Lessons in Leadership: Share the Rewards

Natural disasters, global recession, investment banks in the doghouse, financial pressure on businesses and individuals: the financial and business worlds have trudged through the last couple of years, dragging their employees with them.

Employees have been asked to “dig deep and work to get through this”, bearing the brunt of pay cuts, increased workloads and reduced working conditions.

Employees have mucked in when it counted so shareholders could sleep at night and the company could live to see another day.

These employees are not just your management team either. They are anyone with a point of contact in your business including cleaners, secretarial staff, support staff and suppliers.

How you treat people directly affects your standing in the market place, your employee value proposition and your shareholder value.
Last December Clive Palmer, a leading figure in Australian business, shared the rewards. He gave all 750 long term workers at his Yabulu nickel refinery in North Queensland a…

Leadership In A Crisis – How Effective Would You And Your Team Be?

Stability is no longer the norm, if it ever was. Economic and physical crises dominate our newspaper headlines. Bushfires, floods, earthquakes and environmental disasters touch the lives of ordinary people every day. The Global Financial Crisis sparked insolvencies, bankruptcies and liquidations and left no-one feeling safe. The CEO of BP slept well at night until [...]

Lesson In Business Leadership: Look In From The Outside

Some years ago, my then flatmate raced into the living room, arms windmilling, expletives flying, yelling that there was an imminent risk of severe flooding in our bathroom. Six floors up, with residents underneath us, this was not good news. Galvanised by her panic, I raced into the bathroom with her. Sure enough, the water [...]