Blog - Thur 26th January

Thur 26th January
Leadership

My attention has been drawn to a new book on Leadership, written by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones. With this most vital and yet elusive of ingredients in modern business, plus one of the six key subjects on Constructing Excellence's agenda for 2006, Leadership is something we all need to understand better.

This book is titled ‘Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?' with the sub title ‘What it takes to be an authentic leader'. This sub title is the cool bit for me; what is an ‘authentic leader'? I'll have to dig and delve within this publication first before I can state what the writers believe it is, but it has made me reflect on today's ‘construction and property leaders'. The men I would proffer as ‘those I would follow' from the recent past would include Bovis' Sir Frank Lampl, Ian Macpherson for his work at Mace and probably John Lelliott's notable contribution with the company that bore his name.

These guys were all noted for their vision, direction, inspiration and giving their respective businesses a sense of purpose. They also had more than there fair share of charisma, were not adverse to taking a risk and appreciated a good old fashioned ‘laugh and a joke'!

Not so sure that there are many similar figures around today. Male or female come to think of it.

What do you think?

Wed 25th January
Local Builders, for Local People…

A client of ours complained bitterly today of a legal wrangle involving their local builder and their house insurers. The relatively simple task of investigating a damp patch that had occurred in the rear of their south London terraced home, provide a diagnostic and subsequently undertake the required remedial work, has been going on ad-nausea since July last year!!!

Quite apart from damaging furnishings, undertaking the work as though part of an elaborate ‘Tag-Team' and leaving dust filled rooms behind them, the builders have now managed to become embroiled in a dispute over guarantees for workmanship with the insurers. Hence our client cannot ‘claim' to fund the work that has been undertaken.

Good to know that contractual disputes affect the private, residential client with the same degree of frustration as they do those in the corporate commercial world.

Mon 23rd January
Me Dear, Miserable Dear, No Dear!

According to psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall of Cardiff University's Centre for Lifelong Learning, an expert in seasonal disorders, today was to be the most depressing day of 2006. It's the dire convergence of all our seasonal woes apparently, Anal-retentive Cliff (well be fair, what ever made him think of calculating misery?) took into account factors such as foul weather, Christmas debts, the lingering effects of seasonal overindulgence, failed New Year's resolutions and generally reduced motivation. Thus the happy soul came up with today's date.

Well, don't know about you, but I didn't feel any more miserable today than I am any other Monday.

Same could be said for my good friend at Davis Langdon, Ted Cann, who I met up with today. Also the highly personable Nigel Oseland of Swanke Hayden Connell, who I quite literally bumped into whilst dashing for the ‘Tube'. All of us were in pretty good form actually.

To be fair, Ted was on very good form. Gently chiding his colleagues who were blissfully unaware of what a Blog is! I assured him it was probably just an "age thing", only to be contradicted by a 20-something who was equally bemused by my explanation of "Weblog, an online diary".

(Yes, at this stage of the proceedings I was rather concerned that Dr. ‘Dire' Cliff was on the money and I'd be struck down all dismal and stuff!)

My concerns that this blog's weekly outpouring to the wonderful world of QS' and PM's was ‘missing the target', proved, thankfully, to be premature when this evening an old mate at EC Harris called me on the mobile to:

a) Rubbish West Ham's ‘Lucky' victory over Fulham

b) Ask if I knew of anywhere ‘to crash' at MIPIM

c) Reassure me that although I appear to be Movie-Bad Guy Leon in my photo promoting the QS Blog, "the QS & PM community knew it was that camp ex-Schal guy!"

"How very Dare you!"

Sun 22nd January
I Have A (Olympic) Dream…

It's Sunday and I'm watching the TV and the emotion becomes all too much and my eyes well up with tears. No, before you jump to any conclusions for this spontaneous show of feelings, I was not singing and clapping along to ‘Songs of Praise'. Yet it was something of a ‘holy sermon' that had put the proverbial lump in my throat. It was an exert from Seb Coe's presentation that ultimately, as the TV programme title alluded to, won London the 2012 Olympic bid.

It was searing stuff, it really was. Articulate, poignant and, most importantly, passionate. If you get a chance, do watch it. It's a master class in presenting a vision whilst stepping-up-to-the-plate as the Leader of the Team.

Fellow Olympian Matthew Pinsent recalled the moment that Seb drew a close to that performance, and a colleague remarked with total admiration, "that was the best. Not just here today, but the best speech ever".

OK, it was very good, but I'd say Martin Luther King's ‘I have a dream..' gig shaded it as the all time great!

Still, Seb's ‘Silver' in this vocal-event is well earned.

So, now you know why London, and not Paris, took the spoils on that now fabled day in July 2005.

Well, that is a good part of the reason. The other really essential part was that Paris did not portray an inclusive and sustainable bid within their overall presentation. There was no sign of the diversity of race, colour and creed that exits in Paris. (No wonder the ‘real' locals were rioting over there in November!) There was no sign of the future it would bring Paris and the rest of the world, along with the legacy it would leave. Actually, save for a very blokey, boring show of how the Paris team would administer the Olympics, it had virtually nothing else to offer.

It did make me think of the time when I was involved in a bid to win a project, in which the favourites were French and our Team's presentation was delivered by a Leader with the ability to step up to the plate and enunciate a vision.

Like Seb's Olympic bid team, we not only understood the client's brief we also had empathy with it. Resulting in designing and producing a message hat aligned with that brief and, most importantly, having a leader who could deliver that message with eloquence and passion.

Yes, yes, before you all jump on me, I also clearly remembered other times when working with a team that got like the French and let arrogance rip through clarity and focus of the task at hand, subsequently loosing to ‘inferior' opposition.

Why the hell do you think I was crying!

And Finally…

"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm."

Publilius Syrus