency and a faster time to market? That's what Donald Sull of McKinsey & Company offers if you achieve organisational agility. He defines it as identifying and capturing opportunities more quickly than your rivals. He quotes the heightened volatility of recent decades - and the acceleration during the GFC. But, what does this mean for you as a leader? Here are some thoughts.

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Timothy Pascoe ...

I wouldn't want my photo on the Home page (or my bio. at left) to suggest that life is all work and no play. So, here's my favourite image of myself. In 2000, a group of us walked for three weeks through France and Italy, and one day a friend snapped me asleep after lunch under an olive tree.

I was born and grew up in Adelaide, South Australia. I graduated with Bachelor degrees in Engineering and Economics from Adelaide University, a Doctorate of Philosophy in Operations Research from Cambridge and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard.

My career has included:

  • working for McKinsey & Co. Inc. a global consultancy in New York, Melbourne and Sydney
  • running a Sydney-based venture capital company in the early 1970s
  • appointment as Federal Director of the Liberal Party of Australia based in Canberra in 1974/75
  • establishing Arts Research, Training and Support (ARTS) Limited, a national non-profit organisation bringing commercial consultancy, management training and financial support to the arts in Australia
  • a three-year appointment as Executive Chairman of the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts-policy and funding agency
  • since 1984, running my own business strategy (and more recently, leadership and board governance) consultancy with clients in Australia, Asia, Europe and America. My clients have covered a range of industries including financial services, resources, property, transport, agriculture, manufacturing, software development and professional services.

I created the V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership® framework over many years based on the above experiences and the exposure to leaders in local, national and global organisations ranging in size from two or three partners to thousands of employees.

In 2004, I was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the arts and community organisations.

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