What difference does leadership make?

Being a long suffering Queens Park Rangers (QPR) fan, I have been pondering the notion of leadership in the light of the recent dismissal of Neil Warnock, our erstwhile manager who has just been sacked following a run of poor form.

Neil Warnock

For those interested enough to carry on reading considering this is a football related post - albeit an extended analogy - QPR were promoted to the Premiership after 15 years in the 'wilderness' of lower leagues (my sons have lived almost their whole lives depressed at our non-premiership status - not easy). Neil Warnock was not a manager any of us liked much when he was managing opposing teams, but when he became one of us, and miracle of miracles took us up to the promised land of the Premiership, our views changed - he gave us back pride in our club - and importantly he was a leader who made us win.

A poor run of form, the usual combination of bad luck, averagely talented players and elevated expectations left us one place above the dreaded relegation zone and a transfer window open and ready for new players that would 'definitely keep us up'. Our recently arrived owner took the tough decision to give another manager the chance to spend the transfer budget and hopefully guide us into the safer waters of mid table obscurity.

So what has this all to do with leadership you ask?

Well it seems to me, like any leader, a football manager does two key things - manages his team of players, and plans the tactics for how they play each game. I'm sure there are other things he (and in football it is invariably a him) has to do, but those multifarious other activities - press interviews, community outreach, the odd appearance on A Question of Sport -   probably mostly get in the way of the two key things. A successful leader is wise to focus on the two key things as if his life depends on it. Win and you keep your job, keep your team up, and maybe win a cup or two.

Neil was known to be pretty good at the motivation thing - the 'man management'. A combination of team builder, bully, surrogate dad, stern headmaster, marriage guidance counsellor, financial advisor, agony uncle. The art is to get your players all up at the same time like a plate spinner - and keep them spinning for 90 minutes, and do it again 7 days later for a whole season.

Apparently it was the tactics thing, that Neil was thought to be not so hot at. That is about how you set out your team - the formation, the style of play, the combination and deployment of the skills and attributes of your players. There are anecdotes aplenty, but suffice to say in the cauldron of a 90 minute game, he who has the best game plan that he can get his players to stick with will win more games than he loses. Now I don't think Neil was tactically naive or unaware - but football at the highest level is a bit like chess, sheer physical power and fitness advantage is mostly cancelled out. Goals and wins are often the result of tiny tactical advantages and the odd bit of luck and moments of magical skill.

Brian Clough

Famously Brian Clough - 'the best manager England never had' - didn't really do tactics either, he often didn't even watch his players train - he left that to his tactical wizard Peter Taylor. Brian was the arch motivator - he made his players believe they could win, Peter Taylor identified the players the team needed and crafted the tactics. Brian made his players believe they had a very simple thing to do - 'this is your job, stick to it', and then the tactics of Peter Taylor blended each players 'singularity' into a perfect football machine - and Brian and Peter won more cups with average players than probably anyone else.

The thing is - and this is my point - having both the skills of leadership - the man management and the tactics is very difficult and very rare - it's rare in football, and it's rare in business.

Which is more important? It seems to me developing skills in man management is reasonably well understood, it doesn't mean any prospective leader will automatically be good at them, and there is certainly no 'one way' of doing it  - Steve Jobs was entirely different in style to say Richard Branson - but there are books and classes and seminars aplenty. Strategic skills are a bit more of a black art, maybe even innate. You can read up on it, but it is a combination of logical and lateral thinking, sound reasoning and creative leap. 

A really good leader is probably strong in either man management or strategic skill, a great leader has both - oh and a bit of luck. A really good leader will recognise where he or she comes up a bit short, and get help to fill in the gaps. With any luck this will turn a good leader into a great one (and by the way, we at Brand Guardians specialise in the sound reasoning and creative leap bit).

And it's always worth remembering what Samuel Goldwyn famously said - 'the harder I work the luckier I get'.

Ten inspiring things from last year

All thinking is about making connections between things. Some of the most creative and innovative thinking occurs when you start making connections between unrelated things with unexpected outcomes. So the places we get inspiration, the kick-start to creative thinking, can be diverse. I've put together a list of ten things that inspired me in 2011, in no particular order.

Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes at the V& A
The real excitement of this extraordinary exhibition was the sense of curation. Rather than taking an artist or movement, to assemble the thread of ideas of an impresario was both impressive and fascinating. The mixture of music, dance, art and film was almost mesmerising. The immense theatrical back drops, one by Picasso, were overwhelmingly beautiful. And then the photographic reportage of the artists painting them, using sweeping brushes to paint the huge canvases, really made you want to go and do something BIG. The drawings by Jean Cocteau, especially the poster of Nijinsky, just blow you away.

Autumn leaves
On a walk in the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park we collected fallen leaves and made patterns. It never fails to delight and surprise me that actually doing these things makes you feel so good. Taking time to stop, look more closely, select and gather, place and compose, really does result in more than just a few leaves.

Yellowcraig Beach
Beaches always inspire with their windswept quality and vast seascapes. Being by the seaside is classically regenerative and curative. A place like Yellowcraig, on the East coast of Scotland near North Berwick, connects me back with my childhood and fills me with excitement for the future.

Feathers
So often used by artists and such a work of art in themselves. I love to collect them, and they often sit in a pot or pressed in the pages of a sketchbook until I get a moment to make a print or draw a study of them. Endlessly wonderful.

Children
There's nothing more inspiring than when your own children produce work that is delightful. With quite a range of children to choose from, the opportunities for delight are numerous. Polly's Rob Ryan inspired silkscreen for her GCSE was an absolute triumph. The other touching production I received for Christmas was an EP Ellen and Polly recorded for me - wow!

The National Museum of Scotland
Re-opened this year, fully refitted and refurbished, this museum is a lovely, uplifting space, with an old style collection of a bit of everything. There was even a piece of packaging I designed for Rabone Chesterman when I was at Design House. Worth a visit just to stand in the glorious hall and look at the amazing wall of everything. (Which reminds me of another inspiring event 'The Museum of Everything' and the Judith Scott show)

Askew Business Network
A few local businesses based around Askew Road, W12, have got together to create a networking group with the aim of - yes - networking - but also regenerating the immediate area around Askew Road. It is already feeling a lot more upbeat and there are a number of shops looking good - and we've even lured the lovely Ginger Pig into our patch.

Occupy, Arab spring and social media
Such a lot of change has been wrought with the help of social media. One can't help but be inspired by the individual efforts that have been made to instigate regime change, send messages to fat cats and unleash the power of the individual. Paul Mason wrote an excellent article last week in the Guardian, 'Global unrest: how the revolution went viral,' which explored the idea of the graduate with no future and the power of the network. The ability of people via Twitter, Facebook, youtube, whatever to transform local concerns into global issues is liberating.

Steve Jobbs
What sadness. What a legacy. I suspect seldom a minute of the day passes without me being in contact with an Apple product, and indeed the rise (and ups and downs) of Apple run alongside my own adulthood. And the tributes produced, as Michael Johnson writes in his Thought for the Week, included  'one of the images of the year.'

The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman
Grayson Perry's wonderful exhibition at the British Museum revealed an artist far more interesting and far more important that I was expecting. His work is extremely engaging, and the juxtaposition of his work alongside artefacts from the museum's collections placed him in the context of a long tradition of storytelling. The extraordinary centrepiece, 'The Tomb of the Unknown artist' was beautiful, moving, clever and witty. Which puts me in mind of my favourite, and most re-used, quotation heard in the year, from Ed Barber at the London College of Fashion, "the whole fashion industry rocks and rolls on narrative."

It makes me smile...

With a few moments on his hands Jonathan came across some lovely little movies on the Boden website. Having worked with them last year we're very pleased to see the spirit of the brand still echoing through the many layers of their communications. All their photography is stunning and their natural warmth and wit brings a smile to your face.

How to be a Model is a masterclass in charm whilst Dad Dancing is just funny enough - and shows extraordinary bravery from a far too attractive and slim chap to be in any way embarrassing...

Room to fail

Time to play

Inspired by an article by Heather Peace in today's Guardian entitled, "No more can a detective sing," this is really an ode to the creative mind and hard work.

Her discourse is around the reasons why the BBC are unwilling to re-run The Singing Detective to celebrate its 25th anniversary, and the state of the BBC today. The bit that really got me thinking was the idea of giving writers time to be nurtured. And time to do a lot of work. She writes, "Writers are not born brilliant; they need to learn their craft by doing it, the same as any other artist or worker. New writers need room to fail." And she goes on, "Potter himself required years of writing Plays for Today – when he was permitted to explore and offend in the name of art and free speech – to develop the skills which enabled him to create The Singing Detective. Without those early hits and misses, he would never have risen to such heights."

So along with creativity and imagination, the other ingredient for great work is prolificness. I am always struck by how the greatest artists are often the ones who do the most. Ok there are a few exceptions, but just think of Picasso's relentless productivity and David Hockney's constant excitement about new and different ways to 'paint'. I can't wait for his Royal Academy exhibition in January with huge canvasses as well as iPad drawings.

It is so vitally important to give people the space and time to think, explore, mess around - and indeed in the great words of the goddess Nike, "Just do it." This is what we risk in these days of cuts, efficiencies, league tables and unemployed youngsters.

I was minded of a link between the BBC's nurturing of new writers being on 'the brink of extinction' and the genius of Picasso - the Attenborough brothers. Two great influencers and leaders of our time. Peace says in her article on the demise of single dramas and new writing,"David Attenborough wouldn't have let that happen when he was a controller."And just stare in jaw-dropping amazement at what he's inspired in The Frozen Planet. Richard, not only impressed his talent and leadership on the film industry but has also created an astonishing collection of Picasso ceramics started with a piece he bought in 1954 for £3. And they're from Leicester. Like me.

Let's hear it for those who value the creative spirit and allow themselves and their fellow playmates the time and failures to succeed.

Best ever slogans

Loving Creative Review's call for nominations for the best slogans ever. We love words as well as images - so following their 'best logos ever' in April it's nice to see them lauding the writer's art. One of my favourite's, that doesn't seem to have come up on the blog yet is, "A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat!" I wonder why it's not used any more...

My favourite mentioned in the Creative Review blog comments is a cheese shop in Amsterdam called "Cheeseland" with the slogan, "Lots of cheese,"