Julia Middleton's thoughts on leadership

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 [...]

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I was brought up to have no respect for any position, age, background or title. My father told me that no one was better than me other than as a result of their ability, experience, achievements or character. At best people like this in me, and at worst they think my lack of deference is [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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It seemed sad that for many years TV was never interested in producing anything about leadership. Finally in the UK there is a programme that addresses a lot of the issues. It has a huge following, ratings are soaring, no-one wants to miss an episode…it’s “The Apprentice”. Sometimes I feel like the only person in [...]

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On a recent trip to the US, I don’t think I met anyone who did not use the word authentic in some way. ‘Authentic’ was coupled with loads of words – “authentic leaders”, “authentic brands”, “authentic messages”, “authentic ideas”… It raises the question of what purpose ‘authentic’ serves in such pairings. And more than this, other [...]

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