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Women Mean Business

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Middle Management

Middle Management (Photo credit: p_a_h)

For obvious reasons last week saw a bit of commentary about women in leadership roles (and I will blog about Lady Thatcher later on, but not I think the Tribunal case involving Stella English, Lord Sugar’s former Apprentice).

 

Meanwhile there is plenty to chew over in the latest Cranfield School of Management research on female board level appointments.  Apparently the rate at which women are making it to the top is slowing: confidence is still the issue.

 

If confidence is the cornerstone of achievement, the implication from Cranfield is that too few women in middle management have it.  They lack the potent belief in themselves that could take them to the top.  Perhaps men in line for top jobs will take the chance that they are good enough for the promotion right now, where women will be more cautious.

 

It seems the challenge for senior managers, as they nurture junior talent, remains:

 

–       Spotting potential high flyers, irrespective of gender or other differences

 

–       Providing them with opportunities to shine

 

–       Supporting them as their confidence grows

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/11/every-woman-boardroom-pull-more-up

Anti Social Media Part 2

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Logo of the Kent Police.

Logo of the Kent Police. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Understandably Paris Brown has turned down her appointment as Youth Police and Crime Commissioner in Kent.   This was probably inevitable once the Kent police themselves started to investigate the legality of Ms Brown’s contentious Tweets.

 

Credit to her for facing the media though.   As Commissioner Ann Barnes’ 9 April statement points out, Ms Brown shows courage by appearing publically to withdraw from the job.

 

Second time around, the Kent recruitment panel will have to find someone who hasn’t thrown words around casually online, since registering on Twitter.  A clean searchable history means that the next Youth Commissioner will be able to concentrate on their post, without the need for explanations of the ‘right’ context of their language.

 

Mind you, speech was ephemeral when I was 17.  I am glad I am not accountable for some of the things I said then, or since.  I would have been mortified to have my youthful thoughts captured and shared online.  I’m not sure how I would have handled being a headline item within a 24 hour news cycle.

 

Coincidentally a recent article in the Guardian newspaper shows that information from the pre-digital era can still turn up on search engines, whether or not it is an accurate reflection of the subject.  That’s a sobering thought.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/04/web-case-histories-digital-past

 

Perhaps the learning point from these events is this: however detailed your life-plan is everyone makes mistakes, some of which are large enough to be subject to scrutiny by prospective employers, partners, in-laws and the press.  Handling the scrutiny gracefully is part of the the key to managing the long-term impact of those mistakes.

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Anti Social Media

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Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

I’ve posted about social media before, so it is no surprise to say that Paris Brown gets some of my sympathy.

Imagine being 17 years old, casually Tweeting your thoughts to your mates, and a year later holding a post as a youth Police Crime Commissioner in Kent, where your words are regarded as anything but casual.  Talk about making your growing up mistakes in public.

 

Many of us are learning the hard way that Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and their peers are not transient media.  It is difficult to put a favourable context on what Paris Brown said.  She got it wrong.  An apology after the fact for ‘any offence that I have caused’ sounds increasingly like damage limitation.  Deleting the Tweets won’t mean they will be forgotten.  Bottom line, it is difficult, but not impossible, to erase a digital history.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2013/apr/05/how-to-delete-yourself-from-the-internet-video

 

In a sign of the times the British Library is to store some social media output for posterity.  Perhaps every social media user needs to act on a simple goal: to use their chosen medium in way that would reflect their personal brand positively, if what they wrote was to be saved by the British Library.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9977188/Teenage-PCC-apologises-for-showing-off-with-offensive-Twitter-remarks.html

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The Things You Learn From The Movies

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Screenshot of Paul Henreid, Ingrid Bergman, Cl...

Screenshot of Paul Henreid, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains and Humphrey Bogart from the trailer for the film Casablanca. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday Warner Brothers.  This week, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph, I learned that this film studio is 90 years old.  David Grittens’ article suggests that Warner Brothers introduced a grittier sort of realism to the cinema audience of the 1920s and 30s.

 

For a start their actors – including Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Bette Davis – looked right for their roles, rather than being picture perfect.   You know they have lived a little and will use that life experience, one way or another, as the story unfolds.

 

Being liberal – and very tongue in cheek – with the concept of realism I would say Warner Brothers offers some personal development pointers too.  Here are three thoughts on the subject.

 

Casablanca’s Rick would love to rekindle the pre-war romance he had with Ilsa.  However he adjusts what he wants in favour of what the situation (War, Fidelity, Resistance) demands.  He lets her go.  They will always have Paris after all.  That sounds like a simple action to take, but the impact it has for all concerned is huge.

 

Wile E Coyote will always strive to catch the Roadrunner and will always come to grief doing so.  He doesn’t stop to learn wisdom from the many setbacks he experiences – with or without the help of Acme Corporation products.  He probably needs a coach to support him in identifying realistic options and then to do some effective action planning.

 

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight might also benefit from some support, so that Bruce Wayne can look deep underneath the Kevlar body armour and find out what he truly wants.  That might make his life less conflict-prone.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/9969454/Warner-Brothers-ninety-years-of-grit-and-greatness.html

It’s All About The Goals

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Michael Owen

Michael Owen (Photo credit: emphasis)

There was an interesting Guardian article at the end of March about Michael Owen’s source of motivation to become the best footballer he could be.  There’s a lot to agree with in the piece and some points on which I take a different view.  On the plus side in the article he says:

 

“Reaching the top of your profession on your own is nigh on impossible. Doing it with the support of others gives you a small chance.  Having the support of all your family, while being guided by a father like mine made it hard to fail”.

 

From a young age Michael Owen put a lot of effort into pleasing his father.  Luckily the desire to please his parent chimed with his own growing desire to excel at his chosen sport.

 

On the other side, I think there is more to be said about the balancing elements of motivating a young person to achieve good results and their own desire to succeed , in sport or elsewhere.

 

What little I know about developmental psychology comes into play here.  Parents may say ‘you need to be better at this subject’ and the child may believe ‘I want to be better’.  If so, great results are possible.   If the pressure is all external – the parent bearing down on the child – there is a risk that the child will try hard and be unhappy doing so.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/mar/30/michael-owen-motivation-please-dad

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You Can Get It If You Really Try

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Vintage Ad #1,177: Tired of Being Skinny?

Vintage Ad #1,177: Tired of Being Skinny? (Photo credit: jbcurio)

There is something about being in a supportive environment, I think, that makes success easier to achieve.  Here are a couple of instances to mull over.

 

First, it is worth noting that Joe Weider died not so long ago, at the age of 93.  Who was he?  Well he was the physical culture mentor to an Austrian body builder named Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the 1970s.  According to Arnie’s web site Mr Weider was responsible for teaching Mr S and his fellow gym regulars that:

 

“…through hard work and training we could all be champions.”

 

Who knows, without Mr Weider’s unwavering support would Mr Schwarzenegger’s CV include film actor, Planet Hollywood co-founder, Governor of California and whatever else he has up his sleeve?

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/mar/24/weightlifting-arnold-schwarzenegger

 

Second, as the cliché goes, some people talk, others actually ‘do’.  Someone who has been actively trying to make his mark, since the age of 10, is Nick Daloisio.  Now at 17 years of age he is an employee of Yahoo, that company having purchased his ‘Summly’ software application supposedly for £19m.

 

His interview with the Guardian newspaper makes him sound quite down to earth and not money mad.  His mother Diana says:

 

“[she is surprised his success] happened so soon, but we always knew Nicholas was technical and talented.”

 

There seems to be a lot of faith invested in the young millionaire by his family.  They certainly gave him licence to spend plenty of time on his computer getting his ideas together.  It wasn’t a get-rich-quick vision either.  He says in the same article that:

 

“… If the motivation had been money, I’d be going off laughing. But because the motivation was technology and product, this is just the beginning of what I want to do.”

 

If Mr Daloisio.is so inventive at 17 I wonder what influence he will be wielding in the world of software at 27?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/29/summly-creator-nick-daloisio-interview

Equally, if one’s working or home environment is not so supportive how much effort is required to find others to share one’s dream and make it happen?

The Things You Learn From Rock And Roll

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Yannis Philippakis singing with Foals at the B...

Yannis Philippakis singing with Foals at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you have read my posts about David Bowie, or the Rolling Stones, you’ll know I like music created by established artists.  Having said that, there’s nothing wrong with newcomers, with the right attitude.  That attitude involves doing what you love for reasons other than wanting to be famous, straightaway.

That attitude is voiced neatly in a recent BBC News article on the Foals and the Maccabees.  The Foals frontman, Yannis Philippakis, gives a great quote to the BBC about his musical ethos.  He says:

“Music is its own reward and making music is what you do it for, it’s for the fulfilment and the beauty of the creative moment”

Equally important is the nurturing approach that record companies have toward their artists.  If the company is into making quick money from the talents of the winner from a singing competition like the X Factor they will drop the artist quickly if sales don’t meet expectations.

As a side note, I guess it helps if you have a robust sense of your own talent if you are entering those talent shows – like Will Young or JLS seem to have – since you know your abilities are strong enough to transcend the here-today-gone-tomorrow environment which introduced to the spotlight.

Anyway, record companies interested in developing their artists, rather than quickly exploiting them, form substantive working relationships built for the long term.  The BBC article notes what Martin Mills, founder and chairman of the Beggars group says about longevity being vital in the independent sector.

“You’re looking for artists that are more than just one moment, people that we think can grow over a period of time and become even greater”

The moral for the creative musician (and maybe for the person seeking a fulfilling non-creative career) seems to have a flavour of Laura Berman Fortgang’s philosophy: find your reward and fulfilment from doing what you love to do; build a relationship with an employer who supports your growth over the long-term; live the best life you can.

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Is Success Subjective?

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David Miliband

David Miliband (Photo credit: dominiccampbell)

I heard David Miliband speak about his vision for opposition 18 months ago.  He was passionate about his vision for improving others’ lives whilst his political party – Labour – was in Opposition.  It seems like a sensible move for him to now find a way to do just that -improving lives – this time on a much larger stage, as chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, based in the United States.

It is odd that identifying this fulfilling goal, and pursuing it, is being characterised by some media outlets as a failure.  Being the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary; an Opposition Leadership contender; and then CEO of a humanitarian organisation in New York sounds like the content of a successful CV to me.  Perhaps some media commentators are being too tribal about the man.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21961274

Under Pressure

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Mental Health Awareness Ribbon

Mental Health Awareness Ribbon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Maybe it is a sign of the (tough) times in which we live, or a more enlightened attitude to the subject, either way mental health stories are becoming more prominent in the media.

Mental health related pressures that young people, and their teachers, face are the subject of two recent BBC stories.

The first feature notes some imaginative work with story telling that allows young people to work their emotions into a narrative they create. This allows them to explore anxieties in a safe way.  Hopefully it also opens the door to the young people getting the support they need.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/21829980

The second article records the increasing trend towards emotional or behavioural outbursts in the classroom that members of the Association Teachers and Lecturers have to deal with.  More effective training and support may help manage those classroom tensions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21895705

What a huge challenge it must be to have the goal of delivering effective learning for a class of 25 when one or two students are intent on acting out.  Equally, how grim are the personal circumstances of some students that they cannot turn to supportive parents or carers to help manage their distress instead all they can do is challenge their teachers.

That is not to say all is lost, if disruptive behaviour leads to permanent exclusion from school.  As the feature article in the Observer newspaper suggests, Sirach ‘Angel’ Charles’ budding musical career proves there is life after the Pupil Referral Unit.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/mar/24/angel-turned-fortunes-after-jail

After The Final Whistle

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Michael Owen

Michael Owen (Photo credit: Steve_C)

I think we’ve established in previous posts that there is a difference between sports people saying they are ‘retiring’ and the same words coming from a regular 9 to 5 worker.

 

No surprise then that the media have picked up on a statement posted on Michael Owen’s website today.  In the post he confirms that at the end of his current season with Stoke City he is bringing the curtain down on his playing career.  I like that he says in his statement that:

 

“I have been very fortunate in that my career has taken me on a journey that like many young players starting out, I could only have dreamt of.”

 

There have been plenty of commentaries and plaudits from the football world in response.  I had to dig around a bit to find out how he has answered the inevitable question a successful 33 year old asks when replacing one buzz for another: What next?

 

According to the Guardian newspaper Adrian Bevington, Club England’s managing director, said:

 

“We are already in talks with Michael about how he can share his international experience with our younger players in the future in an ambassadorial role”.

 

That seems a fairly modest next step.  Beyond that role it seems to me several opportunities may open up in the months and years to come.  There may be openings in the arena of sports presenting (following in the footsteps of Gary Lineker or Sue Barker); motivational speaking (John Amaechi springs to mind) or even politics (Tanni Grey Thompson or Sebastian Coe have done okay for themselves).

 

It will be interesting to see where Mr Owen’s journey takes him in 18 months’ time.  Wherever he is situated I hope his post retirement role brings him as much job satisfaction as his footballing career has done

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/michael-owen-to-retire-at-the-end-of-the-season-8540212.html