Posts by Marcus de Courtenay

The Art of Influencing

Leadership Primer: The Art of Influencing Contemporary leadership champions the art of influencing as opposed to the bygone power dynamics of command and control. Influencing is particularly relevant in the multifaceted arena of partnering in complex business systems. Explore how...

The Accountability Agreement

A question we often hear from our clients is: how do I keep my team accountable? At first glance, it seems simple – their role involves a task or a goal, and they should take responsibility for completing it. But...

Community Building within Organisations

PERMA in PLACE  What constitutes a flourishing human life? What are the practices that promote our wellbeing?  These are the questions posed by Positive Psychology, an increasingly influential area of psychology research and policy. Stemming from the works of Martin...

Levers of Influence

“Leadership is influence.” – John C. Maxwell What Influences You? As Dan Pink reminds us, 40% of a leader’s job today is influencing. Given that in contemporary complex, interconnected organisations, we can’t get anything done by ourselves, one could argue...

Responsibility, Accountability and Leadership

“The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill  There’s no doubt that greatness and responsibility are inextricably interlinked. But responsibility is often connected with another concept. Business thinkers can use the words ‘responsibility’ and ‘accountability’ almost interchangeably. Either that...

Leaning In: The Difference between Being Accountable and Taking Accountability

Organisations run on accountability. As a consequence, few things preoccupy leaders more than ensuring that their teams take responsibility for their actions, decisions, and performance for the benefit of the whole. However, what it means to “be accountable” and “take...