I am more of a fan of management "gurus" than HR "experts". For me it is about people in business & whilst HR is a vital part of delivering this I prefer to look at people rather than HR.

These people have helped me to "Doink". A "Doink" is the "blinding flash of common sense". I have had many "Doinks" but on this page I have listed my key "Doinks" and where appropriate the person who helped me to "Doink". They have only made this page if they have changed my behaviour as well as my thinking.

I have learnt a tremendous amount from Tom Peters over the years. His second book A Passion for Excellence was a book that influenced me greatly. Out of loads of doinks two stabd out as exceptional. The first was that structure is 55% of an organisations success. If you get the structure right good people will blossom & poor people will be exposed. If you get it wrong the reverse will happen. Implicit in this learning is to flatten structure wherever possible. The Second was "Projectisation". All work can be turned into a project with defined objectives, where people can work together to deliver. However, the point with Tom is he never stops challenging you with his thoughts - I don't always understand him but he certainly makes me think!!

Jim Kouzes has very close links to Tom Peters but he brings a different perspective. His book Credibility looks at leadership from the eyes of the follower. His research showed the main components of cridibility to be Honest, Competent, Foward Looking & Inspiring. Out of these honesty is critical.  A more recnt book is "A Leader's Legacy". I love the word "Legacy" because I think it is every individuals reponsibility to leave a legacy. There are four sections - Significance, Relationships, Aspirations & Courage. It is really thought provoking but the chapter 2 has really influenced the way I lead!

I am also a big fan of Ken Blanchard. All his books are thought provoking but in particular the three that I would single out are "The One Minute Manager", "Leadership & The One Minute Manager" & "Gung Ho!". The doinks I received from these are: 1) Ensure your team all know what a good job looks like both as individuals and as teams. 2) Praise feedback (Goose Honks) gets behavior repeated but improvement feedback stops regression. 3) Give people what they can't give themselves - the underpinning theory of Situational Leadership. 4) all work is "Worthwhile Work". 5) Freedom within a framework.

I went on a course at the Leadership Trust and learnt a great deal but one of the most memorable parts was the communication triangle which helps people to understand why communication goes wrong. Details of this are in the communication section of this website.