Think Like a Leader
When leaders think about time, it is often because we think we are short of it or we want to manage it better. But maybe we should just occasionally think about it in a more expansive, perhaps even philosophical way. Because how we use our time impacts many around us, for good or ill. After a truly bizarre year that upended just about everyone’s personal and professional lives now is as good a time as any to be more reflective.
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Feel Like a Leader
The new year, finishing off our festive break, is usually a time for unwinding and meeting friends and family, getting out and about, away from the normal routine. But this year it was different, more akin to the boxer, having a short seat between rounds, in a fight where he is being continuously pummelled.
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Act Like a Leader
Leadership will always be about using time wisely. But that isn’t just about our minutes and hours – it is the decisions we take to work for the good of others as well as ourselves. Of course, our perception of time relates as much to what’s going on inside our heads as it does to the sun rising and setting. So consciously making the right decisions, in spite of how we may feel, is the hallmark of leadership.
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Sam Harris is an American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and podcast host who aims to produce work that helps us think better and more clearly about the actions we take. In this (very long) podcast he talks to the Glaswegian William MacAskill, an Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford. He is one of the primary voices in a philanthropic movement known as “effective altruism”.
NB the full podcast is free on the link below.
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The Psychology of Time in our Lives 5 Types of Time Perspective and 4 Principles of Time Management - positivepsychology.org.uk
As you might expect from this publication it is a thoughtful look at how we understand time in our lives. But as we all understand it in different ways this helps paint the broader picture. It shows the importance of a balanced approach – a constant theme in our newsletters.
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This is a much shorter introduction to the work of Sam Harris, which condenses some of his key thinking. Backed with good music and camerawork it offers more reflective thoughts for the new year. Not our usual newsletter fare but a reminder of how the leader’s life should be one of significance to others as well.
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Today many of our everyday devices tell us the time but it was only in 1880 that time was formally standardised across the UK. Some years before, the railways had moved to using Greenwich Mean Time. But for years before that churches, usually at the centre of village life were the places people looked to, albeit for the very local time. And in cities too, as this photo from Edinburgh shows. Today, despite the plethora of ways to tell the time we can’t help but glance upwards at a clock tower.
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Make Today Count by John Maxwell is a distillation of some of the key thoughts in one of his previous books, Today Matters.
Published in 2008 by Center Street / Hachette it is in an easy-to-read format where John seeks to bridge the apparent gap between leadership actions and living a significant life. He reminds us that how we live our life today prepares us for tomorrow and gives his ‘daily dozen’ practical steps to ensure we are both effective and meaningful. His pithy insights are simple yet profound and blended with his usual humour force home his points.
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...without a little reflection, there is no Insight Added.
“Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.”
Roy T. Bennett
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Lead well
Graham and Lesley
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