For the tenth year, I was co-leading The Marketing Society Leadership Programme last week. It’s a fabulous programme for budding marketeers with a series of talks from successful marketing directors interwoven with good old FED. It works spectacularly well.

Unfortunately, soon after the participants arrive they are telling of their drowning in Operator/Manager Mode – as times get tougher, it seems to be a growing trend: so much tasky stuff to do in so little time. One result is that many of them did not have a clear idea of the leader they want to be. So let me give you an opportunity this week to pause sometime and get clear and strong your picture of who you want to be. Here’s a great quote from Warren Bennis which might give you a gentle nudge!

“By the time we reach puberty, the world has shaped us to a greater extent than we realise. Our family, friends, and society in general have told us – by word and example – how to be. But people begin to become leaders at that moment when they decide for themselves how to be.”

By Steve Radcliffe