Conduit goes open

Great news this week for our toolbar users. The platform providers, Conduit, have introduced an excellent new feature. By simply clicking on the + symbol at the end of our toolbar, users can access the Conduit marketplace and add any component of their choice from 200,000 other toolbars. Combined with the option to include/exclude any of the components we already provide such as direct feeds to the best leadership blogs, every user can customise their own toolbar to provide a unique and personalised browsing experience - all completely free.

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Simon Cooper heads up ELC Training Solutions and is the author of the best selling leadership development book, Brilliant Leader.

Leadership Week 3 November to 17 November

Eagle eyed readers will notice that this week's leadership review covers a two week period. This is nothing more sinister than a reflection of how busy I have been. Nonetheless, I've still been reading and keeping up to date and I would encourage every current and aspiring leader to do precisely that - it's a key part of staying on top of your game!

1. Mimi Bacilek posted a great article titled, Bringing your firm through chaos, a real measure of leader's success. Her advice can be applied to leading any group of people in these uncertain times and includes - rallying the troops, empowering teams and rewarding success.

2. Building on Mimi's article Dan McCarthy asks the question, Leading through chaos, does a manager need a psychology degree? His conclusion is that while qualifications are useful, there can be no substitute for experience.

3. Appearing as a guest writer on Tom Peter's blog, John O'Leary discusses Leadership Farming. The suggestion is that great leaders are defined by the product of the talent they nurture. It has really developed into an interesting debate with over 40 comments so far (these are also well worth reading).

4. On the Leadership Now blog, Michael McKinney has posted an excerpt from Tony Wagner's, The Global Achievement Gap on the Seven Survival Skills for the New World of Work that include Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Agility, Entrepreneurship, Communication and Analytical Skills.

5. On his Strategic HCM blog Jon Ingham begins an excellent article by discussing Ulrich's Leadership Code before going on to suggest his own enhancements to the basic model. Both parts are well worth considering.


Why wait another week (or even two!) for my next update? Keep up to date with our Leadership Toolbar that provides one-click access to the top leadership development sites, leadership articles and blogs, leadership books, business newsfeeds and leadership tools. And we've also added a new section on leadership discussion forums. It's 100% free and we guarantee no adware or spyware. Download and install our Leadership Toolbar today.



Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Leadership Week - 28 Oct to 3 Nov 2008

Simon Cooper reviews this week's best leadership articles.

Wally Brock continues to inspire with his Three Star Leadership blog. In this week's gem (although delivered as more of a rant at a NYT article) Wally focuses on motivation in tough times. The great thing about Wally's blog is that it continuously encourages the reader to think and in my case, the writer to write.

Chris Young on the Rainmaker blog looks at five common reasons why CEOs do not share their vision. While reading this article it's worth considering whether your CEO shares their vision and more to the point, would it help you as a manager/leader do your job better?

On Leadership Turn, Miki Saxon explores the leadership silver bullet. This revolves around how managers can change their mindset in order to become true leaders. As anyone attending my leadership workshops will know, the development of leadership attitudes, values and behaviours is close to my heart.

On Mission Minded Management, Michelle Malay Carter makes some strong points about management accountability. The overriding impression for me was that shared leadership (of which I am a fan) should not be confused with shared accountability.

On his Community Blog Stephen Covey analyses trust between the leader, the organisation and the staff members. He discusses how easily it can be broken and goes on to explore the steps required to rebuild trust. This is a must read article, especially for anyone who is familiar with Dr Covey's 13 Behaviors of High Trust Leaders.

Why wait a whole week to see my top picks? Every blog and article listed here (and many more) are covered on our Leadership Toolbar - providing you with one-click access to everything you need to keep up to date with the leadership world, as and when it happens.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Leadership Week - 20-27 October 2008

Simon Cooper reviews the week's best leadership articles.

There was a great article by Herb Kelleher this week, talking about his best lesson in leadership - be genuine. Faked behaviour is transparent from a mile away and people don't buy into it. There are many ways to become a great leader but the overriding factor is to be true to yourself and your values.

Wally Brock continues to produce excellent pieces in his Three Star Leadership blog. This week's gem focuses on the differing attitudes towards training and development between senior executives and HR professionals. Do we train to genuinely develop people or to keep the troops happy?

A useful summary by Miki Saxon of a recent Guy Kawasaki interview for the NY Times, including extracts of GIA (Guy's Index of Absurdity) from his recent book, Reality Check. As Miki says, it's not what Guy says that is so original but rather, the way he says it.

Writing on Leadership Village, Maureen Collins makes the point that the key to effectively managing performance problems is to gain a commitment to improvement, not to bully out a submission - how true.

John Agno continues his narcissist's leaders series with a a review of how to avoid the traps that come with this leadership type - including finding a trusted sidekick and seeking therapy (aka executive coaching)!

With the ELC Leadership Toolbar it is easy to keep up to date with the leadership world - the best articles, books, news, tools and more with just a single click. It's easy to install, 100% free and completely adware/spyware free. Why not improve your browsing experience today, it takes less than a minute to download and install.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.