Julia Middleton's thoughts on leadership » leadership

Where’s the evidence for leading through motivation instead of fear?

Julia — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:56:15 +0000

I did a talk on Leading Beyond Authority in Budapest today. Then had a dinner and walked back to my hotel along the Danube in beautiful weather. A young woman who had been in the audience ran after me. She was intelligent, thoughtful, together, direct, talented; I liked her immediately. She said she was from Kazakhstan. She tilted her head as we walked and said “Tell me, do you have any evidence that motivation works better than fear?” One hell of a question! She said that she believed it intuitively but that she had not seen any evidence because in Kazakhstan some leaders lead through fear and certainly seem to be successful. I gave her lots of answers that seemed obvious to me. The best to my mind was that I have not seen much innovation emanating from fear. But I didn’t really persuade her. She believed me but could see no evidence to support the belief. I told this story to a Russian this morning who said “To be a leader you must have the Tsar in you,” otherwise no one will respect you. So I leave Budapest a failure. Maybe I will find the right words to persuade her tonight, but it will be too late.

Should you encourage leaders for being brave?

Julia — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:13:53 +0000

Should you encourage leaders for being brave? It rather highlights to them the reality that they are having to be brave.

I went to the House of Lords last night in my role as a trustee of the Media Standards Trust to support the launch of Hacked Off, a campaign to get a proper enquiry into phone hacking. The meeting was set up a while ago so you could say that after the announcement yesterday it was no longer needed, but of course that’s not true. It’s not just about getting an enquiry, it’s about getting the right enquiry, with the right brief and the right time scale. We can’t wait two years!

There were some great people there who have stood out from others in their bravery. And its real bravery – if the media does not like you, life can be very tough. But as we congratulated Chris Bryant, Max Mosley, John Prescott, Norman Fowler and many others, you could see some looking around nervously. Hugh Grant was there too, catapulting himself into this – I hope he keeps on being brave. I hope they all do.

This is about people in institutions losing sight of what they are about, people trying to act above the law, people doing unforgivable things to others, people who as leaders refuse to accept responsibility for what happens around them. If we duck this, and don’t help the brave to be brave, we are in trouble.

Is there a difference between appointed & elected leadership?

Julia — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:08:38 +0000

Appointed leaders know, but so often forget, how different it is for elected leaders. How normal behaviour resumes months after an election and ends months before one.

Listening to a friend reminded me why China seems to have halted in a trajectory just at the moment. It’s the ninth year, next year is the tenth and their election happens next year. As he said, don’t expect too much in the next two years!

What are your thoughts on the difference between appointed leadership and elected leadership?

Size or Systems – what gets in the way?

Julia — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 06:53:36 +0000

Leaders are going mad. Mad with systems. Systems to check systems. Then systems to monitor the checking of systems.

Everyone assumes the public sector is the guilty one in the UK. I am not sure it’s about sectors – more about size.

Was visiting a huge global company, talking to the MD of a UK subsidiary. How many signatures do you think you need to authorise a capital expenditure payment (MD’s example was for a £67K item) which has already been authorised by the board? Multiple choice: 2, 5, 10, 15, 27?

Yes, you got it, 27. And they have to be done in sequence, in other words signatory 21 cannot sign before signatory 20 has done so.

As a leader how could you possibly inspire the income earners to make enough to cover such a bureaucracy?

Is the generation gap getting bigger?

Julia — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:39:16 +0000

I am more and more interested in how good senior leaders are at inspiring younger people. Or rather how many are not good at it. Is the generation gap getting bigger these days? Probably not. Am I getting older and so more aware of this? Probably yes. Are young people less prepared nowadays to give their best to senior leaders who can’t communicate with them? Too right they are. And it’s an international phenomenon.

I think that one of the key indicators of future success in senior leaders could become their ability to communicate – to resonate with and inspire younger people.

Are some leaders deaf to negativity?

Julia — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:51:17 +0000

Made a pitch this morning to an international organisation. The pitch team regrouped to give each other feedback.
Very helpful reminder from a colleague “Julia never say anything negative .” Even if its only one negative point amongst plenty of positive ones. For some leaders negative points are signs of weakness; not being on side.

He is right I have been told this before and forgotten it.

But I have been thinking that maybe this is why some leaders have limited ability to hear what people think. Either because its not worth telling them if its negative. Or because by the time you have contorted your point to appear to be positive, it is almost impossible to find.

Leaders beware of your generational blind spots

Julia — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:26:33 +0000

When the old can’t talk to the young, you just smile and say it was ever thus. When they fail to capture attention, fail to resonate, when the old and young pass in the night..it’s just the way it is and always will be and could even be a pre condition for progress. The young want to strive to achieve more and do better and should never be satisfied by the old.

It has been worse than that working on a new project this week with many people of my generation (I am 52). The old, with some exception, have just not communicated at any level with the young. They’ve seen no need to. Not even tried to. It’s not just that they fail to get attention, reassure, elicit trust, excite or inspire. They can’t even start a basic exchange.

Some can’t see any need to. They laugh at the very idea that a young person should ask for an answer. They laugh, snigger, guffaw – together. They humiliate the young in their laughing. Some, as they laugh together, even cause a surge in their group laughter, asking “Why not get the tea lady to answer?”

I believe that leaders have to watch out for their blind spots. Total unwillingness to engage with the next generation is a very dangerous one.

The wisdom of leadership in Frankfurt Airport

Julia — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:43:52 +0000

All I wanted to do was get my plane. But the security people at Frankfurt airport pulled me out for a search then dragged me to a room. The woman asked me to lean against a table and ran her metal detector over my stocking feet and legs.

The metal detector bleeped and screeched and howled. My legs were clearly metal. She looked so confused. I was getting furious. I even had leggings on. Where could I be hiding metal? She wouldn’t give up though. Up and down it went on my legs complaining.

Fortunately she called her supervisor. We needed the leader’s greater wisdom, authority and confidence to deal with the situation. She delivered. I had been asked to lean against a metal table. The wisdom of leadership!

Is there such thing as “inherited power”?

Julia — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:07:43 +0000

Someone drew a parallel for me between royal leaders and leaders of huge corporations and organisations. I don’t know if its true but it has made me think. He talked about how kings and queens are aware of their position and how there is a clear, if invisible, line that you cannot cross when you meet them or work with them. If you do, you risk being made to feel that you have been presumptuous. He said that in his experience the same thing happens with leaders of large organisations. His proposition was that this came in both cases from the “Inner anxiety of inherited power”. Obvious in royalty, less maybe in large organisations. He said that in the latter, leaders almost inherit their position without necessarily having created anything themselves. There are definitely flaws in this logic but its an interesting angle.

Small acts. Huge impact.

Julia — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:34:09 +0000

Small acts. Small unexpected acts. Small unexpected quiet acts. They have a huge impact.

I seldom do anything as “Mrs. Middleton”. Over Christmas I attended something alongside my husband as “the wife”. It was a carol service and he did the final reading. As he spoke most of us in the congregation followed him on the sheet we had been given.

Half way through he read “person” rather than “man”. Not a single woman missed it. I assume the men didn’t either. But it was the women who quietly, as they left, commented on his “slip” with a smile on their faces.

So it was a delight being only Mrs. Middleton. Just for an evening.