Julia Middleton's Thoughts on Leadership

Where do you turn for new insights, or to throw yourself into the unfamiliar? Do you have to take a year out and travel the globe? Or should you simply go out in your own street and see it through another person’s eyes?
I explained the Common Purpose 360 Day (an invitation from Common Purpose to do [...]

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There is an interesting discussion on the Common Purpose LinkedIn group encouraging us to be brave enough to answer the question “Why should anyone be led by you?” – not an easy one. How would you answer it?
 In the discussion there is the suggestion that you should think about whether you are consistent in your [...]

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I was brought up to have no respect for any position, age, background or title. My father told me that no one was better than me other than as a result of their ability, experience, achievements or character. At best people like this in me, and at worst they think my lack of deference is [...]

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A couple of weeks ago, I spent the day with several Egyptians. None of them saw Obama in person – they had been told not to go out on their balcony or even look out of their window as his motorcade went past – but they heard his speech and told me with delight, “It’s [...]

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Strange how the world suddenly stops. Someone needs you totally; someone you care for dies. Suddenly, the vast action list of the morning becomes irrelevant.
Nothing like this has happened, but I am in quarantine – my son has swine flu! So people with masks over their faces come and check us out at home, and [...]

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A whole host of Common Purpose graduates send me information about their mad ideas, but the maddest probably arrived this morning – it was great!
At first, I wasn’t sure I was really up for today and thought it would be better to sleep through it. Common Purpose is, just occasionally, really hard work, and two [...]

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Tiananmen Square was twenty years ago this week. How the world – and China – have changed. The symbol for me was the earthquake last year when the Chinese government opened its reporting to foreign journalists. Over the last few months we have been talking to many leaders in China about whether we could start [...]

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I hit 50 today.
That’s 50 people I have met in the last seven days who have told me that they plan to “sit tight” through the recession. And they call themselves leaders!
Their assumption is:

it will get back to where it was
it’s just a question of waiting
that they have no role to play
that all will be [...]

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I had a difficult conversation with an investment banker friend yesterday. He expressed relief that things were starting to look better, and to indicate that the basic banking model was not totally flawed. I asked him what kind of people would be needed at the top in the future. Even though he is a good [...]

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Sales. So many people don’t want to do sales. It’s somehow seen as dirty and grubby, cheap and unpleasant (and that’s if it’s not underhand, scheming and manipulative). People who understand faiths and cultures no doubt know the root of this attitude. For me, it’s something you have to overcome whether you are in India, [...]

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