Julia Middleton's thoughts on leadership

With everyone (colleagues, media, stakeholders, customers) asking you for leadership – can you drown in it? So that you become only a reflection of what others want of you? I sat with some students on an MBA last week and the big thing they seemed to be asking me was how not to drown? They [...]

[Read more →]

In the UK, trust in leaders has eroded. It is worth saying that maybe in some ways this is a good thing. If it means we do a double take and think for ourselves. And if it means that leaders don’t over promise.

[Read more →]

I have been doing work recently with people who have huge IQs. I don’t say this lightly. They are faster at all discussions and this is not just about numbers – where they see a sea of numbers and go straight to the wobbly one – it’s about spotting the weakness in a strategy – [...]

[Read more →]

My daughter is doing her driving test in a couple of weeks. So I have been sitting by her for the last few weeks as she drives around and gets practice. She judged a messy roundabout very well yesterday and told me a secret that her driving instructor had told her. “Don’t look at the [...]

[Read more →]

Simon Singh won his court battle. I am glad. It was about his right to express his views freely. He didn’t make up facts he simply stated his views. I never got close to the intricacies of the issues but I did watch a man stand up for what he believed in and fight on [...]

[Read more →]

Making Good Society is the final report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in the UK and Ireland, published by the Carnegie UK Trust this month. I think the report speaks to some strong points, but I do take issue with some of the content. Alarm bells go off for [...]

[Read more →]

As part of our Leaders’ Questions in London, I interviewed Nigel Morris Jones and 11 other leaders. He pointed out that in 2009 the UK saw quite a bit of crisis management but not a great deal of leadership. I agree, and I disagree. Good crisis management is a part of good leadership. I don’t [...]

[Read more →]

I’m not one for fashion, let alone outlandish runway designs. I can admire the structural engineering that goes into creating these textile sculptures, but (and I know I’m missing the point here) they seem highly impractical to wear. My attitude to this, which will no doubt cause the eye-roll of many a fashion doyenne, by [...]

[Read more →]

This week I read an article by Robert Bruce in Financial Director that highlighted the need for some plain speaking honesty from financial directors. It really hit the nail on the head for me when I think how arrogant and self-important ‘closed shop’ speak can be, and how flawed the communications skills of many leaders [...]

[Read more →]

In amongst all the noise from Davos – and I’m only concerned that there is so much to listen to that people will switch off – but it is lovely to hear from a banker in this film who actually did do a great job in 2009. What comes across when he speaks about the [...]

[Read more →]