Entries by artkenya

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 […]

What conductors of orchestras teach us on leadership

In a recent edition of BBC’s HARDtalk, Stephen Sackur interviewed the Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer. The image we have of orchestral conductors is that they are the ones in charge, the ones directing those with the musical instruments — who in turn are mere recipients of their master’s voice. 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 […]

Why it’s a good idea for family businesses to form boards

Much of my talk with owners of family businesses is about whether the time is right for them to create a formal board with independent directors. Very few do, even where their companies have reached a significant scale. So I was pleased that on a recent webinar hosted by Sirdar, the South African-based organisation that […]

Uplifting tales of personal transformation moments

In 2011 I wrote a column on how I had been collecting moments of personal transformation in people’s lives. I did so through having participants in some of my workshops share such moments with each other as a way of opening up and also showing they were as likely to continue experiencing such moments in […]

Lack of curiosity holds you from your potential

When I was an undergraduate student in London in the mid-1960s I enjoyed extraordinary benefits from a number of summer vacation internships I undertook through AIESEC, the international association for students of economics and commerce. One was with Quaker Oats, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the heart of the American Mid-West. There I mingled with staff […]

Managing change in Kenya

This article was first published in November 2021 in the London Business School THINK magazine. Mike Eldon graduated from the LBS Sloan Masters Programme in Leadership and Strategy. An LBS Sloan Fellow recalls being thrown into his first leadership role and going on to transform the organisational culture. Three years after completing the LBS Sloan […]

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Do your part to end civic illiteracy ahead of polls

Some of us struggled more than others in 2021: some with their health, some with their livelihoods and others with both. For me, as readers of this column are aware, my severe encounter with Covid-19 meant I was out of action for quite some time. But here we are at the beginning of a new […]