Harley started his weekly blog back in April 2007. Initially it was an idea from his publisher to attract attention to his book that was to be published later that year. Today his blog attracts regular readers from all over the world, covering such topics as: Business leadership, change management, project management, business process design, innovation and much more.
His blogs have depth and meaning but are often funny and light hearted all at the same time. You can sign up to receive his weekly newsletter by clicking here. Enjoy!
Here's also a short story telling how Harley blends his passion for French wine and Motorcycling with his five essential elements for inspirational leadership:
Day 1: Confidence
It’s late in the evening and I have double checked and packed the last of the few selected items to take with me on my journey, all I need to do now is to get a good night’s sleep, ready for the long bike ride to Dijon tomorrow......read more
Tuesday, 15. May 2012
Once upon a time there was young entrepreneur who dreamed of becoming rich by building a large IT company. He started out with some big ideas but very little money, so when he was confronted with an economic recession, barely a year into his venture, he faced a terrible dilemma. With revenue dropping like a stone, he had no choice but to fire one of his two faithful engineers. But who to choose?
Should it be Charlie or Jim? Charlie was a carefree young man, a little like himself...
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Tuesday, 08. May 2012
An Englishman and an American were walking through the forest one day when suddenly, right in front of them, appeared a very large Grizzly bear. The Englishman crouched down ever so slowly, removed his heavy back pack and put on a pair of running shoes that he just happened to be carrying with him.
"I am sorry to say this but those shoes are not going to be of any use my friend, that bear can out run you any day" whispered the American. "Indeed it can" replied the Englishman "But with...
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Thursday, 03. May 2012
I was co-running a master class on motivation last week and although the focus was on motivating others the question came up as to who motivates you and how? Now I like to think of myself as one of the world's most self-motivated people but even I get down in the dumps sometimes.
Take this week for example. I was building a new two day training course on 'Communicating at Board Level' (in fact I was getting very stressed about it). I had so many ideas spinning around my head I found...
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Tuesday, 24. April 2012
Next week I am having lunch with a friend, nothing unusual about that you might think, but although it is his turn to pay, I feel it's my turn to come up with a brilliant new idea for him to take back to the office afterwards.
I like my lunches with Philippe, our conversations have a habit of spinning off in almost any direction. One minute we might be discussing the survival chances of the Euro, the next we might be talking about Renaissance poetry or the French presidential elections. However...
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Tuesday, 17. April 2012
I once knew a young marketing assistant; she must have been about 22 at the time. She'd never been to university and she hadn't studied marketing either. She was hired to fill envelopes for mailings, prepare meeting rooms, answer the phone when the receptionist was away and generally help out with the basic administration tasks of a small but busy marketing department.
Now Sue had a young boss, he was only a couple of years older than her. He was a kind young man, very self assured and fun, and...
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Tuesday, 10. April 2012
Every year thousands of well-meaning managers re-enforce a worn out stereotype that should have been buried away under the road to respect and equality long ago. I guess it might be nice for some secretaries to be given a special day when their bosses are encouraged to show them their appreciation for all the effort they have put in throughout the year. But surely isn't it about time to move on?
There are just so many aspects to this topic that wind me up that I will force myself to write in...
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Tuesday, 03. April 2012
Imagine you're once more standing back in the most beautiful place you have ever been. Imagine that somehow you could have captured it in such a way that you could return to that moment in time whenever you wanted and even share it with others. Imagine that.
And while we all have experienced our own unique highs, moments in our lives where everything is just perfect, some people's highs are not circumstantial but are born out of their own unique creativity. Luckily for us, some of these...
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Tuesday, 27. March 2012
Back in the late 1970's, I was working in London as a junior marketing assistant for a very self important marketing manager. He had an arch enemy George Gardner, the sales director. Neither of them had much respect for each other but looking back I can now see things in another light.
George Gardner was funny, inspirational, charming, sensitive, hard working, caring and results driven. The marketing manager wasn't. He spent most of his time trying to hang on to his position, regardless of the...
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Tuesday, 20. March 2012
Once upon a time there was a poorly run IT department that always screwed up everything. The team was constantly under pressure and regularly had to work many hours of overtime. No matter what they did, even the basic things had a habit of going wrong. Now you might think that this was an unhappy and de-motivated department but you would be wrong.
Sure there were some people who were frequently frustrated by the lack of processes and discipline but by and large most people left for home...
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Tuesday, 13. March 2012
Once upon a time, high up on the 12th floor of a busy hospital, there was a small, very well equipped ward. From the outside everything looked just fine, however, just under the surface things were not quite how they should have been.
Ever since it had been converted from an old store room the hot taps had never delivered a drop of hot water. Many an expert had come and many an expert had failed to fix the problem. Eventually a very experienced workman from another department was...
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