Common Purpose Blog

Our world is often defined by winners and losers. Sports, politics, prize drawings, lottery, competitions, awards ceremonies, love, and life – all have winners and losers. Winning or losing is neither right nor wrong. It just is. Sometimes winning is due to luck; other times it is a function of skill; talent often plays a [...]

Today the Independent has published an article on ‘The Art of Being a Good Manager’, which explores how various universities are responding to a demand for leaders in business to have creative and analytical skills. This shift follows leading organisations looking for new and creative ways to spark innovation. The Independent article specifically highlights LVMH [...]

The best way for them to do this is to take a varifocal approach. They need to begin with looking closely at their areas and identifying the main economic, social and infrastructural questions facing them as well as any emerging issues on the horizon. By exploring how these are being tackled and by whom, they [...]

Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency has called for a new type of leadership by local authorities to drive housing and regeneration projects. He said that council leaders need lead in a way that goes beyond the delivery of services. He said: “There is now an opportunity to establish a [...]

In his Harvard Business Review blog posting ‘Leading When You Don’t Have Formal Authority’, Steven Demaio explains how everyone at some time will need to be able to lead beyond their authority “whether you’re a manager, a frontline worker, or an independent contractor, at one time or another you’ve surely had to influence, or even [...]

At Common Purpose we talk about leaders who step beyond their authority to solve problems that often times no one wants to own. They are big, complex problems and involve multiple stakeholders. Rarely are these problems easy to solve and more often than not you end up with a big mess on your hands. It is [...]