Tari's Patch

We can describe lying in as many ways as we like... I love Lucy Kellaway's FT columns, this one from February last year is a classic. I got to thinking about leaders and lies, and how lies are euphemistically described when Sir John Chilcot today described Tony Blair as "not straight with the nation" on the Iraq war when he was British Prime Minister. Sir Robert Armstrong, British Cabinet Secretary said during the 'Spycatcher' trial in 1986 that a book written by a former MI5 employee "...contains a misleading impression, not a lie. It was being economical with the truth.". More recently Kellyanne Conway introduced us to the notion of "alternative facts" http://bit.do/dySAA Is it no surprise therefore that Edelman's 2017 Trust barometer finds "that trust is in crisis around the world. The general population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media — has declined broadly, a phenomenon not report...

Read my LinkedIn post about leaders in the age of the show-off and cultural norms here I take two main thoughts from this article. The first is that rewarding show-offs favours certain personality types, assuming wrongly that having a loud voice is a key trait for a good leader. The second is the importance of cultural norms. This chimes with my own experience in operating in Asia, North America and the Middle East for three decades. Sometimes we forget the most basic rule that business is about building relationships. Understanding national cultural norms, respecting them and blending them with your own personal culture and personality with integrity are just a few of the strands of successful international enterprise. The joy for me is working out how all this works, while making long lasting friendships - which by the way, I consider to be the biggest personal reward of doing business internationally.

Tari Lang LinkedIn post 15 June 2017 "Mr Cameron’s dismal record is fixed forever in the history books. Mrs May still has a chance to write a redeeming codicil." So says Philip Stephens in the Financial Times this week. The ultimate price for a leader who has made a gigantic judgement or strategic error is mostly a gigantic fall. For a national leader, the process is public, (often) quick and less forgiving. With support from the leader's coterie this process might be delayed but end in a fall it will be. As they say in cop shows: "you can do it the hard way or you can do it the easy way". Corporate leaders too, make blundering mistakes. CEOs have learned to apologise (with or without pressure), remember James Staley and https://lnkd.in/gXqBkEg ? Oscar Munoz's https://lnkd.in/gsBRqEK ? But eating humble pie, following up with a change of direction in the interest of the institution and stakeholders, being forgiven and surviving? Less obvious to find ...

Tari Lang LinkedIn post 3 June 2017 Two leaders, both new, both having won office by breaking political orthodoxies and appealing to the popular vote through mass communications and sustained social media. Here the similarities end. One ploughs a single path of achieving personal and tribal (aka his own business) goals, seemingly impervious to the the approval from anyone but his own supporters and tribes, while desperately seeking approval for his own personal attributes. The other opens his sphere of influence and support, works on winning hearts and minds, communicates on issues and not his own personal characteristics. Like or hate their politics, these are leadership case studies worthy of close scrutiny. At the end of their respective tenures, which goals will they each have achieved? Their own personal objectives? The country they are designated to serve? The international community around them? The safety and prosperity of the planet?

I am a frequent visitor to the Gulf and have been so for almost ten years so it's been a delight, in the past few weeks, to have visited two new (for me) places which immediately made me feel at home because they take culture on the one hand and the empowerment of female leaders on the other, seriously. All of which feeds my fascination with the way nations, and cities, work at their vision and position in the world - about which I have blogged often. Sharjah is only 20 minutes down the road from Dubai and to my shame, a place I hadn't visited until earlier this year. This is an Emirate with a passion for culture, a Ruler who actively encourages the arts, and a Ruler's wife who doesn't just carry out charitable work (after all, which Ruler's wife in the world doesn't do charitable work...) but actually gets down and dirty in doing so and speaks with knowledgeable passion about her work - whether in Jordan for the Syrian refugees or at home with children wi...

Two unrelated events in the past couple of weeks made me think about leaders who let go - or not. Steve Ballmer announced his departure from Microsoft, triggering speculation as to whether Bill Gates might or should step back to the company he founded in 1975. Tony Blair, widely condemned for taking the UK into Iraq has stepped back into the limelight, throwing himself into the debate about whether or not the UK should take military action in Syria. Bill Gates concentrated on his Foundation (a million miles in content from Microsoft) when he stepped down as CEO in 2000, since when he has resisted commenting about the company he left behind (and despite remaining on its Board). Microsoft's value halved in his absence. Doubtful though Gates' return might be, he is being talked about as Microsoft's latter day saviour. Steve Jobs, during his break from Apple between 1985 and 1996, went about building other successful entities (LucasFilm into Pixar and NeXT, whose platfor...

Edinburgh is gearing up for the Festival season . Twelve festivals (from the original 1947-founded International Festival to the Edinburgh Fringe, the biggest and most organically grown), five performing companies, numerous arts and cultural galleries and museums, hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, restaurants are all getting into Festival mood. I have posted a few blogs over the past few months about the cities and the importance of the arts from a reputation point of view ( Arts and the City ,  Abdoun, New Torn and the new majlis  and  Cities - bragging or shaming ). Summer festivals make a major impact  on the economy of Edinburgh (over £250m/$385m over the summer) as well as its reputation. It's the leadership aspect which has fascinated me these past months. There has been a flurry of new CEOs' appointments of major cultural organisations. These appointments have been high profile, much speculated upon and created much debate. I will set aside, for the time b...