For the past thirty to forty years, much research has proven the superiority of group decision-making over that of even the brightest individuals in the group (Alan B Krueger, Economic Scene, NYT, 7 December 2000). There is one exception to this rule: if the group lacks harmony or the ability to cooperate, decision-making quality and…
“Most people think leadership is about being in charge. Most people think leadership is about having all the answers and being the most intelligent person or the most qualified person in the room. The irony is that it is the complete opposite. Leadership is about empowering others to achieve things they did not think possible….
When presidents play God, one is reminded of Martin Luther King’s words: “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” Being a good leader in any context is tough – having a worthy vision, communicating with clarity, engaging authentically, empathising with compassion, providing hope, etc. One of the…
“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope” (Martin Luther King) Have you ever known a time more desperate than what we are facing currently? We are in the midst of a devastating pandemic in the world. Many of our financial institutions are on the brink of collapse. Businesses and large…
I happened to be looking at the flight radar application on my mobile a couple of days ago, the same radar which indicates the positions of all airplanes with connected transponders all over the world. I noticed, with some degree of approval, the relative absence of flights over Africa, no flights landing or taking off…
“Today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way” (Dr Seuss) Dreaming about a thing in order to do it properly constitutes wisdom; dreaming about a thing when you should be doing it is ineffective. Contemplating your vision and meditating on it, letting it become engrained in your mind, is helpful,…
“Good decisions come from experience and experience comes from bad decisions” (Mark Twain) One of the restaurants that I typically frequent usually serves great food. On a particular evening, my wife and I felt like eating seafood and ordered a fish and calamari combination discounted special – a decision that we later regretted. The calamari…
“Patience is the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard for what you believe in” (Marc Chernoff) We all get irritated or frustrated at times – long queues, traffic that doesn’t seem to move, a lady in the front of the row handing in what seems to be fifty coupons to the check-out…
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm” (Winston Churchill) Economist and Financial Times columnist, Tim Harford, in his book “Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure” noted: “Few of our own failures are fatal”. This may ring true, but we certainly don’t enjoy the pain and…
Decision-making is tough, especially the life-changing ones. Wrestling with possible outcomes, attempting to ensure that others (especially those closest to you) are not negatively impacted by a decision, not being sure, realising that there could be unexpected fall-out – all this plays on the mind and ultimately on the emotions. The same is true in…
As leaders, we are faced with decisions that need to be made on a daily basis. Many of them, especially the ones that are governed by cultural norms, societal principles or organisational procedures and policies, are easy to make – the decisions, in a sense, have already been made for one. Others prove to be…
I have a huge appreciation for the photographer that manages to capture the “perfect” shot. Not happy with just taking pictures of subjects, these great photographers manage to find a worthwhile perspective of even a mundane subject and transform the subject into a glorious representation of its potential. The potential was always there, but the…
