"Many leaders who, in their own space, are seen as driven,
empowering and motivating become bullying, domineering and
aggressive out of it. Yet they may well be using the same
skills."
Zenna Atkins, Social entrepreneur, Chair of
OFSTED and Chair of Places for People
"One of the great problems in Britain today is that we are
all trying to become the same; to minimise the differences between
us, rather than enjoy them. I am a tall busty blonde. I like being
a tall busty blonde. I flaunt it - mainly because there are not
many of us chairing boards (particularly not the audit committee of
the Royal Navy). It's me. I add value precisely because I am
different. Because I think, talk and look different. I don't want
to hide my difference. I feel comfortable with diversity - I like
it."
Zenna Atkins, Social entrepreneur, Chair of
OFSTED and Chair of Places for People
"Once you go out of your circle, the pull to go further out
gets stronger and stronger. As you succeed, your view is sought on
ever greater issues, and this is when you need to get really
careful - careful what you get involved in."
Sir Michael Bichard, Rector, University of
the Arts London
"A problem for many leaders is that they define their brand
according to the role they play in their box: their organisation,
their job. They also need a brand for themselves, decided by them,
free of the box. Just as people buy from a brand they trust, people
listen to one they trust."
Sir Michael Bichard, Rector, University of
the Arts London
"It's the compromises you make that will most decide your
brand. This is what we will be judged on. The real art is to know
what to make concessions on; when to make them - and when not to.
What's a good compromise and what's a bad one. I suspect that
history probably judges you by your bad ones."
Shami Chakrabarti, Director, Liberty
"Rebels don't produce change, because they are fanning their
own anger. They won't play the system, they are not
self-deprecating enough, they don't seek to resonate, they find it
hard to behave in a collegiate way and they end up isolated too
often. You have to learn to save your outrage and focus."
Shami Chakrabarti, Director, Liberty
"Having been a senior woman in the oil industry, I was used
to being in a minority, but my experience of being in a minority
within the context of race was a new one."
Pam Chesters, Chair, Royal Free NHS
Trust
"Some people say that, in the outer circles, you have to
produce not only the question but the answers too, as you do in the
core circle. But often, it's more about asking the question. It's
not that there is anything wrong with producing the answers, but
it's not the only way."
Pam Chesters, Chair, Royal Free NHS
Trust
"There is a strongly held view that whoever pays the piper
calls the tune. Of course, effective leaders will always manage to
retain their independence. That is one of their marks. However,
even if this is true, it has also to appear to be so today -
because, sadly, perception is seen by many as more important than
reality."
Sir Andrew Cubie, Consultant, Fyfe Ireland
LLP and Chair of the Committee of University Chairs
"Neutralising the opposition sometimes just comes down to he
who blinks first. It's a dare."
Sir Andrew Cubie, Consultant, Fyfe Ireland
LLP and Chair of the Committee of University Chairs
"How much chaos you can cope with? Will you panic that you
can't pull it all together when the time comes to really complete
it? There will be plenty of chaos if you are not working with an
obedient team. If you try to tidy, use the linear approach and seek
to be in control, you tend to produce something which is lazy and
predictable."
Siobhan Davies, Artistic Director and
Choreographer, Siobhan Davies Dance
"How do you make sure you get the bubbling up of ideas
through a coalition of energy, rather the boiling down that
consensus inevitably provokes? It's about eliminating all the
ordinary, in-between stuff that is no good. You have to cut it out
and concentrate all the energy on stretching for the best. Then the
really good stuff acts as a magnet for more. If you allow middling
stuff to stay - the filler stuff - then that works as a magnet for
more of the same too."
Siobhan Davies, Artistic Director and
Choreographer, Siobhan Davies Dance
"To start with, all his prejudices were comfortingly
confirmed. It was indeed messy and confused and unstructured and
hard to establish who was doing what. But then they came to the
moment when the curtain went up and I saw it all come together:
with a degree of commitment amongst all the staff - whatever their
role - that was totally inspiring."
Richard Ellis, Chair, East of England
Development Agency
"I initially led with a rational approach, aiming to
convince consumers. It didn't work. We failed to see the warning
signs until it was too late. Had I realised three years earlier, I
would have tested the societal circle first. Had it been more
positive at this stage, I would have set out to take the media and
the NGOs with us."
Richard Greenhalgh, Former Chairman,
Unilever UK
"You need to keep on living vicariously for the triumphs of
others, taking secret pleasure in their achievements that only you
know you have played a part in."
Charles Handy, Writer and social
philosopher
"When you start to move beyond your own space, you can get a
reputation of being an interferer, a trouble maker but you can't
let this put you off."
Lord Michael Hastings, International
Director of Corporate Citizenship, KPMG
"I became blinded by the strength of the arguments we were
making in our bid. There was such an overwhelming and strong case
and the need was clear. Maybe I relied too much on the intellectual
argument. In fact, I was dazzled by it. With hindsight, I realise
that the case was only part of the picture. The piece we did not
put enough effort into was the building of the
relationships."
Dr. Musharraf Hussain, Director General,
Bobbersmill Community Centre
"As a minority, an outsider, you feel weak and you sometimes
justify things on the basis of the lesser of two evils. You become
defensive and are sometimes willing to make very big compromises,
and settle for less."
Dr. Musharraf Hussain, Director General,
Bobbersmill Community Centre
"You need someone looking the other way, who is not just a
rebel but a remarkable person too, who asks "Have you thought
of...?" I think that if you are any good as a leader, you will have
performed the remarkable person role at some time, when you say "I
know I signed up to this idea, but I have a feeling I might have
been wrong...". The trouble is that most people like a quiet life,
so if there is a rationale for going with the herd, they will. To
be a remarkable person, you need the courage to stand against the
herd."
Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chair, Food Standards
Agency
"You have to give everyone the credit, except
yourself."
Prue Leith, Social entrepreneur,
businesswoman, restaurateur and writer
"You have to be very clever to overcome the jealousies and
the instincts to destroy, which are deep. You have to listen hard,
schmooze a lot, pretend everyone is on board, use flattery and the
sweetest of bribery."
Prue Leith, Social entrepreneur,
businesswoman, restaurateur and writer
"If you know that nothing is going on and you are only
sought to adorn some venture and add your own credibility to it, be
careful. Even worse, don't do it if the new venture is only being
undertaken as a way to prevent something better from
emerging."
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive, Arts
Council of Northern Ireland
"It is because women have been kept out of many positions of
power they have got better at leading beyond authority and working
on the margins. They have learnt to create power."
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive, Arts
Council of Northern Ireland
"The greats come into a gathering and, within ten minutes,
they have tuned into the mood in the room."
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive, Arts
Council of Northern Ireland
"I have never been a rebel because I have always chosen to
be in the system. I believe in change from the inside, and I don't
believe that, just because you get into the centre of power, you
inevitably become part of it. I don't think you should ever stay
out of things on principle. Too many opportunities are missed as a
result of this attitude."
Janet Paraskeva, First Commissioner, Civil
Service Commission
"I know the dangers of not breaking up a problem into
manageable chunks and then taking on too big a first chunk. But
also there is an equal danger of not grabbing a big enough chunk to
begin with. Never move on to the next stage unless you are certain
that people cannot roll back from the one that has just been
completed and never ask questions if you already know you don't
want to hear 'no' to them, and don't read the rules if you has no
intention of abiding by them."
Janet Paraskeva, First Commissioner, Civil
Service Commission
"You have to meet the other side with equal determination,
otherwise you will get flattened or injured. You certainly won't
win."
Albert Tucker, Fair Trade pioneer
"The biggest revelation for me was that, as a barrister, I
thought in straight lines - but this just did not work in an
unstructured environment. Education reduces things to a logical
order: water falls, poems rhyme, dramas have resolution. Yet the
world isn't like this."
Philip Kolvin, Barrister
"Leaders have to make people feel uncomfortable. To do this,
you have to feel uncomfortable yourself."
Diana Parker, Chair, Withers Solicitors
"Just be prepared for the brutality of questioning when you
move out of your core circle."
Diana Parker, Chair, Withers Solicitors
"There are very few situations where blind courage is
appropriate. Rather you need cool, rational courage, and this goes
with persistence and resilience."
Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chair, Food Standards
Agency
