Snakes and Ladders - Times Online - WBLG

The Concise 33 Strategies of War

Books which promise bored businessmen that a firm handshake and a couple of military metaphors guarantee corporate success are popular because they suggest that there's more to office life than a balanced budget. Look here, they tell suited warriors, what you do is important; in a different age you'd be marshalling the cavalry for a final charge. Is that really so different to preparing a marketing strategy for a new type of laxative?

But what makes The Concise 33 Strategies of War different is that it promises to guide us not only at work but also in our relationships, in politics and, curiously, on the street. Oh, and the press release is endorsed by Busta Rhymes, the musician: "I felt like I had some Deep Sea scroll or some sh*t".

Name 5 non-famous CEOs

Much is written about the curse of celebrity and how we all want our 15 minutes. Chief executives and chairman are no exception to the rule. Some corporate leaders are as famous as their brands: think Arcadia's Philip Green, Apple's Steve Jobs, Virgin's Richard Branson or BA's Willie Walsh. Not all are famous for the right reasons - but all publicity is good publicity eh? What's more, a modicum of fame can ensure a rich post-retirement career as a management guru or writer - just consider GE's former head honcho Jack Welch.

But although the media and the public love 'em - Branson seems to come top of every league table, whether its bosses, entrepreneurs, businessmen or men with beards - leadership writers are keen to remind us that leadership ought to be authentic and our leaders need to keep it real. The heroic leader is as dated as an Arctic Roll. The thinking seems to be that it's difficult to keep your eye on the bottom line if you're busy worrying whether your bum will look big on Newsnight.

So in the spirit of the great British parlour game of name five famous Belgians, try to name five CEOs who have done a sterling job but aren't universally famous. To get you in the mood, here's a German CEO game in the style of the more famous beer logo game.  If we can get enough we could build our own game. . . although maybe that will make them famous and then we'll be back to square one.

(Picture of Belgian luc Vandevelde, former CEO of Marks & Spencer, borrowed from www.famousbelgians.net )

How to be a leader - part 2

As I reported last month I am keen to hone my leadership skills. Following a skills assessment, which Carly kindly organised for me, I enrolled on Common Purpose's leadership course called TheKnow. This is touted as a street-smart MBA and after two sessions seems promising.

There is just one problem. I've found that I am far too busy leading to go and learn how to lead ...

Graph heaven

This is a totally mad website dedicated to graphs. For management consultants everywhere who get slightly nervous when detached from a PPT file. http:/graphjam.com. Enjoy.

Alex Ferguson and the Manchester United Management School

Footballers are paid too much, are lionised and criticised too quickly, and have a perennial inability to see what constitutes a decent haircut. Alex Ferguson has fought and won against all these things, and having taken his Manchester United side to another Premier League title, he must be seen as one of the most successful managers ever to have walked into a dressing room.

Are there any lessons for managers in more ordinary walks of life? Clive Woodward, the rugby coach that took England to world cup victory in Australia in 2003, has made a tidy name for himself explaining how his sporting strategies can be applied in the workplace. His book  Winning!: The Story of England's Rise to Rugby World Cup Glory has sold well, and Woodward makes a good show on the speaking circuit. His podcast for The Times is well worth a listen too.

How to be a leader

Thanks to Carly, who volunteered me, I have had my leadership skills assessed. I have survived and written an article about the process in The Times's Career section. It was relatively painless. But now I have to do something with the feedback, I got from Piers Hollier at Get Feedback who did the analysis.

Piers tells me I'm not a bad leader: I'm highly motivated, ambitious, inspirational, influential, good at understanding others and a good problem solver. I'm also better at critical thinking than 82 per cent of management consultants - which for some reason makes me laugh.

But I am far from perfect and Piers has recommended, after a tortured series of psychometric tests and a rather strange interview, that the key development areas I need to work on are:

Grangemouth, Life on Mars and having to learn about strikes again

Books and papers about industrial unrest have been happily gathering dust these years. But is it time to blow of the cobwebs? Strikes appear as popular as cop shows starring Philip Glenister, and just as reminiscent of the 1970s. Last week it was teachers, this week it is refinery workers at Grangemouth. Who knows? If we had a car, coal or iron industry worth mentioning perhaps their workers would be manning the pickets and barricades too.

The good folk of Grangemouth clearly have a genuine gripe about retirement incomes but is this dispute really all about pensions? My bet is that pensions are a catalyst, a lightning rod that has uncovered a whole load of other grievances. The management challenge is to understand what lies at the root and what can be done about it.

Management gimmick: your corporate mission on a paper napkin

This month's Fast Company magazine has a piece about the new fashion amongst some managers for distilling a company's business model into a couple of stick figures, some buzzwords and a series of arrows scrawled onto a paper napkin. My first thought was, obviously, "oh look, it's another another management gimmick". (Though in my head there was more swearing and less punctuation).

Then I wondered how anyone had persuaded managers to leave their PowerPoint programmes shut for long enough to use a pen and paper rather than a wizzy logo and laser pointer. Then, weirdly, I began to wonder whether it's actually quite a good idea.

Could you work at T5?

There are, as of yesterday, at least two senior management jobs going at Heathrow's Terminal 5. There may well be more opportunities in the not too distant future.

British Airways has axed Gareth Kirkwood, the operations director, and David Noyes, the customer services director. This is despite chief executive Willie Walsh's claim that the buck stopped with him. He just didn't mention that it would stop then swiftly move on down the line ... to two people who have worked for the company for 20 years.

Don't let that dissuade you though. This a senior management position where you can: work for a notorious boss; complete a difficult project; get yourself on the telly; and get paid. Who needs The Apprentice?

And what better way to polish up your CV than giving this online Terminal 5 baggage handling game a go. Remember you only need to beat a negative score of 28,000 bags to win a place on BA's board.

Bear Stearns

Malice - albeit tinged with a wry smile - leads me to point you in the direction of this part of the Bear Stearns website. In case the page is taken out, as it will be if there is anyone at the US bank able to concentrate on such mundanities as doing their job, I post the relevant quote here, for posterity.

Welcome to Bear Stearns If you're really good at what you do, you probably have a lot of choices when it comes to taking the next step in (or starting) your career. But if you can tackle complex challenges with creative solutions, and want to be able to make your mark quickly regardless of title or tenure, we think your only real choice is pretty clear. Why let someone else drive your career?

Oh dear.