Gordon Jackson, convenor of the New Leaders Forum, said once:
“Leadership is of the Spirit...Management is of the mind.”
Not contradictory. Merely Different sides of the same coin. Wisdom is in knowing the difference, and knowing what lever to push!
Leadership – and good management – is a paradox. Yes...leaders know that both are important. Brilliant leaders know how to differentiate. And take appropriate action.
Steve on Leadership # 8
Steve on Leadership # 7
I really like Lau Tsu, for many reasons, but particularly his quote where he explicitly mentions leadership (among many others where he alludes to it):
The worst kind of leader is the one the people fear.
The next is the leader the people hate.
The better leader is the one the people love.
Even better is the leader the people respect.
Better still is the leader the people love and respect.
But the best kind of leader is the one when the job is done
Of whom the people say:
‘We did it ourselves”.
Which kind of leader are you?
The worst kind of leader is the one the people fear.
The next is the leader the people hate.
The better leader is the one the people love.
Even better is the leader the people respect.
Better still is the leader the people love and respect.
But the best kind of leader is the one when the job is done
Of whom the people say:
‘We did it ourselves”.
Which kind of leader are you?
Steve on Leadership # 6
One of the most inspiring leaders in Australia to me is Michael Rennie. Michael is the director of a large management consulting company, and battled a serious cancer in his youth that changed his life, and inspired me.
Despite facing death, Michael said once, “There are limits in the world, but these limits are much less than the limits we place on ourselves. The constraining limit is yours – no one else’s. It’s your own sense of what you can do, and when you break through that, you can break through the limits of the world. That’s the message about leadership.”
I’ve had the colossal privilege of hearing Michael speak several times, and whenever Michael speaks, people listen...and think. One of the enormous gifts Michael gave me is the opportunity to sit down and talk to me one-on-one, and my leadership journey has never been the same again.
As Michael supposed, we place more limits on ourselves than the world places on us. Michael is a leader in Australia and in the world business community. We can only hope that he continues to spread his light in Australia for the betterment of the global community.
Michael Rennie – inspiration personified. All leaders can learn from him.
Steve Lourey steve@zerotcd.com.au
Despite facing death, Michael said once, “There are limits in the world, but these limits are much less than the limits we place on ourselves. The constraining limit is yours – no one else’s. It’s your own sense of what you can do, and when you break through that, you can break through the limits of the world. That’s the message about leadership.”
I’ve had the colossal privilege of hearing Michael speak several times, and whenever Michael speaks, people listen...and think. One of the enormous gifts Michael gave me is the opportunity to sit down and talk to me one-on-one, and my leadership journey has never been the same again.
As Michael supposed, we place more limits on ourselves than the world places on us. Michael is a leader in Australia and in the world business community. We can only hope that he continues to spread his light in Australia for the betterment of the global community.
Michael Rennie – inspiration personified. All leaders can learn from him.
Steve Lourey steve@zerotcd.com.au
Steve on Leadership # 5
Donna Ritchie, one of Australia’s great Paralympics’ basketballers, and an elite champion athlete and leader (and inspiration to us all), was injured in a horrific accident which left her in a wheelchair, and spend a considerable time in rehabilitation.
Donna could easily have given up, and succumbed to her appalling difficulties, but Donna refused to give in to her challenges, and went on to become an elite athlete through sheer “guts”, determination, and strength of character.
I had the enormous privilege of spending time with Donna on a number of occasions, and she has never not impressed me by her determination to get on with a wonderful life, and her energy. She is a wonderful example of the strength of the human spirit, and leadership in adversity.
Someone asked Donna, (and I had the good fortune to be there), whether she ever thought of giving up to the pain and difficulty. Donna’s response still rings in my ears: “It never ever, ever, ever, ever crossed my mind to give up. Not ever. Not once.”
As an “able bodied” person, I felt very humbled. Donna has achieved greatness and leadership despite enormous difficulties and suffering, and is a great example to me.
Looking at Donna’s guts and achievements, what excuse do I have? What excuse do you have not to take on the mantle of leadership?
Not only has Donna made me re-evaluate the concept on “dis-ability”, she has made me re-examine the fundamentals on leadership. She is an example to us all.
Donna could easily have given up, and succumbed to her appalling difficulties, but Donna refused to give in to her challenges, and went on to become an elite athlete through sheer “guts”, determination, and strength of character.
I had the enormous privilege of spending time with Donna on a number of occasions, and she has never not impressed me by her determination to get on with a wonderful life, and her energy. She is a wonderful example of the strength of the human spirit, and leadership in adversity.
Someone asked Donna, (and I had the good fortune to be there), whether she ever thought of giving up to the pain and difficulty. Donna’s response still rings in my ears: “It never ever, ever, ever, ever crossed my mind to give up. Not ever. Not once.”
As an “able bodied” person, I felt very humbled. Donna has achieved greatness and leadership despite enormous difficulties and suffering, and is a great example to me.
Looking at Donna’s guts and achievements, what excuse do I have? What excuse do you have not to take on the mantle of leadership?
Not only has Donna made me re-evaluate the concept on “dis-ability”, she has made me re-examine the fundamentals on leadership. She is an example to us all.
Steve on Leadership 4
Joshua Owen, former director of the Institute of Administration within the University of New South Wales, said once:
“You can make a difference with visionary leadership. Visionary leaders do not change with the times. They change ahead of the time – indeed they change the times. They know the way, they show the way and they go the way. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Sooner or later the one who wins is the one who says ‘I can’”.
Like many other leaders in Australia, I’ve had the privilege of hearing Joshua speak, and in his guided reflection, taken his legendary ride in the helicopter where he urges us to “rise above the ordinary.”
As Joshua says, you can make a difference with visionary leadership.
Counterfeit “leaders” do not understand the concept of visionary leadership. Real leaders realise that visionary leadership is first and foremost.
As Joshua says, visionary leaders change ahead of the time - they change the times. Visionary leaders do not wait for trends to develop – they create the trends and help shape them!
Joshua told me, “The one who wins is the one who says ‘I can’.” What is required is the will...and the determination to achieve – and dialogue.
“You can make a difference with visionary leadership. Visionary leaders do not change with the times. They change ahead of the time – indeed they change the times. They know the way, they show the way and they go the way. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Sooner or later the one who wins is the one who says ‘I can’”.
Like many other leaders in Australia, I’ve had the privilege of hearing Joshua speak, and in his guided reflection, taken his legendary ride in the helicopter where he urges us to “rise above the ordinary.”
As Joshua says, you can make a difference with visionary leadership.
Counterfeit “leaders” do not understand the concept of visionary leadership. Real leaders realise that visionary leadership is first and foremost.
As Joshua says, visionary leaders change ahead of the time - they change the times. Visionary leaders do not wait for trends to develop – they create the trends and help shape them!
Joshua told me, “The one who wins is the one who says ‘I can’.” What is required is the will...and the determination to achieve – and dialogue.
Steve on Leadership # 3
At the Inaugural Johnson & Johnson New Leaders Forum, Roger Allsop, then director of Johnson & Johnson Pacific, said:
“Leadership is about persuading others to act to achieve goals that represent true values, and the wants, needs, motivations, aspirations and expectation of both leaders and followers.”
Whilst Roger was “spot on”, and authentic leaders understand what is meant by true values, what is really important is identifying goals that correspond to true values, and the desires, wants, motivations, goals and hopes of both leaders and followers.
This requires both genuine leadership, and bona fide communication. We have all experienced ersatz communication, and from my observation – having worked extensively in both the public and private sectors – I think this false communication is sadly the default method of both management and trade unions.
What is desperately needed as we face the vast challenges of the 21st century and the recession is real dialogue to identifying mutual goals and the goodwill to work together to achieve synergy.
Any loser can talk...real leaders and authentic followers dialogue. If you are a leader without followers (an oxymoron), then you’re just a guy/gal going for a walk!
Steve Lourey steve@zerotcd.com.au
“Leadership is about persuading others to act to achieve goals that represent true values, and the wants, needs, motivations, aspirations and expectation of both leaders and followers.”
Whilst Roger was “spot on”, and authentic leaders understand what is meant by true values, what is really important is identifying goals that correspond to true values, and the desires, wants, motivations, goals and hopes of both leaders and followers.
This requires both genuine leadership, and bona fide communication. We have all experienced ersatz communication, and from my observation – having worked extensively in both the public and private sectors – I think this false communication is sadly the default method of both management and trade unions.
What is desperately needed as we face the vast challenges of the 21st century and the recession is real dialogue to identifying mutual goals and the goodwill to work together to achieve synergy.
Any loser can talk...real leaders and authentic followers dialogue. If you are a leader without followers (an oxymoron), then you’re just a guy/gal going for a walk!
Steve Lourey steve@zerotcd.com.au
Steve on Leadership # 2
At the inaugural Annual Forum for New Leaders in 1993, auspiced by Johnson & Johnson Pacific, Catholic priest and author Father Christopher Gleeson, S.J., and then headmaster of St Ignatius College Riverview said:
“If we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything. If we want to change things then we must first of all change ourselves. The true leader begins from the inside out – with the capacity for vision, for self reflection, for discernment of what is reactive and proactive in me, between the negative and the positive, between false and true self.”
Many years hence, Pope Benedict XVI said something similar:
“We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires...”
What we lack, it seems, is a moral compass amongst our “leaders” within politics and business. Despite the “If it feels OK, and it doesn’t hurt me, then go for it” attitude that seems to permeate Australian and American society, there are some moral absolute that we in positions of influence and leadership need to consider.
Some things are right, just, and true, whether we want to acknowledge them or not, and regardless of whether or not we like them. Fairness to me is sacred, along with the dignity of human life in all its stages, as well as the dignity of human work, and the fact that all men and women are created equal and have an inherent right to the dignity that is innate in the human person.
It is also imperative to remember that leadership and management are different charisms. Not mutually exclusive, but distinct. The manager of a company might be the managing director or the CEO. The real leader might be the person who works in the mailroom or the tea lady. In this era of “down sizing” and “right sizing”, the person who sorts the mail or pours the tea might well have been “let go”. In return, just how many real leaders have we let go?
This is to the detriment of corporate governance. Instead of nurturing and encouraging these people, we have allowed them to join the unemployment queue. Corporate Australia is the poorer for this myopia.
What we need desperately are leaders with a set of corrective moral lenses, intestinal fortitude, and strong vertebrae.
Steve Lourey
“If we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything. If we want to change things then we must first of all change ourselves. The true leader begins from the inside out – with the capacity for vision, for self reflection, for discernment of what is reactive and proactive in me, between the negative and the positive, between false and true self.”
Many years hence, Pope Benedict XVI said something similar:
“We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires...”
What we lack, it seems, is a moral compass amongst our “leaders” within politics and business. Despite the “If it feels OK, and it doesn’t hurt me, then go for it” attitude that seems to permeate Australian and American society, there are some moral absolute that we in positions of influence and leadership need to consider.
Some things are right, just, and true, whether we want to acknowledge them or not, and regardless of whether or not we like them. Fairness to me is sacred, along with the dignity of human life in all its stages, as well as the dignity of human work, and the fact that all men and women are created equal and have an inherent right to the dignity that is innate in the human person.
It is also imperative to remember that leadership and management are different charisms. Not mutually exclusive, but distinct. The manager of a company might be the managing director or the CEO. The real leader might be the person who works in the mailroom or the tea lady. In this era of “down sizing” and “right sizing”, the person who sorts the mail or pours the tea might well have been “let go”. In return, just how many real leaders have we let go?
This is to the detriment of corporate governance. Instead of nurturing and encouraging these people, we have allowed them to join the unemployment queue. Corporate Australia is the poorer for this myopia.
What we need desperately are leaders with a set of corrective moral lenses, intestinal fortitude, and strong vertebrae.
Steve Lourey
Steve on Leadership #1
Back in 1993, on of Australia’s unsung heroes and leaders, Gordon Jackson, created the New Leaders Forum. The program was called the Johnson & Johnson Forum for New Leaders, and I was privileged to be both one of the original participants, and organisers, of the forum, working under the leadership and vision of Gordon.
Gordon is a great man, and deserves recognition for his vision and leadership in convincing initially Johnson & Johnson Pacific, and later the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, to embrace his vision of a better Australia and the world.
As the Forum convenor, Gordon said to the inaugural New Leaders Forum, “We have to produce a vision and put Australia back where it’s supposed to be. So let’s do it – together.”
Gordon’s words have inspired me for more than 15 years – to strive for a better, fairer Australia, and to aim for greatness. Gordon and Johnson & Johnson inspired me to put on the mantle of leadership; to drink from the (sometimes) poisonous chalice of leadership at a time when society seems to be celebrating the cult of mediocrity as a virtue.
As Nick Farr-Jones A.M. said at the inaugural Forum (and I’m definitely not a rugby fan!), “...to be successful you must couple the dream with something. That something is commitment. Losers make promises, winners make commitments.”
Commitment, by friends, is what sorts the “sheep from the goats”. It’s kind of like the acid test for leadership. As Nick said, losers make promises, winners make commitments.
Leadership is what we desperately need in this new Millennium...not empty rhetoric and promises, but authentic vision, values and inspiration. We all owe Gordon Jackson and Johnson & Johnson an enormous debt in providing countless young people with the spark to have the courage and power to believe in themselves...and in a better for this great country.
steve@zerotcd.com.au
Gordon is a great man, and deserves recognition for his vision and leadership in convincing initially Johnson & Johnson Pacific, and later the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, to embrace his vision of a better Australia and the world.
As the Forum convenor, Gordon said to the inaugural New Leaders Forum, “We have to produce a vision and put Australia back where it’s supposed to be. So let’s do it – together.”
Gordon’s words have inspired me for more than 15 years – to strive for a better, fairer Australia, and to aim for greatness. Gordon and Johnson & Johnson inspired me to put on the mantle of leadership; to drink from the (sometimes) poisonous chalice of leadership at a time when society seems to be celebrating the cult of mediocrity as a virtue.
As Nick Farr-Jones A.M. said at the inaugural Forum (and I’m definitely not a rugby fan!), “...to be successful you must couple the dream with something. That something is commitment. Losers make promises, winners make commitments.”
Commitment, by friends, is what sorts the “sheep from the goats”. It’s kind of like the acid test for leadership. As Nick said, losers make promises, winners make commitments.
Leadership is what we desperately need in this new Millennium...not empty rhetoric and promises, but authentic vision, values and inspiration. We all owe Gordon Jackson and Johnson & Johnson an enormous debt in providing countless young people with the spark to have the courage and power to believe in themselves...and in a better for this great country.
steve@zerotcd.com.au
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