Faith in Business is about workplaces. And what characterises most modern workplaces is their secularity, if only because diverse workforces rarely share the same religious belief systems. This immediately presents the Christian leader with a technical problem. Is it legitimate for them to appeal to an authority whose existence others doubt? Read More
As well as Chairing Faith in Business here at Ridley, I teach leadership at Ashridge Business School. Over the last 10 years or so I’ve been lucky enough to help quite a wide range of leaders work out how to get better at what they do. I’ve taught the Head of Clouds at the Met Office, the Head of Killing at Bernard Matthews, and the Administrator of Tristan da Cunha. Read More
At Ashridge I have the great privilege of working with lots of different leaders. One of the most useful theories I have come across to help them understand the complexity of their role is Art Kleiner’s Core Group Theory. Essentially, Kleiner argues that the core group in any organisation has the same effect as does a magnet on iron filings. When they are around, everyone snaps to attention. I see it visibly when we have certain CEOs or Ministers come in to address a course: the fanning out, the standing up straight, the self-conscious gesturing, the laughing at their jokes, the sounding slightly better spoken than usual, and of course the asking of terribly clever questions. Read More
