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L-R: Bronwyn Groves, Sky;
David Weston, Hospitality Today
and Martin Couchman OBE, BHA
Next on the podium was Jeff Grout,
on “Leadership & Growth”:
Grout said leadership is about providing
direction. Focus on a small number of
priorities, and give your employees
‘the insider feeling’ – so they feel they
make a difference. Get all your new
starters to critique your organization.
Always ask: “what works well?” and
“even better if….?”And use the “T-Test”:
What is the overall business objective?
What are the immediate priorities? How
are you contributing to these priorities?
Grout gave some favourite quotes
on leadership . . . .
“My main job was developing
talent. I was a gardener
providing water and other
nourishment. Of course, I had
to pull out some weeds, too.”
(Jack Welch, General Electric)
“The most important thing
to do is to make sure that
you’ve got the best people.
That is going to be the key
to your success.”
(Dame Stella Rimington,
former Head of MI5)
“You can tell whether a man is clever by
his answers. You can tell whether a man is
wise by his questions.” (Naquib Mahfouz)
“Every winning formula has a
‘Sell-By’ date.” (Ron Dennis, McLaren)
“What leaders really do is
prepare organisations for CHANGE.”
(John Kotter, Harvard Professor)
“The difficulty is NOT developing
new ideas, but escaping the old ones.”
(J.M. Keynes)
“If you don’t know why you’ve failed, how
can you improve? If you don’t know why
you’ve succeeded, it must be an accident.”
(Sebastian Coe)