Increased Focus on Transparency

The new whistleblower laws offers benefits far greater than simply the protection of whistleblowers. Corporate cultures of silence, which nurture the turning of a blind eye to wrong doing, only weakens the organisation’s performance. Strong governance on the other hand, which openly supports the reporting of wrongdoing, is evidence of governance aligned with high performance. …

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Split Truth

“How do you like the Queen?”Those familiar with Alice in Wonderland will recognise these words spoken by the Cat to Alice.And of course we know that Alice began to say “Not at all, she’s so extremely …” before she noticed that the Queen was listening.Those in key leadership roles may well reflect on what we …

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A story of “leadership dishonesty”

Commissioner Hayne’s report into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry is a shameful story of extraordinary leadership dishonesty. Whatever their role – chairman, director, MD/CEO, senior executive, professional advisor, business partner, industry/professional body, or in many of the other capacities, the organisations’ leaders treated people dishonestly. It is an appalling governance story. …

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The Endangered Strategic Thinking Director

Thinking is something that is common among what we all do. Alan Turing  was moved nearly 70 years ago to comment “I propose to consider the question, ‘Can machines think?’” Instead of the word ‘machines’ it seems useful to ask whether directors can think when operating as part of a board? One strongly held view …

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Maintaining the Social Licence to Operate

The “Maintaining the social licence to operate: 2018 KPMG – AICD trust survey” shows that directors are acutely aware of the need for their organisations to maintain trust with stakeholders. The Edelman Trust Barometer report clearly found a declining trust across media, government, NGOs and commercial organisations. About 62% of directors surveyed consider they can …

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Embracing ‘Future Shock’ With Confidence

Futurist and businessman Alvin Toffler’s book, ‘Future Shock’, published in 1970 seems accurate in describing the central challenge of today.
Each day offers further examples of ‘our collective inability to deal with ever-faster change’.
Alvin Toffler described what is a real psychological malady, the ‘dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future’.

Did Someone Mention Culture …. Again?

Sometimes it is easy to feel that professionally you are flying solo. There is a sense that a bigger game of cat and mouse operates and somehow, you’re the cheese.
It’s easy to observe that governments pass more or stricter regulations to plug loopholes, and employees then find new loopholes which exploit those new regulations; so, Groundhog Day is revisited.
When will enough people say that the fault is not in our laws but with us?

Living In A World of Unease

Many of us relate to a feeling of unease at work.
It’s not because our work mates aren’t friendly. It’s more about having to face the unpredictable and inexplicable random surprises and demands for change and quick response times.