The Power of Politics and Persuasion

The most successful leaders use power, political savvy and persuasion to bring their ideas to fruition. Many executives, however, are uncomfortable with power or office politics, viewing them as the dark side of workplace behaviour. They believe job satisfaction, morale and commitment erode when politics dominate the environment.

But research clearly shows that being politically savvy and building a power base pay off. In “Power Is the Great Motivator,” a classic 2003 Harvard Business Review article, leadership consultants David McClelland and David Burnham examined managers’ primary motivations and success in achieving results.

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Transparency & Trust: A New Metric for Leadership

We need a better way to evaluate our business leaders, assert James O’Toole and Warren Bennis in a recent Harvard Business Review article “A Culture of Candor,” (June 2009). It’s no longer prudent to judge American corporate leaders’ performance solely on the extent to which they create wealth for investors.

Moving forward, a new metric is proposed: the extent to which executives create organisations that are economically, ethically and socially sustainable.

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Leadership and Change – Are CEOs a roadblock to organisational change?

The esteemed position of corporate  Chief Executive.  With the right occupant, the traditional position of Chief Executive is generally regarded as essential to the continued prosperity and evolution of an organisation.   Or is it?

Our leaders and educators, and those that came before them instructed us in how organisations work.   The models and systems we put in place were largely designed for an age in which the orderly production of goods and services was the dominant economic model for an ever-growing consumer market.  Centralised control and authority inside a hierarchy was the primary enabling structure, and the office of the Chief Executive naturally emerged at its apex.

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