Leadership and Integrity – Unravelling the red carpet

November 19, 2008 by Di  
Filed under integrity, leadership, personal responsibility

I had occasion to drive past the aftermath of the red carpet premier of the movie Australia in George Street Sydney last night and I couldn’t believe my eyes at the size of the red carpet. It was at least as wide as 3 lanes and who knows how far its length extended into the distance. Just goes to show how many big budget movie premiers I’ve been to, but I always thought they were about the size of a hall runner in a very long house. I guess the bigger the carpet, the more important the event, the leader, the dignitary or the celebrity walking on it. The red carpet phenomenon also applies to what you look like when you walk on the carpet. Look at the pictures of our celebrities who go to great lengths to be exquisitely coiffed and outfitted in a manner befitting royalty when the carpet calls.

Some quick research into the red carpet phenomenon takes us beyond movie premiers and back to 485BC and Aeschylus, a Greek playright. Aeschylus created a character called Agenemon whose wife deceives him into walking onto red carpet which was intended for the gods.  Fast forward to the 1820s and we see the red carpet rolled out for a US President and in 1902 red carpet is used in ceremonial fashion to welcome guests to a classy train journey.

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Change Management – “Yes we can…change starts today” Barack Obama

November 18, 2008 by Di  
Filed under change, change leadership, change management, leadership

I exchanged some emails with My US publisher the other day, after the frenzy of Obama’s decisive election win. My publisher was fascinated about the rest of the world’s interest in how the race unfolded over the last few months. I’m reminded of the words of Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman and his recent book – Hot Flat and Crowded, when he describes how the US cannot help but export both its greatest hopes as well as its greatest fears into the world.

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