Top administrators have never lost their fondness for declaring that people are the 'greatest asset' that their corporations possess. Like other popular maxims, this one doesn't survive close analysis.
The constant difficulty faced by the would-be change-masters was the refusal or reluctance of the people whose readiness to accept personal change was essential for the wider change of the organisation. Considered as an asset, indeed, people have notable drawbacks.
The language of management development - dominated by words like leadership, motivation and teamwork - is hardly peculiar to management. Every type of organised activity demands these qualities from people, none more obviously than sport.
The qualities of leadership to ten key processes - five inward and the rest outward. The inward set are vision, self-belief, results focus, courage and integrity. None is dispensable, and all need to be combined with the outward five: team-work, visibility, communication, attention and commitment.
Hopefully this is what we will see in the aftermath of the OCM elections this Saturday.
