Tag Archives: international

  • Has the Scottish referendum just reinforced the need for proper stakeholder engagement?

      With so much media coverage of the imminent referendum, it is inevitable that people’s actions (or lack of them) will come under close scrutiny. With chants of “Vote yes” equally matched by chants of “Vote no” the likely outcome remains unclear, but the attempts to win votes hasn’t diminished. However, it is this element […]

  • Do your staff have enough confidence to do their jobs effectively?

    It’s the 21st century and no longer do we have staff members that we take fresh from college, train and develop through the business and then wave off for a ‘happy retirement’ 40 years later. Times are a changing and the education system is no longer geared towards developing the non-educational side of our children […]

  • Amanda Murrell Associates press release

      Amanda Murrell Associates Ltd (AMA) is pleased to announce that they will be exhibiting at GESS for the first time in 2014. AMA is an award-winning group of consultants, who are experienced in coaching, mentoring, training development and delivery and are all specialists in their own right. AMA is passionate about providing opportunities for individuals […]

  • International Women’s Day

    As we approach International Women’s Day, March 8th, it makes me think about all of the very successful women there are in business.  But according to recent research, women in business still tend to be at a distinct disadvantage when securing funding for their business (it does not say why or what funding), it also found that women tend to be charged higher rates of interest when taking out loans – an average of 2.9%, substantially more than the 1.9% average charged to men.  Despite these statistics (statistics don’t always reflect the true picture) the UK now houses a thriving female entrepreneurial community.

    According to Daniel Goleman the author of “The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights” one of the reasons why women are effective leaders is because on average they outdo men when it comes to sensing a person’s feelings in the moment and more attuned to Emotional Intelligence (the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions).

    Psychology Today recently featured Meg Whitman, former CEO of ebay and current CEO of HP for leading with emotional intelligence. During her eight years with ebay it was the fastest growing company in history. In her book The Power of Many, she writes: “I believe that being willing and able to actively listen is a vital skill for any leader. Not only is listening the right thing to, an antidote to arrogance, it also leads to all sorts of competitive advantages.”

    Use your Emotional Intelligence to develop “perspective” – patterns of recognition combined with experience – within your company. (Doctors do it all the time by building up case histories and finding patterns of symptoms.) People without perspective see the world from their own limited viewpoint and keep pushing that viewpoint. When you have perspective, you can step outside your own worldview and acknowledge other perspectives – your customers’, your colleagues’, your direct reports’, and your boss’s.

    It makes sense that today’s organizations will struggle to survive, much less thrive, if they are simply a collection of IQ skills – finance, statistics, information systems, product development, technology, manufacturing, delivery, marketing, etc.

    IQ skills need to be balanced with elements of Emotional Intelligence – honesty, trust, integrity, intuition, imagination, resilience, purpose, commitment, influence, motivation, sensitivity, empathy, humour, courage, conscience and humility.

    Use feedback from your heart, not just your head. It’s what ignites creative genius, keeps us honest with ourselves, shapes trusting relationships, provides an inner compass for our business lives and careers, guides us to unexpected possibilities, and may even save us or our company from disaster. As Emotional Intelligence is more and more frequently linked to success and profitability, it is gaining legitimacy – even among some of its sceptics.

    Amanda Murrell