Is Barack Obama a ‘Third Generation’ Leader?

The role of President is generally associated with the ‘leader as hero’ tradition and not with what Douglas Long describes as Third Generation Leadership: “a leadership approach that elicits engagement, commitment, and enhanced personal, group, and organisational accountability”. But maybe, just maybe, Barack Obama is in this new mould. There certainly seems to be an appetite for it as Douglas’ book was the ‘most in demand’ title at the recent Frankfurt Bookfair where we received reading copy requests from companies publishing in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Tukish and Russian.

Be inspired! A series of experiences and stories from leaders

Be inspired by real ‘Culture Builders’

Some incredible leaders and business experts share their experiences and their thoughts about what makes makes a great leader and manager here:  http://lnkd.in/WbT2Hy

All these leaders are featured in the book The Culture Builders by Jane Sparrow and published by Gower.

 

World Open Space on Open Space

If you are a facilitator, a change manager … even a program manager, then check this out! The idea of Open Space (a form of large group facilitation) has been going for over 20 years. Michael Lindfield, one of the champions of the approach, described it as ”a simple and effective way of creating an environment where things are possible”. That may sound slightly pink and fluffy but, goodness me, doesn’t it also describe the kind of thing that most organizations need in the struggle to keep a head above the economic crisis and keep in touch with the breakneck speed of social, technological and business change? This year’s World Open Space event is in London, between 11th and 14th October. Gower’s contribution to the concept is Kerry Napuk and Eddy Palmer’s Large Group Facilitator’s Manual, which will be on show at the event.

Engaging Developing Markets (with mobile technology)

To many of us, mobile phones may seem to represent everything that is wrong about the current economic model; products associated with unbridled consumerism, with people’s wants rather than needs, and products that are produced using resources from conflict zones. So I found the article Engaging Developing Markets, co-authored by Anxo Roibás, a very interesting read. The authors focus on how mobile phone providers have engaged with developing markets and, in the process, reveal the extraordinary power this techology has for enabling technological and social change. It is interesting to see such a contrasting perspective on the same technology, seen through the lens of the developed and the developing world. Anxo Roibás is co-editor of the Gower book, Design for Sport.

Finding the Right Balance

Employee engagement can seem like rather a one-sided affair for many senior managers. Andrew Mayo’s article Finding the Right Balance offers a useful perspective on how to balance engagement on the one-hand and employee performance on the other. Andrew Mayo is author of the forthcoming Gower book Human Resources or Human Capital: Managing People as Assets.

Marketing these days is definitely a two-way street

Mary-Lee Sachs is facilitating a webinar hosted by the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) 3-4 pm EDT on July 14th on The Changing MO of the CMO. If you ever doubted the scale of the revolution that is taking in place in marketing and communications … and if you want to make sense of where it will take your organization, then do sign up for this free webinar. You can find more details of exactly what she will be covering on the PRSA website, along with the process for registering. MaryLee Sachs is author of Gower’s The Changing MO of the CMO, which is out this month.

Why big conversations matter

Anthony Landale (Editor of Gower Handbook of Training and Development and co-author of The Fast Facilitator) has a way of making the difficult challenges of leadership so much more understandable. In his piece ‘Why Big Conversations Matter’ he offers a perspective on how and why leaders need to converse (rather than communicate) with their employees.

  

Turin becomes the capital of communication

That may be stretching the truth slightly but, on the other hand, for the two days of Eurocomm 2011  (April 7th and 8th) it’s surely a fair claim to make? Mark Wright (Editor of The Gower Handbook of Internal Communication), who is chairing the event, drew my attention to the program which looks very good indeed.

Social shared services – models for the new media

I like the neologism that Glenn Remoreras (author of the forthcoming Building a Brand for IT),  has created with his term: ‘social shared services’ - effectively, the application of social media to shared services. It seems like a very natural application of new media given that engagement, internal service and collaboration are fundamental to ensure the dynamism of any shared services operation. And Glenn offers some useful models for where and how social media can be adopted usefully.

Are your ex-employees advocates, critics or just not bothered?

There is a fascinating report on the Bernard Hodes UK website about managing alumni; in other words, the people who used to work for you and have moved on. I wonder how many organizations even have this group on their radar? And yet they could be hugely influential in terms of reputation and employer brand. Helen Rosethorn and members of the Bernard Hodes team are the authors of Gower’s The Employer Brand.