Julia Middleton's Thoughts on Leadership

I regularly misjudge situations because of pride. Especially situations when I am working with people from many countries. Partly because I don’t have much pride.
I reckon I did once. But that over the years I have made so many mistakes – sometimes bad judgements, sometimes because I was over-stretched and didn’t make a judgement – [...]

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I have always deeply rejected attempts to draw distinctions between how men and women lead. Mostly in defence of my sons.
Just because they grow up to trust their instincts, use words with values in them, take the trouble to build relationships with colleagues and judge situations through a feel for people and not just facts, [...]

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With everyone (colleagues, media, stakeholders, customers) asking you for leadership – can you drown in it? So that you become only a reflection of what others want of you? I sat with some students on an MBA last week and the big thing they seemed to be asking me was how not to drown? They [...]

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In the UK, trust in leaders has eroded. It is worth saying that maybe in some ways this is a good thing. If it means we do a double take and think for ourselves. And if it means that leaders don’t over promise.

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I have been doing work recently with people who have huge IQs. I don’t say this lightly. They are faster at all discussions and this is not just about numbers – where they see a sea of numbers and go straight to the wobbly one – it’s about spotting the weakness in a strategy – [...]

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My daughter is doing her driving test in a couple of weeks. So I have been sitting by her for the last few weeks as she drives around and gets practice. She judged a messy roundabout very well yesterday and told me a secret that her driving instructor had told her. “Don’t look at the [...]

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Simon Singh won his court battle. I am glad. It was about his right to express his views freely. He didn’t make up facts he simply stated his views.
I never got close to the intricacies of the issues but I did watch a man stand up for what he believed in and fight on against [...]

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Making Good Society is the final report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in the UK and Ireland, published by the Carnegie UK Trust this month.
I think the report speaks to some strong points, but I do take issue with some of the content.
Alarm bells go off for me when [...]

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As part of our Leaders’ Questions in London, I interviewed Nigel Morris Jones and 11 other leaders. He pointed out that in 2009 the UK saw quite a bit of crisis management but not a great deal of leadership. I agree, and I disagree.
Good crisis management is a part of good leadership. I don’t think [...]

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I’m not one for fashion, let alone outlandish runway designs. I can admire the structural engineering that goes into creating these textile sculptures, but (and I know I’m missing the point here) they seem highly impractical to wear.
My attitude to this, which will no doubt cause the eye-roll of many a fashion doyenne, by no [...]

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