"Without contraries there is no progression" - William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven & Hell

Science VS Creativity … The Known VS the Unknown

That a leader is required to make impactful decisions is a no brainer!

In our Leadership Program interaction though, we see that leaders so often seem to strive for absolute choices that will have little or no negative fallout. While this is a noble goal, we have seen that the tendency morphs at times into risk avoidance and flat-line decision-making that belie true leadership.
How often do we look to laws, regulations and precedent to achieve a safe result? By doing so, are we not negating the inevitable ambiguity or existence of contradiction that defines our human nature? 

Subjective interpretation against objective standards/custom is an integral part of every human choice. Consider our frustration if told a motor vehicle problem doesn’t exist because the diagnostic apparatus comes back fault free… Similarly a medical professional who informs us we are not ill because the tests come back negative? Do we not then naturally demand that the expert spend more time investigating our problem?

Imagine for example a police officer, judge or jury panel that adheres to the narrow right/wrong objective limits of the law. Zero Tolerance laws are particularly insidious in this regard. In the corporate world, how often do we accuse those who grapple with issues, as ‘undecided’, ‘lacking in focus’ and even ‘negative’… just because they hold up the process of making of easy/blame free decisions? The financial collapse of 2008, brought on by the sub-prime mortgage saga, illustrates the danger of making choices that seem safe because that is what current custom (‘everyone else is doing it!’) dictates! How often to we dismiss a new idea as ‘out there’ just because it does not carry a pre-dated stamp of approval? More...

Acute observation, intense listening and the desire to reach the truth will perhaps undeniably enable a leader to effectively drive to the heart of a requirement, issue or challenge!

Stripping away irrelevant detail does not however always simplify matters – Prevaricators, bull-shitters, those with a hidden agenda and the incompetent will often times find themselves exposed … Resulting in varied reaction along the Richter Scale…

Can it be safely said then that a leader, able to see things simply and honestly, will require a healthy dose of courage and tenacity to survive?  Both of these elements have their roots (why factor) in care/empathy… otherwise known in corporate world as service-orientation. 

Our leadership development programs place strong emphasis on empowering leaders to access innate ability to read situations simply and accurately … and to forward-think in anticipation of any eventual impact/consequence!

Of course, as is so often seen, it all starts with primary leadership goals/objectives – What does an individual really want to see happen at any point in time?
Understanding the simplicity of subjective objectives in the context of objective circumstance is a complicated business. We believe that it is at this point that true leadership can be identified!

If you have a few minutes check out the following clip: Björk interviews Arvo Pärt – In the sublime realm of music, the same philosophy is so beautifully expressed…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pDjT1UNT3s

I particularly noticed Pärt’s ability to juggle inevitable opposites – A concept that appears increasingly resisted in a world that demands/expects absolutes and the illusion of certainty!

For more information about customized Leadership Training/Coaching: (416) 962-6700

Perhaps the easiest illustration of dangers inherent in blindly following current trends would be the sub-prime mortgage saga that led parts of the western world to the brink of economic collapse at the end of the last decade. Was this best business practice at work... or a slavish following of "what works" ... "what everyone else is doing" approach? 

The illusion of certainty and absolute security has always been a panacea for frightened people. Perhaps, a post 9/11world value system, coupled with rapid and breathtaking advances in technology,created both the need/desire for, as well as the perceived means to achieve this end! 

Over almost 2 decades, our interaction with clients large and small has provided a distinct pattern of clues indicating that there is perhaps a need for new business/economic models...Models that will allay fears yet provide a greater degree of sustainable optimism to upcoming generations. 

I have developed a passion for looking securing like-minded conversations on the subject. In the context of apparent growing dissatisfaction with global templates we have witnessed a growing macro/micro activism, oftentimes in the form of socio-political protests. We have also seen the distinct emergence of a breed of individuals with a penchant for what verges on anarchistic action. Needless to say, cause for great concern! More...

Increasingly today we read of people whose societal alienation or Anomie leads them to do dreadful things. So much so, that average folk seem to have lost patience with looking at the whys and wherefores, and clamor for retribution/justice with the bloodthirsty fervour of a lynch mob. Oftentimes the loud demand for legislative solutions draws the noose tighter around the consciousness of afflicted individuals. 

Societal templates are reassuring for most. However for those who see the bigger picture and who are sensitive to what others miss, rigidity can be quite catastrophic. I have heard the feeling described as akin to “driving a Porsche on go-kart track”!

Harding Leadership Programs strive to awaken those in leadership, teaching and parental roles to accommodate these special people before they feel disconnected from the society’s norms. Of course time and effort, not to speak of the empathy/awareness, are required to recognize stifled originality. We talk blithely in organizational/corporate circles of playing to individual/team strengths, but sadly I guess we all to easily fall back on the set job-description, curriculum or family norm as a safe/comfortable guideline. More...

Dear Clients & Friends,

Once again, in preparation for our annual closure (20th December 2012- 2nd January 2013), I extend my heartfelt thanks to clients and friends for making 15 years of fulfilling operation possible!

The main thrust of my work this year, in addition to general corporate and individual training initiatives, was focused on assisting deserving women to achieve their fullest Leadership potential. In this context I was gratified to receive a World of Difference 100 Award from The International Alliance of Women (TIAW), in the Champion of Women's Economic Empowerment category. In addition to positive results, external recognition always provides much needed encouragement and motivation to sustain the passion and growth so vital to navigating the path forward!

Interaction at the award ceremony in Washington again drove home a long standing observation that many high achievers are incredibly unaware of their real professional/personal impact. How the world is a better place because they are in it! Success seems all too often measured by position, salary and public acclaim. Similarly, I find that positive feedback is often viewed with suspicion, while self-congratulation seems to be a cardinal sin!
  
That said … How many of us take the time to show others that we have an understanding of who they are beyond the job description, role or place in the corporate hierarchy … That who they are matters to us?
Conversely, how many of us really want to be seen by others… Do we not hide behind illusory masks in the work place and oftentimes in society?

I do not exaggerate when I say that almost 90% of my clients, including those holding senior positions, to varying degrees feel somewhat invisible and isolated … Fearful of revealing uncertainty, vulnerability or fear.  Does this denial of basic humanity not seem in stark contrast to environments that tout the ideals of leadership, team collaboration and empowerment on a daily basis?

Will not people who consider themselves unseen feel excluded, frustrated, empty and at times angry? This may at very least mean that some will never reach full potential, while others might become negative, resentful and even destructive. Recent world events provide extreme examples of just how catastrophically this phenomenon might play out.   

During the holiday season it would be good to reflect on our conscious ability to see, understand and acknowledge individuality... Our own and that of others! This will perhaps be the greatest manifestation of our personal and professional impact … To make the world a better place! 
   
My best wishes to you all for the Holidays … And a safe, healthy and prosperous 2013!

I look forward to renewed contact in the New Year.

Warm regards,

Rodger

Convincing clients that understanding and providing answers to complex organizational challenges lies in exactly the same approach to simplistic issues has always been difficult.

Over the years I have relied more on more on mathematical proof (ironic as I am a complete math idiot) as a persuasive tool that chaos, change and evolution are an integral part of life and should be accepted & managed rather than avoided… Quests for certainty are futile!

In particular the work of Benoit Mandelbrot and his Fractal Geometry of Nature (see the Mandelbrot Set) theories that illustrate chaotic enormity contains smaller version of the same phenomenon… “Fractal property of self-similarity applies to the entire set, and not just to its parts.”

The Morphogenesis work of Alan Turing, one of my most inspirational role-models, identifies a simple math equation that illustrates how chaos has its origins in order. Boris Belousov similarly explored and identified the co-existence of chaos in uniformity.
The Belousov-Zhabotinky reaction demonstrates that “under the influence of stimuli, patterns develop in what would otherwise be a perfectly quiescent medium.” Working in the 1950’s, both men’s findings were at the time rejected by conservative scientific mainstream as out to lunch!

Edward Lorenz’s Butterfly Effect, describes how an initial random event, in normal conditions, can result in chaotic results. Chaos in turn will return to initial conditions!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEw8xpb1aRA

If a true leader is someone who has the ability to identify requirement, the courage to proactively engage & the smarts to formulate a workable solution, logically this person would automatically be, to varying degrees, at odds with the status quo and those who are content to go with the flow.

The key to meeting this challenge, as we know, is the ability to persuade, sell, influence and negotiate in order to overcome inherent resistance to change. Yet in the course of almost 2 decades of Leadership Training, Coaching & Consulting, I find it is this particular attribute that oftentimes frustrates real leadership deployment.  Innovative, different or exceptional thinking is, in the nature of things, in direct conflict with the beliefs, expectations, hopes and even the morality of the majority. How often are brilliant ideas ignored in favour of more digestible “what we know works” solutions? More...

“In the end he was no more than that, a mirror, showing me my own face and feelings, making me intensely self-conscious. He was doing what writers do, reminding me of who I was….” - Paul Theroux, A Dead Hand 

One of the guiding principles of our leadership training/coaching/mentoring approach is to enable individuals and teams to be who they are, rather than who they are expected to be. This involves a process of holding a mirror that reflects reality. Over a period of 22 years of professionally training many diverse people, a key observation has been that accepting their own individual excellence is oftentimes more difficult for business folk, than having areas requiring attention revealed to them. Negative feedback is easier to accept than positive!

So too, on a personal level, it took me many years to realize that positive reinforcement is more often than not viewed with suspicion and mistrust. At best many feel that extolling virtues is insincere or undue flattery, masking a hidden agenda! More...

Natalie Portman paid meaningful homage to brilliant director Darren Aronofsky, after receiving her Golden Globe award (Best Actress for her performance in The Black Swan): 

 "Every time we finished our takes, you would say, 'Now do this one for yourself,' and that gave me such beautiful inspiration as an actor to not just be amused, that I could create on my own as well.” 

This anecdote beautifully illustrates the role of a good mentor – Allowing or facilitating conditions for, the best in someone to shine through…! 

So too in business, a good leader, in striving to access maximum individual/team input, will create fertile ground for the seeds of creativity and innovation to flourish...

Dear Clients & Friends, 

In this 14^th year of operation, our programs continue to evolve in direct response to client requirement. With increasing budget restraints and an uncertain economic outlook, ongoing client request to enhance the leadership function of managers in diverse organizations has resulted in the fine-tuning of our Managemnet Training Program: 

Encouraging Managers to Lead!

 This Leadership Awareness program places high value on the critical role of managers to contribute to the ongoing evolution of team competency investment and best business practice.The emphasis on the distinction between management and leadership serves to enhance core leadership competencies, resulting in proactive, yet accountable input and decision making, team motivation and cost-effective project-management. Flexible thinking is encouraged to ensure efficient problem solving and the optimal use of available talent and resources. The finding out of what the team doesn’t know it knows segment has been particularly successful. 

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As a direct offshoot of my extensive volunteer work over the past 15 years with Canadian students aged 16-22, I have been asked by many concerned parents to work with younger people who, despite high intelligence and a good academic background, seemingly lack focus and are uncertain as to a firm career direction. The clear, but unconscious, leadership potential of these students has prompted the formal design of a program focused on identifying, validating and empowering realistic leadership in young people. 

Leadership for Students

The program explores and makes conscious existing, but untapped individual leadership expertise. Practical techniques enable the understanding and full investment of core competencies, personality & experience. Strong attention is given to measuring individual impact and preparedness to consider what is involved in living out personal dreams. The program is particularly directed at youth who have the irrepressible notion that there must be something more!  

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Please contact me should you require further information on either of the two programs. 

Once again I would like to express my ongoing appreciation for your personal and professional contribution to my success and sense of fulfillment throughout 2010. My very best wishes for the Holidays and a happy, safe & prosperous 2011!  I look forward to renewed contact in the New Year. 

Warmest regards,

Rodger