A voice crackled over the radio: “Orlando Approach, 120 Foxtrot Tango, you are cleared for the space coast tour, contact NASA Tower on 126.2.” This is how my first encounter with Kennedy Space Centre, on Florida’s east coast, began. At fifteen hundred feet at the controls of a Piper Warrior, I flew North past the launch pads, the vehicle assembly building – so big it has its own weather system, or should have – and then down the almost endless runway where the Shuttle lands. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sunlight sparkled on the water on both sides of the cape. It was an impressive, even awesome, sight.
[Read more…] about Yes, this is rocket science: leadership lessons from NASA
10 career-threatening myths about being a manager
Every manager has one goal: to foster a healthy, prospering work environment that brings employees together to get work done.
Unfortunately, so many managers who have just been promoted or are looking to impress fall short. Why? Because they fall for the many damaging myths about being a manager.
[Read more…] about 10 career-threatening myths about being a manager
Effective managers say the same thing twice
Effective managers combine different types of communication, such as email, IM and phone calls, to repeat and reinforce key messages.
Listen very carefully, I shall say this only twice…
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What makes a great leader: lessons from MI5
Thanks to franchises like James Bond, an air of glamour and mystery surrounds the British intelligence services (cue music).
This secretive and exciting institution seems so far removed from our everyday working lives that it’s hard to imagine it has anything in common with mundane management or business basics.
The reality, however, is very different from Fleming’s fiction. [Read more…] about What makes a great leader: lessons from MI5
Boyd – Patterns of conflict
I had heard about John Boyd’s legendary Patterns of Conflict before I read his biography but I had never seen it. So I went on a quest to find it!
Regular readers will know that I have an interest in military history. (See How to improve morale and confidence and Interview with Stephen Bungay.) I’m reading an excellent biography of John Boyd (Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
) at the moment and this has really got me thinking. I’m going to write a review as soon as I’ve finished it.
How to improve morale and confidence: lessons from General Bill Slim
As a boss, one of the biggest challenges is to build morale and the confidence of your team. It’s not easy. But it is important.
“It is lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a civilisation. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs,” said Kenneth Clark at the end of his classic TV series Civilisation. [Read more…] about How to improve morale and confidence: lessons from General Bill Slim