With all that is happening around us it is likely many Family Businesses will face a difficult time. Then only way they can survive is to make sure that the foundations on which the family businesses rests upon are strong enough to withstand whatever comes along. One of the foundations that needs to be tackled …
Author: Silvan Mifsud
Leadership – Top Skill Needed
I was recently writing a report for a client and my research led me to go through the "Future of Jobs report - 2020" which was issued in October 2020, by the World Economic Forum. This analysis report lists the following cross-functional skills which will likely be needed in the future, across various jobs and …
You are not Apollo (the Sun God)
I hope that by now you have realised that I am absolutely against micromanagement. However, I am frequently faced by micromanagers who then complain as to why everyone keeps coming to them to get things done. Well maybe because you made all the arrows point towards you? Or because you fomented a culture whereby everyone …
Resilience – Lessons from SMEs that weathered the storm well
A few days ago, I was speaking to the Managing Director of a leading family business and he told me "Those that are not investing now to adapt and change things, will find it hard to survive when things pick up". In a world that is still trying to overcoming the gripping fear of the …
Continue reading Resilience – Lessons from SMEs that weathered the storm well
Family Businesses: The Next Leader(s)
Whenever one reads about Family Businesses, the very first topic one encounters is succession planning. It is likely to be so, because many family businesses seem to fail or encounter existential problems when they arrive at this stage. However, the so called one million dollar question is, does succession planning exist in a vacuum or …
From soft skills to core skills
In the past few days I was lucky enough to start the process of training all employees of a company in the so called soft skills, with a special focus on Teamwork, Leadership and Communication. It shows the real foresight of this company, who understood that these skills will be needed more than ever, as …
Collaboration
I never cease to be amazed at the whole waste of energy and effort that business go through due to the lack of collaboration. Many business leaders I speak too show a great sense of frustration as change never seems to stick out and deliver what is expected. A lot of hope and effort in …
Being a real manager
There is the general and common thinking that being a manager is something everyone can do. It reminds me of one episode of Fawlty Towers where a certain Mrs. Richards asks for the manager (Click HERE to refresh your memory)....to end up being spoken too by the owner (Basil Fawlty) who is totally inept in …
Empowerment
In the last few days the word empowerment has been used (and I dare say abused) rather extensively....in a total different context than the business world. Empowerment is a concept in business management that has been around for quite some time and hence has been researched rather extensively. The concept of empowerment is that if …
Are you able to receive advice?
This is a hard topic. It is way too frequent that I am asked for advice and then I realise that what I am being really asked for is to agree to the pre-set opinion of who asked for advice. Advice seekers must identify their blind spots, recognise when and how to ask for guidance, …
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