Leadership Q&A

I cut my teeth on Peter Drucker and Edward de Bono and was a true believer in my corporate days. More recently I question why? more than how? and that has lead me to read more widely and look at life and business differently. Steve Jobs was a great "why guy". Your comment on being a good all rounder also resonates (I am also lazy) and I have adjusted my business to allow me to turn a profit whilst indulging in my great passions for food, wine and travel. I would class cooking and books as my great hobbies - I cook every day that I am home and the iPad is always loaded for reading!

I have to say that my current heroes and people who inspire me most, fall outside or on the fringes of business a little. My two current heroes are: Brene Brown, professor at the university of Austin Texas and author of books such as "Daring Greatly" and Graham Long, minister at The Wayside Chapel in Sydney. Both of them make my skin itch when I read their words or hear them speak... so much more wisdom and inspiration than most of the business gurus I have to say. Seth Godin is of course a fantastically interesting character but a little obvious... I read a great book by Daniel PInk called "To Sell is Human"... now that is a great read for business owners over christmas... you will not regret taking the time... Neil, I totally agree with your take on Peter Drucker and Edward the Bono, but I am going to disagree vehemently with your mentioning of Steve Jobs as one of the great and good.. I really have a lot of trouble with the cult of reverence for Steve Jobs, yes he created a lot of wealth for a lot of people and I agree that his computers look better than other's and that he broke new ground several times, but from everything that has come out since his death it seems quite clear that at a personal level he was a rank A@#$&*le riding rough shod over people and generally being the opposite of a nice human being... I suppose the reason I get so much more inspired by someone like Graham Long or Brene Brown is that I don't think the world needs more selfobsessed inconsiderate egomaniacs.... The world needs more people who care about others.

Ah yes, I often say this to my students, if they need a good business idea, go out and write business plans for small businesses, essential but hardly ever done! This whole strand indicates that for SME's leadership is a very practical thing. I wonder if there are some short cuts in there though, things that we've learned and would never do again, or things that we now realise are essential. i'm a serial entrepreneur and I often wonder what I would tell myself as I opened my first business (a signwriting company over twenty years ago now), I would certainly run it differently now, but there are all those practical things you still have to consider - because in the end you still have to make stuff and collect money! So where is the balance, can we do the 'management' stuff more efficiently and actually have the time to lead better?

Louise, thanks for your comments. Your questions closely follow our thinking at Wardour Capital and we are in the process of finalising two new SME business products for the Australian market. The first and closest to launch is "Tooliers" a system of on-line buisiness diagnostic tools and the second CG - Create Growth, is a range of simple yet comprehensive SME templates and tips for planning and accounting. Both of these products will be supported by webinars and podcasts. To see more have a look at our web site. I apologise for turning this into a "plug" it wasn't my intention.

Thank you for your honest and uplifting answer :) And on that note I am off for a quick 20 minute rest (Will I nap? Will I daydream? Who knows!) before heading out to my 6 pm networking function.

Sounds very peaceful. Well done!