You cannot blow an uncertain trumpet....
A slightly unusual phrase, but one i heard on at least 2 or 3 occasions over the course of last week when I was lucky enough to be able to spend 2 days out of the office at a workshop of sorts, concerning leadership at the IPA in London.
Organised as part of my on going IPA course, the 2 days consisted of the 16 delegates being taken through various different perspectives on leadership - what it is to lead, how to do it, why it's important, what does it consist of etc etc.
It wouldn't be an understatement to say that i feel utterly privileged to have attended this. Over the course of the two days, we were fortunate enough to hear from some of the most inspiring people and 'leaders' in advertising and communications including Mark Lund, Nicola Mendelsohn, Nigel Bogle, David Abraham, Tom Knox, Toby Horry, Alex Altman and many more besides.
Speaker lineups dont really get much better than that.
It would be difficult to distill every session in this forum, but despite the differences in background, experience, attitude and style a number of key themes emerged.
- The importance of being able to act - making a decision is the most important thing. Right or wrong, it doesnt matter, acting is vital.
-Communicating clearly is vital (obvious - but difficult to achieve)
-Every action will be scrutinised, all the time. Everytime you frown, someone notices. Basically, you've got to be 'on' the entire time
-Everyone has leadership responsibility - from the lowest graduate to the CEO. There is no leadership switch that is turned on when you reach a certain point.
-Leadership is about direction. You can have all the vision in the world, but it doesnt matter unless it has a sense of momentum and movement.
-Great leadership is about "we", not "I"
-Planning is as important as personality
-Finally, you can't blow an uncertain trumpet