Leadership

The management of meaning.

Things go wrong. It’s inevitable. You are the leader.

If you do nothing, people will make their own judgements, and gossip will prevail.

Get people together. Achieve a group dynamic. Everyone hears the same message and at the same time.

An example. Ninety fundraisers in the room.

• We’ve had a terrible Appeal Board meeting.

• People were all over the place.

• They acted like children, not successful adults.

• It really felt that things are going backwards.

• And that even the very target seemed completely unachievable.

• John, Susan and I drowned our sorrows in the wine bar afterwards.

• However

• The target remains. There is no question of reducing it.   

• It is the most extraordinary once in a lifetime appeal. 

• It would be ridiculous to think that there would be no hiccoughs along the way

• If raising £250m was a walk in the park with no dramas, no dangerous moments, no long dark nights of the soul and no jeopardy, every charity would doing it.

• So

• We are working on a robust plan

• It will involve…

• This

• That

• And the other

• It will then need all of us, working together, to make the plan real.

• I (yes ‘I’) am completely confident that we can get things back on track.

• Within the next two weeks

• We’ll keep you all up to date.

• No-one said it was going to be easy

I’ve seen it work. It’s hugely powerful. Any naysayers at the water cooler are drowned out. People are far more motivated by the possibility of success than the possibility of failure.

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