Author Archives: Tim Taylor

It’s never too late to follow your dreams

2021 is slipping away The past 20 months have seen significant changes that continue to shape our lives. These changes have left some people worried, others worse off, and some have used the changing times and the restrictions to create new beginnings. Today is a great time to decide to make little changes that will

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

The timing is perfect.

As restrictions relax, and the global challenges of the post-Covid world begin to materialize, you have a unique opportunity to kick start your company’s growth before the competition starts theirs. Identifying which people will thrive working remotely and which will need the social experience of being in the office is critical to your culture’s success.

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

How to take the lead in building a winning culture

Company culture is a combination of our attitudes, what we think, what we feel, what we believe, and our emotions; all of which we carry with us into work every day. Culture is the behavioural expression of how people in an organisation get results. Culture is the culmination of thousands of little decisions where behaviour is

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Two questions I get asked often

…is, what makes a great leader? I’ve been working in leadership development for over 20 years, in that time I’ve met lots of leaders, a small percentage of whom were truly great leaders.  This small percentage of great leaders share several characteristics.  The first one is, they understand how to engage people, how to connect

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

The right fit

  Culture must be more than skin deep Company culture and cultural fit have a significant impact on our productivity, our willingness to offer ideas and our day-­to-­day happiness. All organisations are living, social organisms; this is why culture is more powerful than management teams or CEOs. Culture is the behavioural expression of how people in an organisation

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Ideas don’t create value on their own

Without the execution of a strategy, ideas are just thoughts with potential value.  The holy grail for all leadership teams and CEOs is to be lauded by shareholders and peers as sustained value creators. As most of us know this circle is small, from Jim Collins’ research for his book Good to Great only 11

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Back-to-the-Future

Leadership is about setting a direction. It’s about creating a vision, empowering and inspiring people to want to achieve the vision and enabling them to do so with energy and speed through an effective strategy. In its most basic sense, leadership is about mobilizing a group of people to jump into a better future. —John

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Do YOU want to be a game-changer

People who can change the game are as rare as hens teeth!  They possess unique qualities that are a mixture of contradictions. They can dream up big ideas, create pictures that stick in people’s minds and at the same time possess the attributes of a chess master: Passion for the game Hard work Patience Strong

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

How to make money from poor leadership

Let me tell you a story about one of our clients.  Imagine a small bespectacled gentleman, about 5’6 tall, neatly dressed in a grey linen suit, with a style that pushes your mind to think of the Italian riviera. You are looking at Paulo, a humble quiet human being who, at heart, is a craftsman

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Getting the best from your leadership team

High-performance leadership teams are extremely rare. MGL has worked in the arena of leadership development on every continent (except Antarctica) across 20 years. We have come to realise that building a high-performance leadership team is hard. In our experience, rogue elements continue to break-through, and simple mistakes generate unexpected outcomes that take time and energy

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

4 reasons why meetings should start and finish with rituals

The Power of Rituals You may think that your Vision, meticulously built over time, will shape the future of your company but you would be wrong.  Your daily habits are shaping your future, and have a far more significant influence than you might expect. A vision is a potent leadership tool that will help you,

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Flying Blind: How to save the day?

Flying Blind: How to save the day? Let’s start with a story. Imagine the scene, bad weather, unreliable flight instruments, and then a lightning strike; a commercial jetliner is suddenly flying blind.  The captain and his first officer had lost all instruments; visual cues were nonexistent; all they could see was a darkened sky and storm clouds,

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Why today’s disruption demands great leadership

Organizations need leaders who will use the changes created by the pandemic, to challenge the status quo and look for new value because we are not going back to business-as-usual. Disruptions are very much part of the 21st-century competitive landscape, its time to blow up assumptions about teamwork, working practices, and creating meaningful work. Stop

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

The world has changed, we have gone remote!

We now appreciate how fragile the world economic structure is, a virus shows up, and like the movie plot for Contagion, everyone’s world changed. Unlike the movie, this is not going to be resolved in 90mins with a hero vaccine created by one man.    Life has changed, and the opportunity for leadership is all around

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Overcome the complexity of forming a high-performance-team

Team’s talk Research shows us that management teams are rarely performing as high-performance teams, and are often experienced as ineffective and unproductive by the team members. Frankly, we don’t need research to prove this; we all talk to colleagues and friends who complain about the way their management team works. They all describe issues of

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Enabling Strategic Execution

Why have a vision? We all possess the ability to create pictures in our minds, some of us more so than others, but generally we all talk about what we see in our minds. Vision is a powerful tool that has shaped great civilizations, built industrial leviathans and produced awe-inspiring art. Often these accomplishments come

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Become a Catalyst

Great Leadership is the Catalyst for Success Many gifted people get lost inside companies, because the conversations with their leader do not allow them to develop a mindset that genuinely loves a challenge; when leaders learn to be the Catalyst gifted people bubble over with energy and strive to reach their potential and do their

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

What is the biggest LEADERSHIP challenge great leaders face head on?

Getting past thinking “I AM RIGHT!” When we guess something, we generally believe we are right, or at least, almost right. The more familiar the content set or scenario is, the stronger this feeling becomes. This assumption is not rational; however, we can quickly generate a logical argument to support our hypotheses and position our

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

The courage to change

As an entrepreneur, I have started five businesses. I love the thrill of getting an idea up and running. The first customer meeting, the first town hall, and the first big celebration are moments that stoke the fire in your belly and push you on to win again. I learned that endless meeting and problem-solving

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

How to build a leadership team in​ 90 days

The first step is to have a plan; sounds simple? Of course, any decent manager will have a plan usually consisting of early wins, delivering functional goals and proving that they were the right choice. Great leaders understand they are in it for the long haul and building a team requires the same due diligence as delivering

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Word of the year 2019

Having coached executives for 20 years the word that I connect most with the success I have seen in the best is discipline. This is why I am making DISCIPLINE my word of the year for 2019. Each letter offers you leadership advice… D: Decide what you are going to create and build a vivid vision.

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Re-Engineering Elephants

The most significant engineering challenge we each face is self-engineering.  Changing our behaviour is critically important if we want to continue to be successful; What Got You Here Won’t Get You There is not only the title of a book written by Marshall Goldsmith‎, it is also an immutable truth for all of us. Confronting

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

What Colour are YOU?

Values act as a lens through which we interpret the world, and if you are a leader, they interpret how you judge those you lead.    Your values will influence your decisions about people; who you promote and the kinds of activities you believe are worthy of your time. Despite this importance, few leaders choose

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

What Makes you a Great Leader?

What is leadership? Do a search and you will find endless definitions, but we think it is simple. Being a great leader is the ability to motivate yourself and others. However, you cannot be a great leader on your own. Napoleon’s leadership crystalised into using the best talent available. Until the French Revolution the aristos were

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Breakthrough with Making Great Leaders.

Ok – so you’ve been working for ten years. Your education is finished, you’re getting along fine, but inside there is a frustration. How to get to the next level? Play corporate politics? Push your boundaries internally and externally? Breaking through to the next level of your career can be difficult, especially if you are

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

No one wants to tell a CEO-owner that their baby is ugly

Building a company is a very personal matter. Anyone who has ever started a business from scratch knows that they feel sensitive about every aspect of the business, like a parent you are proud and protective. Good feedback is welcomed with a smile. Bad feedback, on the other hand, is usually met with a defence.

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Humility = Great Leadership

To develop humility in leadership you have to learn about you and become especially aware of your ego. The ego is your sense of self.  Your boundaries; a feeling of being you. Ego gives all of us definition in the 3-dimensional world: ”This is my body. This is my mind. This is me. These are

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Why is it difficult for senior executives to form teams?

Most people believe teams outperform individuals. However, this is not always the case, and certainly not when it comes to top teams. I have met many CEOs who have told me about their frustration trying to get their top executives to act as a team.  They talk about silo thinking and lack of the four

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Abolish the myth of THEM

The myth of THEM leaves you believing you are separate from the problems you see in others. For 20 years, I have been a witness to, and party in, this delusional story that always begins with this sentiment, “When these people show better leadership we will be able to……….” this is what I call the

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.

Advanced Management Program

Photo by Andreas Klassen on Unsplash Congratulations! You have taken the first step towards joining a powerful global community of leaders who are committed to defining the future.  Leaders who know their imagination and dedication can shape the future MGL’s Advanced Management Progam is a 3-day Masterclass with a Six-month follow-through process that will culminate with

If you are interested in learning more about MGL or how to implement any of our models with your team, please contact chris@makinggreatleaders.com or call +1 203 253 2836.