LEADERSHIP BLOG

A few thoughts penned down......

2008-01-18T12:30:00.000+05:30

“Leader”, this is a word which has been goin around for a very long time. But what does it mean? Why is it such a fancy word these days? Why is it that companies spend millions and millions every day just to ensure that their empolyees are leaders .This is a question which has been going through my mind for a long time now. To learn of leadership I read a lot of books about leaders who have changed the perspective of this world. I wanted to find out what was it that made these people achieve so much. There I found two qualities which were common between all these people: Two very simple qualities that every human being has but which can fade away with time.

Taking responsibility of ones own life:

I would be able to give you personal experiences and normal middle class person’s opinion but not great theories or fancy lookin graphs to tell you who I think are leaders. To me a leader is one who takes responsibility of his own life. A leader is the one who realises that it his responsbility that he becomes big in life. For example let us take Mr. Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi. He is considered a good leader. What did he do? He took up the responsibility of fighting for India’s independence. That was his dream and even though there were loads of obstacles he came across them only because he had taken responsibility. He took responsibilty of his life, took responsibility of achieving what he wanted to get. He thought “It is my life and if I have taken somethin upon myself it is my duty to achieve it.” This small initiative separates a leader from an ordinary person. Any person on this earth can take an initiative, but only people who finish up the initiative collects the fruit of it and will be called a leader by others. Is taking resposibility of one’s own life that difficult? If we dont take responsibility of our own lives, who would?

Being Productive = Not being lazy

If we are ready to take responsibility of our own lives, then what is stopping us from getting to the top of the world? Why are some people top CEOs whereas some people are struggling even to have 1 square meal a day? Don’t people want to be rich and have the best life in the world? Who wouldn’t want to live in a dream house, have loads of money, drive the best car, wear the nicest clothes, and eat the most delicious food? Gosh! Even the thought of having so many things makes me dizzy! I definitely would love to have all those things and I’m sure most would agree with me. But why is that only few of the people get what they want whereas the major dont get the life they want to have?

Very simple answer, people are not ready to go that extra mile. To cut the long story short, people tend to become lazy when they don’t see short term results. I know many who would not be ready to accept this, but it’s a fact. We are human beings. We sometimes love to take things easy and we get used to the kind of lifestyle we have. I accept I’m lazy sometimes. To give you an example; the other day I was sitting at work and I started missing home, friends, and the life style I’m used to in India. In fact I just wanted to rush back home. After about half an hour of depression I did a self analysis. I asked my self “Have I achieved what I had come here (Sri Lanka) for?” The obvious answer was no. Then I realised that when I didn’t see quick results, laziness had crept into me and made me lose focus. As a matter of fact I was ready to let go of my dream just because I was lazy. I’m sure this happens to every individual but a leader is a person who overcomes this part, turns the negative energy into positive and moves ahead.

At the end of the day life is very simple: You dream of having something, work whole-heartedly for reaching it and at the end of the day you will get whatever you desire. There will be a lot of obstacles but when you do it whole-heartedly you will find ways to overcome them. This is what nearly every world leader’s biography proves. People, the whole world is waiting for us, let us go ahead and chase our dreams!

Victims of Conditioning

2008-01-14T15:06:00.000+05:30

After 30 years of sedentary living (where the most active thing I did was probably running to catch the train) I started working out at the gym 3 times a week last October. By November I was on an offsite program with UTI at a hotel without access to a gym.

I was sufficiently gung-ho about making up for the missed work-out to get up at 5:30 and jog on the beach for an hour - which I continued for all the programs until one day it started to rain... and I said to myself "I'm not so passionate about this that I want to do it in the rain" and I went back to sleep.

One hour later, enjoying a cup of coffee on the balcony; I was explaining to Kaushik (my room-mate) why I had skipped the run. Kaushik looked out to the ocean and saw some fisherman in a boat, and commented "For you, running was an option; when it was raining you had the luxury of choosing to quit. For them [the fisherman], fishing is a livelihood - rain or shine they have to go out there"

This led me to thinking... why couldn't I have run? I was running barefoot (so no worries about stinky shoes), the other clothes wouldn't have suffered if they got wet (they anyway got sweaty), and I would take a shower after the jog anyway. So, there was really no reason why I couldn't have jogged, except for the deep-rooted conditioning from my younger days: "Don't get wet in the rain, you'll fall sick."

How often does it happen that some outdated conditioning deprives us of making the best use of the opportunities around us? Probably more often than we realize, given that you usually don't recognize the conditioning in yourself.

Random excellence

2007-09-18T15:21:00.000+05:30

Before joining UTI I was working as part of a top leadership team of a youth-driven nonprofit organization. Simultaneously I was completing my Master’s Thesis on diversity and teamwork, part of the study being the concept of high-performance teams. These “hot groups” or “virtuoso teams” are a rare phenomenon and particularly complicated unit of analysis due to their seemingly random way of emerging, functioning and delivering extraordinary results. I know what I’m talking about because the leadership team I was part of fulfilled the criteria of a high-performance team. We were on a year-long mission of turning around a somewhat stagnated organization; “building a better future” as we’d say. It was nowhere near the ideal team that most team theories suggest: we rated poorly in team cohesion, empathetic communication and consencual decision making. There was a lot of rebellion against old norms, prevailing disagreement and heated discussions. But there was also overarching commitment to get results. I believe that team exceeded expectations on all areas of work. Later we became the best of friends. Though scattered all around the world (Puerto Rico, Finland, Malaysia and Sri Lanka) we are still in constant communication and even hearing a certain song in radio triggers the memories of that unique “Team Lego” as we called ourselves.

As time passed the theories and experiences gave way to new ones. Last weekend I was facilitating a yet another Wild Drift team development program. But it wasn’t a yet another program: something surprising happened. There was a team that seemed to go against all the ideals of teamwork yet they completed their task in a record-breaking time. As per my role in the activity I tried to confuse them, mislead them and set them up for failure. No matter what I tried they wouldn’t fail. Though there was no harmonic cooperation they portrayed unanimous passion and desire to get results: They came to win. I was perplexed: how can this random bunch of people be so successful though on the outset they are far from a well-behaving team? The answer was that we were witnessing a high-performance team in action. They did fulfill the team basics of sharing a single dream, having mutually complementing skills and organizing themselves around a common goal. But that is not enough to explain the extraordinary results they got. The advantage came through the “magic” of a hot group. Why I say magic is because there is no single formula that an organization could follow to build a high-performance team. In actuality, you don’t build high-performance teams: they emerge. Of course you can set the breeding ground for hot groups: you can select the brightest minds into your organization, you can tear down the walls (physical and mental) that restrict sharing ideas and you can challenge them with highly ambitious goals. That might increase the likelihood of seeing high-performance teams emerge, but it doesn’t guarantee it.

What is the learning point? If you want good results, you go by the book. If you want extraordinary results you ensure the basics and then bring in a bit of chaos, shake it and stir it, and hope for the best…

People vs. electricity

2007-09-11T17:43:00.000+05:30

How many companies are there that claim victoriously “People are our main asset”? And how many of those actually put their brainpower in use? Imagine what would happen if there was no internet connection at your office. Would you be able to work? Or what if the whole electricity was cut off? Would all your operations stop at once?

Imagine how dependent we have become of these two assets! Lack of electricity or even internet connection can paralyze huge organizations though they claim people are their main asset. Since when have people needed electricity to operate? It’s not like you can pull a plug and your brain stops working.

How could we build work patterns that would be independent of anything else than interdependence of people?

Oh wait, I need to check my email…

The power of cricket

2007-09-03T10:35:00.000+05:30

Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam… Sri Lanka has many religions but one “religion” unifies everyone: cricket. However, this posting has nothing to do with it. It’s about crickets, insects related to – and often confused with - grasshoppers.

Have you ever seen a cricket? Maybe you have. Do you think a cricket can have any impact in this world, other than being bird food? It’s such a minute thing. How could it possible be important?

Well, have you heard a cricket? Most likely you have. Though you sometimes might ignore a cricket when you see one, you can’t ignore it when you hear one, because it ain’t alone. Especially in warm countries like Sri Lanka the cricket chirping can be so loud that it covers all the other sounds behind it. Imagine, chirping started by one one small insect and joined by thousands of others can defeat the sound of man-made machines that swoosh by one the road.

And what does this have to do with leadership?

True change leaders who can have an impact on themselves, their relationship, their family, their colleagues, teams, organizations, countries and the whole world understand the power of one and are able to connect others in the same mission. Their impact becomes as powerful as the herd of crickets.

But the difference between a cricket and a leader is that whereas for the former it all comes naturally for the latter the impact comes as a result of hard and smart work, practice and deep self-reflection.

Creating abundance

2007-08-30T14:25:00.000+05:30

Father: "I want you to marry a girl of my choice"
Son: "I will choose my own bride!"
Father: "But the girl is the daughter of Bill Gates."
Son: "Well, in that case... ok!"

Next - Father approaches Bill Gates.

Father: "I have a husband for your daughter."
Bill Gates: "But my daughter is too young to marry!"
Father: "But this young man is vice-president of the World Bank."
Bill Gates: "Ah, in that case... ok!"

Finally Father goes to see the president of the World Bank.

Father: "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."
President: "But I already have more vice-presidents than I need!"
Father: "But this young man is Bill Gates's son-in-law."
President: "Ah, in that case... ok!"

It seems that everyone is pretty much clear by now of the difference between management and leadership, but still people and organizations tend to practice more management than leadership. The above story is a great example of leadership. Managers manage scarce resources. Leaders create abundance: even If you have nothing, you can get anything.

That is what they’ve been teaching us in schools world over: a good manager utilizes the scarce resources effectively and optimizes processes. But there’s no leadership! A good leader doesn’t care of the current lack of resources but he clarifies what needs to be done and then finds ways to get the resources.

Let us give you another example. Anuruddha Bandara – or AB – is the co-owner of Wild Drift together with Ruki. When we were still at the old office – a dark and gloomy box compared to the new one – we sometimes needed a change of environment for brainstorming. We would pick a time when AB is not at the office and go downstairs to his room. Though it was a fairly small room with just a modest table and a couple of chairs, it was enough for us to have deep discussions of future and come up with breakthrough ideas.

AB’s room was a wonderful resource for us. Who knows, maybe the most important decisions in the future history of Unleash Talent Inc were made in that room. A manager would have stayed upstairs.

(Thanks Maliendra for sending us the story!)

Go away!

2007-08-22T14:05:00.000+05:30

Everyone knows that the web is full of great resources, thoughts, ideas, writings and whatnot but how many of us actually take full use of them? We'd like you to go away! We'd like you to check the Leaders' Links on the right pane of this blog and check out what other people have to say about leadership and strategy. For example BNet is a great resource for short and snappy ideas for further exploration or just to pep up your day of leadership. They recently wrote about refining the strategic core of your business. Worth checking out, especially if you're familiar with blue ocean thinking. The guy referred to in BNet - Chris Zook - wrote about finding your next core business just recently in Harvard Business Review. We'll direct. You explore. But you can also direct and give us hints of great leadership and strategy links. Would appreciate your contribution for common good!

UTI Website

2007-08-21T11:42:00.000+05:30

Finally, after struggling with different web developers for a year or so, we have managed to put out a decent website. Of course it's nothing near perfection yet but at least there's something out there for people to get acquainted with Unleash Talent Inc. Send us your suggestions what components and gadgets you'd like to see in www.unleashtalent.com

People management

2007-08-20T16:00:00.000+05:30

Imagine a single mother who starts her day six in the morning as the new-born cries for food. She hurries to take the baby out of the cradle and carries him to the kitchen. Single-handedly she mixes the baby’s porridge on the stove while changing his diapers simultaneously. She hears loud noise from the living room where the two-year-old has managed to turn on the DVD player and is watching a Schwarzenegger action flick. After turning the TV off she runs back to the kitchen to steal back a fork that the baby-boy is shoving down his throat. Porridge boils over on to the stove as the two-year-old starts to cry showing a yellow pond on the floor.

After feeding, cleaning and changing it’s time to go out. While preventing the baby of inserting his tongue into the electric socket mom struggles to fit on the shoes for the elder brother that just stands dumb without a response to mother’s pleading for some initiative. As soon as they reach the playground the baby pukes all over his carriage making the mom busy cleaning again. Meanwhile the big brother is wobbling down to the road and in a split second the mom needs to be there rescuing him from an approaching truck… and so the day continues.

This heroic mother is not one in the million. These epic stories can be heard all over the place. These stories are what people management is at its best. Full stop.

People management is a term that can be found in as weird places as Harvard Business Review website, a name of a seemingly reputed magazine, and so on. How do these scholars and professionals even dare to use those two words together. Isn’t it evident that adults are not to be managed, but to be led? Meetings can be managed, projects can be managed, and planning can be managed, but not people for crying out loud!

The lingo that we use defines partly the culture that surrounds us at the working place. Do we speak about subordinates or team members? Do we have human resources or people? Are we really managing our people?

The harsh reality is that sometime we are. We spoon feed people with right answers to “save time” without challenging them to think. We see them in trouble and as great patriarchal managers we go and save the day (preventing them from learning how to get things done). We go and turn off the TV if the information is not suitable for their eyes

Think about it. Are you leading or managing?

Challenging assignments

2007-08-13T13:52:00.000+05:30

At times any company might face a situation where major approach change is needed in order to adapt to the client’s reality. We had been working with a certain client for a while already, and they saw that we could help them even further by helping them to carve out a strategic framework for their future. Only challenge was that they were not willing to make the time investment of required four months to go through the BLUE learning process. They wanted BLUE strategy framework but they wanted it as “a shot in the arm”. They gave us three days to shift their people from all walks of organizational life to go in the same direction.

We said we couldn’t make miracles in that short time frame but we would give it a try. After initial preparations and great inputs collected by the project team, we were ready to start our common effort. Or so we thought…

Though we were ready to squeeze the time frame in absolute minimum we were not ready to let go off our participative and fun delivery style. We made them play games, run around and act foolishly. We wouldn’t let them give obvious answers and we didn’t spoon-feed them with solutions. It paid off – but at what cost? The agenda dragged on to midnight every evening.

We were forced to experiment with ad hoc solution teams that would release the rest of the group to relax while the team would finalize the step that we were working on; whether it was purpose statement, dream, values, core strategies we worked till late night to get a draft out. Next morning we would play a prank on the rest of them and present some utter bullshit as the results of our last night’s work. E.g. the purpose statement proposal included phrases like “integrating enterprising synergies”, “generating seamless models”, and “adding value to enable mission-critical methodologies”. They would question it and say that they cannot understand what it means. It was complete crap of course. Then we would reveal the real output and start working on that. Making people smile early in the morning gave us energy to continue. It was stressful; we all gave our utmost. In the end we had nearly-ready this and half-done that. We had good stuff, but nothing was ready. Still, one objective was fulfilled: it became one big team! They’d come up with a funny name to describe their whole team, regardless of their geographical location or functional role. They would picture the future as a common path that started from yesterday’s darkness and went towards light. They would collect all their fears, doubts and disbeliefs and literally burn them at the end of the program. After running a few extra miles during these three days Ruki and I were completely exhausted, but happy and impressed at the same time. We held a few follow-up meetings at their office to finalize everything and the end result was good. It was a stretch… It was painful… It was fun… It was inspiring… But we’re never going to do it again!

Sticking together

2007-08-06T15:50:00.000+05:30

Though we moved to a new office couple of months ago, we didn’t go it alone. We moved together with our “sister company” Wild Drift [see the pictures], “cousin” Eco Team and our “adopted kid” Strategic Solutions International (that we love like our own child).

Wild Drift is doing management training in wilderness setting. They have done 255 programs so far enabling thousands of people to unlearn the inhibiting behaviors that are no good for successful teamwork and leadership to happen. They are sometimes used in supplementing Unleash Talent Inc offering for clients that require both deep leadership understanding and team building or ego-scattering in unfamiliar setting.

Eco Team is an entertaining outdoor holiday provider who thrives in managing their numerous resorts and activities all around Sri Lanka. They also support Wild Drift clients to utilize the best locations in startlingly beautiful environments, reside in well-managed outdoor camping facilities and enjoy excellent food to complete the unforgettable experience.

Strategic Solutions International ensures that we all are safe and sound in case the rainy day arrives. They master the art of insurance for varying needs.

This combination of companies is not only supporting each other business-wise but the family-like common culture at the office is uniquely refreshing: People help and serve each other without thinking what the company of one another is. We crack jokes all the time and share our feelings as much as knowledge.

It’s a very good working environment. If you have a chance to build something similar, go for it!

Respect and love your competition

2007-07-31T11:34:00.000+05:30

We have one competitor that we respect a lot and look up to. It’s called Center for Creative Leadership. It’s an amazing organization built on great principles and improving lives of thousands of people. Their extensive product portfolio is well-branded and their clients seem to be very satisfied with their programs. Even more impressive is that they have managed to become one of the greatest researchers and publishers on the area of leadership and strategy. If you have a chance, read their books: Very enlightening and entertaining stuff!

Why do we go ranting about a company that serves the same purpose as us? Why are we giving free marketing for them? Isn’t that plain stupidity?

Having a great competitor like CCL is a beacon of light for us; they serve as an example of great future that lies ahead. They inspire us. They keep us improving and striving for greater heights. There is nothing worse than a complacent and stagnant company enjoying the perks of a monopoly, am I right?

Respecting and loving CCL doesn’t mean that we want to copy them. Though our offering includes many similar traits we still feel that UTI delivery is so unique not even CCL can match it. But let's face it: we are small and have only a few years of history. CCL is huge and has experience of 30 years.

We got to work our way to a status where CCL will write something like this about us in the future. On that journey there’s no point fighting. Though word “strategy” originates from the war terminology, we don’t want a war with them. We support them, because they are on a good cause!

If you know of any small or medium size company that shares our passion for strategy and/or leadership development let us know! We are ready to learn from them, share our wisdom with them, network with them and look for mutually beneficial partnerships in the future.

Let all flowers blossom.

Baby steps in Ronaldo's pants

2007-07-24T12:56:00.000+05:30

You know, previously we were called Innersense Inc. It was a well-performing company, but way too serious for us. Our colors were shades of brown and our approach was strictly professional. Boring! Innersense made too much sense. Thus Unleash Talent Inc was born.

Starting out with a new name, identity and brand can be a burdensome process. “Un… what?” people would say. Still we stuck to our decision to make this baby work.

Once we were discussing what kind of feeling people should get in dealing with us. Ruki said we should be seen as the new kids on the block (not the band!); rascals of strategy and leadership with fresh thinking and funky approach. He knew I love football so he picked a player from my favorite team Portugal saying that we should be seen like Christiano Ronaldo; someone who breaks the conventional norms of the game and uses his creativity and skills for the whole team’s benefit.

I loved that metaphor. I still do. And I’ve come to understand that though we are facing tough competition from both leadership trainers and strategy consultants, we are highly unique and worth every penny the “spectators” and “clubs” are ready to invest in us.

Using metaphors and vivid language is one of the requirements of strategic leaders who wish to influence others and get them on board. It’s a leadership skill that can be learned. Of course some people are more prone to using visual language but anyone who wishes to pep up their communication can take it as part of their repertoire.

We are currently collecting a storytelling tool that helps us to cover a wide variety of leadership issues and thus enhance our trainings. If you have a good story to tell, please e-mail it to us! It can be factual – from your own life – or completely fictional story that delivers a point that every leader should know.

What about the pants? That’s for you to figure out.

Indika

2007-07-18T13:12:00.000+05:30

Quite soon after setting our new ambition level to become a global franchise we realized we are in common trap of a company that has come to the level where it is not taking full use of its potential due to lack of people and it doesn’t have enough business to recruit new people.

We decided to break out from that vicious cycle and ensured that we start off 2007 with a blast. The first quarter was amazing and we could have recruited one or two new people right away. But we tend to be quite picky on who we select in our team. We had grueling disappointments with some brilliant minds who would have loved to join us but the decision to move in

Sri Lanka

was not financially feasible solution for them.

We interviewed a bunch of people but most of them were just not good enough for our demands. Then we took a leap of faith and decided to hire a guy who was an uncut diamond. He didn’t portray all the qualities we were looking for but we knew that he has potential. On the last meters he backed out due to the twisted news Western media portrays of

Sri Lanka

. There we were again, in ground zero.

Luckily we happened to get back in touch with a local graduate who was finishing his time in AIESEC, too. We were impressed by his thinking and strategic readiness he portrayed. He’s called Indika. He was hired without any further pondering. Getting fresh blood into the team had to happen; and better late than not at all.

So far he has proven to be an invaluable part of the team. He can provide us with views that we could have never thought of. He is active in asking questions and aiming to understand the business more and more. He comes up with very good ideas how to improve the company and he’s seemingly passionate of working with us.

This is another turning point. We are becoming a stronger and more vital team. Still, we’d like to have a couple of high-profile foreign talents to fulfill our current potential and to reach out to international markets on more than one front. It is our strategy. It is our destiny.

According to Indika, there are five F’s that excite him about working with Unleash Talent: ‘Freedom, friendliness, family-feeling, future possibilities, and flearning. What? Who said learning cannot start with “F”?’

There’s still room in this Fantastic team. Currently we’re screening talents from India, Hong Kong and Romania but only the world is our limit: the fresh brain that we need might be anywhere out there. Maybe you are the next?

Noyoners

2007-07-13T14:37:00.000+05:30

We just came back from an amazing two-day leadership development program for Noyon Lanka Ltd. We have worked with these people for quite a while already, but again it felt so fresh and inspiring to share our leadership savvy with them. These guys are so intelligent! They are not only book-smart but they are emotionally intelligent. “Noyoners” can work easily together; there are no ego-issues or departmental barriers. They are quick to adapt new theoretical inputs and crack any practical problem via seamless teamwork and out-of-the-box thinking. Here are a few pictures from the program to show you how much fun we had while taking them to the next level in leadership understanding.

But let’s take a step back…. In early 2006 our BLUE Strategic Management Framework saw the daylight. I was still back home in Finland, but it had been confirmed that later that year I would be joining Unleash Talent Inc. So, I started giving my inputs to the model already at that time. It was exciting: the first strategic management framework that I had ever seen that is so simple, so down-to-earth, so inspiring and first and foremost so people-oriented.

As soon as I landed in Sri Lanka I joined Ruki in first ever BLUE project facilitated for Noyon Lanka Ltd. Though I had no clue of lace manufacturing, I fell in love with this client instantly. They had been established just two years ago in cooperation with French Noyon and local MAS Group. They were fresh, yes, but they were also open to fresh approach. We admitted that our product is about 90% ready; they were ready to experiment with us.

The process was painstaking but rewarding. People got frustrated at times under the workload we pushed on them: We didn’t let them go easy. We didn’t give them readily chewed answers. We wanted them to think strategically.

And they did. The whole Noyon crew, or family as they call it, grew to a whole another level in their thinking. Excitement took over as they launched the first glimpses of new identity and strategy. They could see clearly the path they have walked with us. And they were genuinely happy.

When we are not working with Noyon we occasionally miss them. We want to go back there. We want to feel their energy and joy. I love Noyon Lanka!

New office, old chandeliers

2007-07-05T10:57:00.000+05:30

We have now officially been at our new office in Fairfield Gardens for one month. As we moved here, it was a big chaos. But it was an organized chaos, like pretty much anything that we do. We transferred all the stuff from the old place and dumped it inside: boxes and computers lying around everywhere; wires, dust, and useless old stuff all over the floors. There was no phone line, no internet connection, no air conditioning… no nothing. But we were happy.

We knew that this place will be our dream office. We sat amidst all that crap and planned where we would place the water dispenser and the fresh fruits, what kind of fountain or waterfall we would install on our stone wall, what kind of fish we would put in the indoor pond that we have, where we would put the new lounge chairs, bean sacks and the Japanese style low glass table.

There was one disgusting thing though. In the ceiling we had two dusty antique chandeliers that according to Ruki were “ugly”, that appeared to me as “grannyish” and for Indika just “yucky”. We wanted to replace them as soon as possible, so we asked the landlord to take them away. He couldn’t believe we didn’t want to keep those precious things. In his mind they should be there because they’ve always been there. Ruki told him we cannot possibly have something we don’t like bothering us every day.

Also the leaders have to move with time. Rather than hanging on to old chandeliers you got to stay updated and choose what suits your style the best.

Ruki explains: ‘Our people are knowledge-workers who don’t treat their work as a job but as a passion. We spend most of our waking hours at the office. That’s why we need to have a working environment where people enjoy spending time and that can trigger their thinking to a new level. We wanted to move to new premises where we can live our values every day. This space reflects our values of passion, no limits, impact and edge.’

Why leadership blog?

2007-07-04T17:08:00.000+05:30

We believe that ordinary people in ordinary homes and ordinary organizations have extraordinary thoughts. We want to share our thinking with you and at the same time get you to contribute.

Most of the postings here will be from that ordinary life in the jungles of leadership and strategy development. In case you want us to discuss a certain topic that has been on top of your thoughts lately please make a comment in any of the postings and we'll write about it within a week or so.