Leaders and their resistance to stress

Arsenal manager Arsene WengerI recently read Alastair Campbell’s excellent book Winners: And How They Succeed. Among many pearls of wisdom that Campbell gets from a variety of people in the public – many of which I want to share at a later date – is the following from Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger

We have gone from a vertical society to a horizontal society where everybody has an opinion about every decision you make, everybody has an opinion on the Internet straight away.
Basically the respect for people who make decisions is gone because every decision is questioned. So one of the most important qualities of a good leader now is massive resistance to stress.
Under stress you become smaller and smaller until you cannot give out a message any more and that, of course, is something that is vital. Many people underestimate this challenge.

Wenger instantly puts his finger on why being a leader in the 21st century is so much more difficult than it used to be.

We invite feedback from all quarters. We’re asked to be open. Everyone should be allowed their say.

Respect – which is always a tough thing to achieve at the best of times – has gone out of the window for all but the select few.

The science behind resilience and the importance of it is slowly becoming more widely recognised and – if Wenger’s experience is anything to go by – needs to be placed higher up the list of qualities for leaders to develop.

Winners: And How They Succeed is definitely worth a read: a genuinely fascinating insight into people at the top of their game.

Christmas Gift Guides: a sea of stereotypes and predictability

Xmas gift guideAs the start of December draws near, so the annual avalanche of Christmas Gift Guides arrives in every publication possible.

At some point during October (or even earlier), every magazine, newspaper or ecommerce website office around the country has the same inevitable meeting that results in some poor soul being commissioned to source the products for the gift guide.

More often that not, the guide is ‘helpfully’ split up into stereotypical categories, such as “Gifts for Him”, “Ideas for Her”, “For the awkward uncle”, which are simply an excuse to trot out the same sort of tat that appears every year.

There are two reasons why I find these utterly depressing: Continue reading “Christmas Gift Guides: a sea of stereotypes and predictability”

The more subtle reasons that Jeremy Corbyn is winning support

Jeremy Corbyn
Labour leader hopeful Jeremy Corbyn
I’ve been watching and listening to footage of Jeremy Corbyn over the past week or so and – quite aside from his policies – I think I’ve identified other reasons for his apparently-surprise popularity among grass-roots voters.

His age
At 66, Corbyn has decades of experience and the gravitas he offers stands out.

Consider Ken Livingstone’s similar appeal which swept him into the London Mayoralty and the popularity of a similar-aged Alan Johnson.

There are times when relative youth just don’t cut it.
Continue reading “The more subtle reasons that Jeremy Corbyn is winning support”