The politics of leadership and personal values – stand up and be counted

Ok, we’re back in the zone at Maier with a really busy few months ahead of us in the build up to..shhh…Christmas. As a team we rely on a sense of shared energy to help us maintain our super high standards of design and delivery even when it feels like we’re operating in the middle of a whirlwind – yes, you know that feeling too I’m sure. In thinking what supplies us with some of that energy – no red bull needed here – it comes down to shared beliefs, values and courage.

Here are some prompts and events that provided just that;

LCF #fashionmatters gala on 10th October

We are already working in close partnership with LCF on an ambitious and far reaching organisational wide transformational leadership programme (we will be sharing more of this at a later date) as a result of this we know we share many of the same values and sense of vision. The gala was only the second one to have taken place, a glittering affair held at the Savoy and obviously a fabulous opportunity to go all out in terms of fashion and dressing up (it’s hard but we forced ourselves). Most importantly, it was all about fundraising to provide much needed bursaries which makes it hard not to end up discussing politics around the tables – whatever your views and leaning. The star speaker – I am using that term advisedly – was Grayson Perry known for being outspoken, brave and living his life according to his inner beliefs. He said it as he saw it, took no prisoners and not only made us all sit up and listen he also has that rare ability to make you laugh as he challenges and provokes. There were some real leadership lessons in there; be true to your beliefs, show some courage, but blend some of the tougher messages with some wit and inspiration.

He ended with a great statement and you could almost have followed it with…discuss!

‘I don’t see the next Alexander McQueen coming from Eton. End of’

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The event far surpassed its goal of raising money for at least 29 bursaries (as achieved at last year’s inaugural event). By generating an astonishing 85k excitingly there is now enough to far exceed that original target. Brilliant stuff.

That misogyny speech;

Julia Gillard popped up on good old radio 4 (yes, how could we do our blog without a mention) promoting her upcoming memoir. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04jk364

As a reminder, Julia G became Australia’s first female Prime Minister in 2010, holding tenure for exactly 3 years and 3 days during which time the world witnessed (thanks to Youtube) her now infamous ‘misogyny speech’. It’s the one where she called out some of the less attractive traits of those in office and gave voice to the beleaguered, undermined and misrepresented everywhere…not just women.

She speaks about the difficulty when you’re ‘at the top’ to get the balance right between ‘command and emotion’, between ‘head and heart’ – familiar themes in our work with our own client leaders and ‘top teams’. As those of you who have had the Maier treatment will know there’s no get out, we want to know what people are feeling as well as what they’re thinking. But back to Julia – as with Grayson Perry – you may or may not agree with her politics but the courage and conviction of her message is indisputable. There is no way you can doubt how true she is being to her own values and principles – as every leader should be even when it’s scary. As Julia says; ‘It’s better to keep running in front of the tidal wave and not look back.’

But she also demonstrates a real humility – a character trait we have often heard Nick Robertson CEO of ASOS referencing when sharing leadership values he holds close to his own heart – when she publicly asks; ‘Should I have let myself feel more?’ this is in stark contrast to her adversary Tony Abbot the current Australian PM, when he says ‘it is not his job to emote’. If we expect leaders to show disciplined restraint with emotion tagged as weakness where in the end does the emotion get to be vented? How do we engage the hearts and minds of our organisations and our customers? This business of sharing feelings and emotions runs deep for us at Maier, it provides a unifying theme in so much of our work. It is where we will always be true to our beliefs and show great courage when emotions need addressing however hard it might be. Final word on this goes to Julia G; ‘ We exist in a binary world of good and bad, but this one dimensional portrayal makes it impossible to be seen as a full human being with the normal complexity that comes with being neither perfect, nor evil’. Powerful stuff.

Sharing the love; thanks to some of you out there we felt wonderfully supported in our ‘Stand up to Cancer’ march on October 11th. Your donations and lovely messages filled us with our own sense of conviction as we set off in a magnificent and slightly terrifying full scale thunder storm! Lisa found that walking several miles in wellies is not such a great idea and everyone was amazed that I actually went to the lengths of covering my banner in cling wrap – I am not known for my love of detail – but I did not want my message to those I am supporting to be lost in the rain. When the message is important enough we should all go to any lengths to make sure it is heard.

If you haven’t donated yet – please do tap the link below and throw a few quid in if you’re able. As with LCF, we aimed lower than we should have – we’re 500% higher than our target and have raised nearly £2.5K.

https://www.justgiving.com/maiermarchoncancer/

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