Julia Middleton's thoughts on leadership » Julia Middleton Common Purpose

Acting

Julia — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:38:51 +0000

A deeply frustrated friend came home the other day muttering “some people can actually do it, but most just act it”. He was talking about a group of leaders he is on a board with. “They act it, leadership, well; they have been really, really well trained; they know what to say and how to say it, and they say it with such conviction. But underneath, they simply are not leaders”.

I had been at a meeting too that day, with a man who appoints interim leaders to failing organisations. He was desperate – his pool of talent needed new skills now. They couldn’t simply work the numbers, move them around, appoint consultants and “drive through” a new strategy. They would actually have to lead – and become vulnerable in so doing – because there was no alternative turnaround option.

The world is revealing the difference between people who act it (and act it well) and people who really are leaders – brave, bold, inspiring, unpolished, driven and difficult.

Summer Reading

Julia — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:45:47 +0000

I am on holiday now. My main challenge has become producing daily picnics for large numbers of teenagers in Scotland!

There was a feature on BBC breakfast this morning about what your holiday reading choice says about you. As it happens, I made the terrible mistake last week of sending lots of friends a text asking them to tell me what to read while I am on the beach. I asked for things that will hurt my head and change my mind. They took me seriously!

The list is below. It’s long, and not exactly light reading, but it’s sure to change my mind on lots of things – that must be good.

Here it is – Summer Reading list.

If you have any suggestions of books, articles, podcasts, videos, magazines to add to the list then let me know.

30/09/2009

A bit late for summer, here is an updated list based on more titles that have been sent to me. Some of them good be could be nice for reading as the days get shroter this winter.

Be brave

Julia — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:35:58 +0000

It is interesting that the word brave is so often watered down. “No, no”, they say, “you don’t mean brave, you mean take calculated risks.” Well I don’t really – I mean be brave. Things are moving fast, and by the time most things are fully calculated the opportunity is likely to be gone. I met someone from China last week who said she found the UK truly desperate to work in because things went so unbelievably slow. We are going to have to move faster, and to do this we will have to be brave enough to make decisions that are not calculated ones. Some failures will happen as a result, and we will have to be brave to face up to, deal with and then live with them.

Confident Leadership

Julia — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:12:47 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the day with several Egyptians. None of them saw Obama in person – they had been told not to go out on their balcony or even look out of their window as his motorcade went past – but they heard his speech and told me with delight, “It’s a different America now”.

The difference that strong, confident leadership produces is wonderful and its biggest impact can be on the leader; a leader who does not need to resort to arrogance or bullying from a distance to express themselves.

In quarantine with swine flu

Julia — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:37:34 +0000

Strange how the world suddenly stops. Someone needs you totally; someone you care for dies. Suddenly, the vast action list of the morning becomes irrelevant.

Nothing like this has happened, but I am in quarantine – my son has swine flu! So people with masks over their faces come and check us out at home, and we arrange for the children who are not at home to stay with friends.

It is good as a leader to be reminded how the world spins on fine without you (except that my colleagues are carrying the load). I may feel less positive when I feel like Tom does tomorrow, but it’s only flu.

An idea that made my day

Julia — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:40:52 +0000

A whole host of Common Purpose graduates send me information about their mad ideas, but the maddest probably arrived this morning – it was great!

At first, I wasn’t sure I was really up for today and thought it would be better to sleep through it. Common Purpose is, just occasionally, really hard work, and two of my kids are in the middle exams and taking it out on me. But this email made it all feel possible.

The idea is “toilet twinning”. You twin your home/office/church/school toilet with a latrine in Africa to help support water sanitation there. In return you get a framed “I’ve twinned my toilet” certificate to hang in your toilet, with its own GPS reference point so that you can find your latrine on Google Earth.

So when you next stop by Common Purpose in London, I hope that you will use our facilities and see our certificate!

Twenty years of change

Julia — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:53:45 +0000

Tiananmen Square was twenty years ago this week. How the world – and China – have changed. The symbol for me was the earthquake last year when the Chinese government opened its reporting to foreign journalists. Over the last few months we have been talking to many leaders in China about whether we could start Common Purpose there and I believe that it increasingly makes sense . The sheer talent in China and the hunger of Chinese leaders to learn FROM people all over the world seems finally to be almost – not quite yet but almost – equalled by the rest of the worlds wish to learn at least ABOUT China. I hope that Common Purpose in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta, as a first step, is around the corner, then with luck Shanghai.

Hitting 50

Julia — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:29:40 +0000

I hit 50 today.

That’s 50 people I have met in the last seven days who have told me that they plan to “sit tight” through the recession. And they call themselves leaders!

Their assumption is:

it will get back to where it was
it’s just a question of waiting
that they have no role to play
that all will be ok in the end.

I fear for the UK. All 50 have been in Britain.

Enterprise or self interest?

Julia — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:00:48 +0000

I had a difficult conversation with an investment banker friend yesterday. He expressed relief that things were starting to look better, and to indicate that the basic banking model was not totally flawed. I asked him what kind of people would be needed at the top in the future. Even though he is a good friend, and knows that I am far from anti-banks, I could hear him curdle. He said that the people at the top of enterprises would always be motivated primarily by making money, and that there was nothing wrong with this.

There is nothing wrong with being motivated by money (quite the opposite), but it’s the “primarily” word that’s the problem for me – I think it belittles enterprise. I have always understood that the role of enterprise is to create the wealth, deliver the goods and provide the services that society needs. This is a fine objective for enterprise, one that puts it at the heart of society. Surely there is a difference between enterprise and self interest?

Selling is about solving peoples problems

Julia — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Sales. So many people don’t want to do sales. It’s somehow seen as dirty and grubby, cheap and unpleasant (and that’s if it’s not underhand, scheming and manipulative). People who understand faiths and cultures no doubt know the root of this attitude. For me, it’s something you have to overcome whether you are in India, Britain or Ghana.

People tell me that they can overcome it if they believe in what they are selling. I don’t understand this. Why would you sell something you did not believe in? You would be guaranteed never to get the opportunity to sell it again.

I think the breakthrough comes when you realise that selling is about solving people’s problems. They have a need – sometimes they know it, sometimes they don’t – but you sell them something that will meet that need, solve their problem for them.

When you realise that you are not selling but solving people’s problems – and genuinely solving them – then sales becomes huge fun.