The 21st century has ushered in a world of accelerated change leading you to chaos or opportunity. How you as a leader thrive and succeed through this 21st century change is based on the principles and insights I outline below. Practicing them has supported my positive leadership to succeed in both my entrepreneurial business and as a volunteer.

Mike’s Note: I always enjoy Gary’s well written blogs. They are always from his heart to grow his readers as leader s. No product push, just reflections of his rich life experiences. This blog is about his reflections after his friend and colleague who recently passed away.

Our last conversation was just days ago—and it was a moment I will forever cherish.

I was speaking to a dear friend and colleague, Mark Arian, CEO of our Consulting business for nearly the last eight years. He knew and I knew that these would be our final words to each other—but we let that be unspoken. He told me how blessed he felt to work with such incredible people—and equally how those same people touched his life.

There have been several times over my career I had to learn to be silent. Situations at home, at work or on the road required me—a teacher at heart—to not share an insight but to remain quiet. I recognized silence would achieve more than words. Are you like me? Ernest Hemingway said it best: “It takes two years to learn to speak. It takes sixty years to learn to remain silent.” Our family recently decided to see a counselor to deepen our relationships. We all felt we could use a communication tune-up now that our kids are adults and have moved away.

CEOs have always had to manage, lead, and inspire a multigenerational workforce. But for the first time in modern history, five generations are working together when it’s traditionally only been two or three. Each brings a unique perspective to solving workflow challenges and a different perspective on what motivates them in their careers and what they want from an employer.

Recently my friend told me that her company will begin to track their movements in Singapore. What a way to demotivate employees. As my friend said, “Welcome to work at the prison!” This got me thinking about how companies and more so leader or managers in an organization build and inspire trust in their employees and teams. Trusting employees are more loyal, more motivated, more productive, and actually easier to manage.

In 1995, I had the privilege of hosting Dr. Fons Trompennars in Jakarta for a seminar on Cross Cultural Competence built on his research of the Seven Dimensions of Culture. His passion and friendship have greatly aided me in navigating the diverse cultures of Asia that I have lived in for over 40 years to support my success as a global consultant in leadership and sales/service productivity. Let’s look at how Dr. Trompenaars research can assist you and your organization in solving problems but more importantly reconciling cultural dilemmas.

Successful innovation will always have failed ideas along the way. The key is maximize the value of those mistakes and minimize the risk.
The term “smarter mistakes” is an oxymoron at first blush. A mistake is something that is misguided or incorrect, and it is also usually unanticipated. Thus, it feels impossible to plan for making a “smarter mistake.” No company or person ever knowingly plans or wants to make a mistake, but still, mistakes happen.

Leading well is a multi-faceted responsibility. I often read articles and blogs where a leadership expert writes, “This is the one thing you need to do right!” Earlier in my career, I was easily influenced by these formulaic approaches to leadership. Whether it is “The One Minute Manager”, “The One Thing”, “The One Thing You Need to Know”, or “First, Break All the Rules” --- you get the idea.

This blog post has been adapted from Dr. John Maxwell’s leadership book, The 360 Degree Leader. John Maxwell has been one of the world’s foremost personal and professional leadership experts for more than 40 years, and his insights here instruct you on how to influence others no matter their title, position or relationship in the organization you work in.

Everyone today talks about becoming a leader but what happened to the manager? Reading the Daily Drucker, I have noticed that many times, Dr. Drucker the author of modern management, mentions “manager” but we can also insert the word “leader” into many of his writings without distorting his intent. Is being a leader a higher level skill than what seems to be the lower level skill of an manager? There are several key differences between a manager and a leader and my research highlights the similarities and differences

In times growth, the success of an organization is often regarded as a by product of the market place and the organizations strategic position. However, when things aren’t going so well, attention goes to the company’s leadership.

Covid causes change and change impels us to make decisions in our lives and career. Making decisions in times of change can cause emotional stress and fear. In this blog, I want to take you through how to make good decisions then support it with eight insights from Dr. Peter Drucker on decision making.

McKinsey Consulting says “organizations have been consistently dissatisfied with the results of their leadership training efforts. For example, only 11% of executives in a McKinsey study believe that their leadership development interventions achieve and sustain the desired results. Strong leadership is more critical than ever as the world grapples with crisis and uncertainty.”

Being able to discern a leader’s competence and ability is crucial for business owners and senior directors to make good hiring and promotion decisions. Faulty hiring and promotions can be very costly financially and be damaging to team and employee morale. Let’s review some of the tools I use to better assess a manager’s ability to lead others effectively. I start with the 1/3 – 1/3 – 1/3 rule.

My coaching started in 1976 when I was a US Peace Corps Volunteer in the Forestry Department of Malaysia. My local boss was Mr. Mok Sian Tuan, the director of Forest Management in Malaysia, who himself was a mentor and coach to me. He assigned me fresh MARA forestry graduates to coach in leading teams and project management.

I am “certain of uncertainty” in your life and mine. Uncertainty births changes in our life – some pleasant surprises, some difficult crises. How we deal with changes in our lives will ultimately determine our success in life.

People don’t accept change at the same rate. Some embrace change, or even work to bring it about, viewing change as an opportunity. Others initially resist change and feel threatened by it. Most people fall somewhere between, viewing change as both risk and opportunity.

Nothing in your organization has a more direct impact on profits, competitiveness and customer loyalty than the quality and creativity of problem solving and decision making at all levels of the organization. According to Wiley’s Digital Skills Gap Index 2021, an astounding 85% of survey respondents across Asia–Pacific countries identify problem solving as the most relevant 21st century skill.

First appeared in Business World

‘The problem is not with her leadership style. Everyone knows that she is a diverse candidate, and they don’t take her seriously’ a senior Human Resource leader said of a potential coaching client.

The organization had a mandate that two positions on the management committee had to be filled by women.