John Fletcher reflects on the value of the lived experience and the wisdom that should come with age; and notes that it was the failure of so-called senior managers in banks and similar institutions to show either of these that is the root cause of our current mess.

Nina Simosko looks at loyalty and how leadership effectiveness either creates or destroys this fragile and essential part of corporate success. Inspiring loyalty isn’t difficult, she writes, though it does require awareness and commitment.

Carmine Coyote argues that one of the best ways to help people find success is to neglect them a little and let them get on their jobs without constantly micro-managing. If they’re busy, you don’t need to be. You could call this ‘benign neglect’.

Doing things from the wrong motives generally renders them useless. People judge motives as well as actions. If they suspect a hidden agenda, they’re immediately on their guard. You will not be trusted if people suspect your words or actions stem from the wish to pull the wool over their eyes. Integrity produces meaning we can believe in. Manipulation destroys it.

John Fletcher wonders why hierarchy is in such disfavor. For an idea that seems so natural, and has been independently discovered so often, it’s surprising how quickly it’s dismissed by management gurus. Is that another case of a fashionable management mythology that flies in the face of actual experience?

Nina Simosko point out that there is no one, single, perfect way to get a difficult job done—quite the contrary. Eliciting the best performance possible demands an environment that rewards innovation and cooperation as a means to results.

The personal power of leaders only extends so far. But as the Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu reminds us, great leaders empower their people. Remember this in the the crises of today. Those who nurture their team’s abilities to cope with stress and negativity will be rewarded with people with enhanced confidence who can deliver stronger performance and success.

Nina Simosko says we can all use these turbulent times to determine acceptable risk tolerance for ourselves and our organizations. Performance under pressure is a true leadership prerequisite. Anyone who cannot cope with tough times has no claim to being a leader at all.

The last few decades have seen endless parade of new management fads and panaceas. The evidence seems to be that none of them actually make things better, even though they may give the business that use them a higher publicity profile. I suspect that’s because they are either applied mechanistically, used as a substitute for thought, or given only lip-service by employees already wearied from past exposure to management faddism.

In the workplace, writes new author Martin Hodges, raising your head above the parapet in the interest of your team, or the corporation as a whole, takes nerve. People in power don’t like to be questioned or put on the spot. But being ‘the grit in the oyster’ is still the only way to produce a pearl.