In my last article, I wrote about the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), promising that in this one I would delve into the latest trends in CSR and how it relates to ESG (the Environmental, Social and Governance dimensions) and the SDGs (the Sustainable Development Goals). For my guidance, I turned again to Michael […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-12-06 11:29:312022-12-06 11:29:31CSR: Do good in a sustainable way
In today’s world more and more firms from SMEs upward – never mind publicly quoted ones – have taken corporate social responsibility as a natural component in how they operate. For some, it came more naturally than for others. For those where owners’ and directors’ values resonated with being responsible citizens, it was an easy […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-11-22 13:02:582022-11-22 13:02:58Evolution of philanthropy and CSR
Some time ago I wrote an article about Trump as a man whose I’m-OK-You’re-not-OK behaviour, one that required consistent win-lose interactions with others, masked a deeply insecure soul. Yet despite these insecurities, despite this lack of self-esteem, he built up extraordinary self-confidence, and through bullying, cheating and lying he achieved all that he did. I […]
It’s quite some time since I wrote about national issues in this column, allowing the extravagant 24/7 political campaigning and the media’s relentless focus on it to sweep over me. Reflecting on it all, plus on the election itself and the days since, I realised that throughout these months I can’t remember when any of […]
The roles of Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi have been defined as follows: Assist the President and the Deputy President in the coordination and supervision of government ministries and State departments. In liaison with the ministry responsible for Interior and National Administration, oversee the implementation of national government policies, programmes and projects. Chair and coordinate […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-10-11 15:20:102022-10-11 15:20:10Managing public service delivery
How do you get to win-win? By exchanging offers and requests, and indulging in give and take – maybe upfront simultaneously, or maybe over time – now us, then you. Each side is prepared to be “generous” to the other, to make “sacrifices” for the greater longer-term mutual good. Ethical, responsible vendors look beyond simply […]
A few weeks ago I was invited to run a workshop on negotiating skills for a group of senior engineers who sell capital goods for a well-known European multinational, and it took me back to the last century when I was an account manager offering large IT solutions using mainframe computers. It reminded me of […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-09-18 13:08:412022-09-18 13:08:41How to agree without giving in
I was recently asked to run a team-building workshop based on the 2002 book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Let me summarise what author Patrick Lencioni laid out in his gripping fable about how Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech’s newly installed CEO, faced the ultimate leadership crisis: uniting a team in such disarray that it threatened […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-08-30 12:41:382022-08-30 12:49:48Five reasons teams are dysfunctional
I recently facilitated a very interesting workshop that brought together Africa region’s leaders of a long-established multinational. Thanks to Covid, this was the first time they were meeting physically, and this under their recently installed president. As we were preparing the workshop he told me he wanted to share with his team what he described […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-08-17 10:48:152022-08-17 10:50:45The personal drivers to success
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers and the Kaizen Institute recently held their 17th Annual Congress, and I’m writing about it as I was one of the keynote speakers at the event. I have for long been an admirer of Kaizen, which is all about waste reduction and continuous improvement. It was first largely applied in […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-08-11 16:14:202022-08-11 16:14:20The softer side of Kaizen
Readers of this column will have seen previous articles of mine in which I have written about Leaders Circles I have facilitated with my colleague Frank Kretzschmar. The last one was about sustainability, and the theme of our most recent one was “How we deal with power: from victim to perpetrator to victim”. We’ve all […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-07-26 11:12:042022-07-26 11:12:04Taming the abuse of power
In my last article, I promised I would write further about the influence of cultures on how consultants like myself must adapt so as to engage effectively with our clients. I mentioned that beyond national cultures, sub-cultures within countries are equally diverse. Anyone who has visited the United States will quickly see how different people […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-07-07 08:47:052022-07-07 08:47:05Navigating national cultural differences for best outcomes
In my last article I wrote about the four elements that, according to the Adizes Institute, make a fully functional manager or, more likely, a functional management team: Producer, Administrator, Entrepreneur and Integrator (PAEI). Today I follow up with an article I was sent by Rufat Jahangirov, a senior member of the Adizes Institute team, […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-06-23 11:09:522022-06-23 11:09:52How people adapt to national cultures
Each of us as a manager enjoys aspects of our roles where we feel more comfortable, with others we’d rather have someone else handle. But the more senior and cross-functional we become the more we need to reach adequacy all round. And yet very few of us ever expand our comfort zones to take us […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-06-09 07:46:012022-06-09 07:46:01Management roles that shape top performers
The Institute for Responsible Leadership (where I am a co-founder) recently partnered with UNITAR (the United Nations Institute for Training and Research) with whom IRL collaborates closely) to broadcast a webinar on youth and responsible leadership. Keynote speaker Sebastian Hofbauer talked about how youth have become significant “influencers” through the use of social media – […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-05-26 09:20:302022-05-26 09:20:30Preparing the youth to be responsible leaders
360-degree appraisals provide feedback to employees not just their supervisors. They can be horizontal, among colleagues who work together at the same level, and/or vertical, from those at lower levels commenting on their bosses. Sounds like a good idea, yes? After all, each one of us can benefit from holistic feedback to become more self-aware, […]
These days I am being invited more frequently to help align family members within their businesses so they can lead the organisations they own more effectively. I am encouraged by those who reach out to me for such assistance, as it speaks of being realistic about the importance of cohesiveness among them and of feeling […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-04-28 13:30:072022-04-28 13:30:07Avoiding family wars that ruin businesses
In my consulting work, I engage with staff at all levels, from those who occupy the chairperson’s seat in the boardroom to those who work on the shop floor and in the fields. As I converse with them and study them I see a whole spectrum of diameters in their circles of influence — not […]
Socrates reminded us that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” But who should be doing the examining? Too many of us have never considered the possibility of it being ourselves, of imagining that we have the capacity to self-examine, and acknowledging that it is an important skill to develop. When we are growing up […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-03-17 09:12:172022-03-17 09:12:17Reviving the neglected art of self-exploration
In PwC’s 2020 global economic crime and fraud survey, Fighting Fraud – A never-ending battle, fraud was identified among the top concerns. So the ability to identify fraud perpetrated from either within or outside the organisation and then to deal with it swiftly and fairly is critical. In one large local company on whose board […]
https://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mikeeldon02.jpg546427artkenyahttps://mike-eldon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/logo.pngartkenya2022-03-04 15:32:472022-03-04 15:32:47How firms can handle integrity lapses by staff
CSR: Do good in a sustainable way
In my last article, I wrote about the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), promising that in this one I would delve into the latest trends in CSR and how it relates to ESG (the Environmental, Social and Governance dimensions) and the SDGs (the Sustainable Development Goals). For my guidance, I turned again to Michael […]
Evolution of philanthropy and CSR
In today’s world more and more firms from SMEs upward – never mind publicly quoted ones – have taken corporate social responsibility as a natural component in how they operate. For some, it came more naturally than for others. For those where owners’ and directors’ values resonated with being responsible citizens, it was an easy […]
Competent or confident politician?
Some time ago I wrote an article about Trump as a man whose I’m-OK-You’re-not-OK behaviour, one that required consistent win-lose interactions with others, masked a deeply insecure soul. Yet despite these insecurities, despite this lack of self-esteem, he built up extraordinary self-confidence, and through bullying, cheating and lying he achieved all that he did. I […]
Remember our national values
It’s quite some time since I wrote about national issues in this column, allowing the extravagant 24/7 political campaigning and the media’s relentless focus on it to sweep over me. Reflecting on it all, plus on the election itself and the days since, I realised that throughout these months I can’t remember when any of […]
Managing public service delivery
The roles of Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi have been defined as follows: Assist the President and the Deputy President in the coordination and supervision of government ministries and State departments. In liaison with the ministry responsible for Interior and National Administration, oversee the implementation of national government policies, programmes and projects. Chair and coordinate […]
In negotiations, go eye-to-eye
How do you get to win-win? By exchanging offers and requests, and indulging in give and take – maybe upfront simultaneously, or maybe over time – now us, then you. Each side is prepared to be “generous” to the other, to make “sacrifices” for the greater longer-term mutual good. Ethical, responsible vendors look beyond simply […]
How to agree without giving in
A few weeks ago I was invited to run a workshop on negotiating skills for a group of senior engineers who sell capital goods for a well-known European multinational, and it took me back to the last century when I was an account manager offering large IT solutions using mainframe computers. It reminded me of […]
Five reasons teams are dysfunctional
I was recently asked to run a team-building workshop based on the 2002 book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Let me summarise what author Patrick Lencioni laid out in his gripping fable about how Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech’s newly installed CEO, faced the ultimate leadership crisis: uniting a team in such disarray that it threatened […]
The personal drivers to success
I recently facilitated a very interesting workshop that brought together Africa region’s leaders of a long-established multinational. Thanks to Covid, this was the first time they were meeting physically, and this under their recently installed president. As we were preparing the workshop he told me he wanted to share with his team what he described […]
The softer side of Kaizen
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers and the Kaizen Institute recently held their 17th Annual Congress, and I’m writing about it as I was one of the keynote speakers at the event. I have for long been an admirer of Kaizen, which is all about waste reduction and continuous improvement. It was first largely applied in […]
Taming the abuse of power
Readers of this column will have seen previous articles of mine in which I have written about Leaders Circles I have facilitated with my colleague Frank Kretzschmar. The last one was about sustainability, and the theme of our most recent one was “How we deal with power: from victim to perpetrator to victim”. We’ve all […]
Navigating national cultural differences for best outcomes
In my last article, I promised I would write further about the influence of cultures on how consultants like myself must adapt so as to engage effectively with our clients. I mentioned that beyond national cultures, sub-cultures within countries are equally diverse. Anyone who has visited the United States will quickly see how different people […]
How people adapt to national cultures
In my last article I wrote about the four elements that, according to the Adizes Institute, make a fully functional manager or, more likely, a functional management team: Producer, Administrator, Entrepreneur and Integrator (PAEI). Today I follow up with an article I was sent by Rufat Jahangirov, a senior member of the Adizes Institute team, […]
Management roles that shape top performers
Each of us as a manager enjoys aspects of our roles where we feel more comfortable, with others we’d rather have someone else handle. But the more senior and cross-functional we become the more we need to reach adequacy all round. And yet very few of us ever expand our comfort zones to take us […]
Preparing the youth to be responsible leaders
The Institute for Responsible Leadership (where I am a co-founder) recently partnered with UNITAR (the United Nations Institute for Training and Research) with whom IRL collaborates closely) to broadcast a webinar on youth and responsible leadership. Keynote speaker Sebastian Hofbauer talked about how youth have become significant “influencers” through the use of social media – […]
Making 360-degree appraisals beneficial
360-degree appraisals provide feedback to employees not just their supervisors. They can be horizontal, among colleagues who work together at the same level, and/or vertical, from those at lower levels commenting on their bosses. Sounds like a good idea, yes? After all, each one of us can benefit from holistic feedback to become more self-aware, […]
Avoiding family wars that ruin businesses
These days I am being invited more frequently to help align family members within their businesses so they can lead the organisations they own more effectively. I am encouraged by those who reach out to me for such assistance, as it speaks of being realistic about the importance of cohesiveness among them and of feeling […]
Influencing upwards for growth despite volatility
In my consulting work, I engage with staff at all levels, from those who occupy the chairperson’s seat in the boardroom to those who work on the shop floor and in the fields. As I converse with them and study them I see a whole spectrum of diameters in their circles of influence — not […]
Reviving the neglected art of self-exploration
Socrates reminded us that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” But who should be doing the examining? Too many of us have never considered the possibility of it being ourselves, of imagining that we have the capacity to self-examine, and acknowledging that it is an important skill to develop. When we are growing up […]
How firms can handle integrity lapses by staff
In PwC’s 2020 global economic crime and fraud survey, Fighting Fraud – A never-ending battle, fraud was identified among the top concerns. So the ability to identify fraud perpetrated from either within or outside the organisation and then to deal with it swiftly and fairly is critical. In one large local company on whose board […]