Books published by Lawbook Consulting Ltd T/A Lbc Wise Counsel

“Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people.”Taking these words of Prof. Joanne Ciulla as its starting point, A Question of Leadership has been written to help you reflect on and re-think the fundamentals of leadership.Through a series of more than 30 essays, all with linked coaching questions, you will discover and clarify exactly what leadership means to you and the importance of developing your own leadership style, one that is specific to your particular situation, the task that you are facing, the people you are working with, and your own unique personality. You will consider what sort of phenomenon Leadership is, why it is so difficult to define, whether there is a distinction between Leadership and Leaders (SPOILER ALERT: yes, there is!), and how you can study leadership without sucking the life-force out of it.You will then progress to the power of Questioning, exploring what makes for a good question, the generative effect of asking positive questions, and how to ask the right question at the right time. Then comes Listening, and learning how to listen, to listen to your colleagues as intensely as a conductor listens to an orchestra. And, finally, there’s Change, one of the most perplexing organisational problems, often seen as almost insurmountably difficult. If, according to the Harvard Business Review, “three-quarters of change efforts flop” could there be an alternative to your current strategies? (SPOILER ALERT #2: yes, there could!)The idea underpinning this book is a simple one: Off-the-shelf solutions won’t help you. With Leadership, as with everything else of value in life, you have to find your own way. Instead of accepting the answers provided by others, you have to find your own. It’s a long process. And there are no shortcuts. But, the upside is that, en route, you will uncover what truly matters to you. And that is priceless.

This volume of articles and blogs is called “A time to care”. It is Paul Gilbert's 6th book and his most personal collection so far with an emphasis on individual contribution, collective leadership, kindness, humanity and thoughtfulness.The cover image is of ink in water, a metaphor for how thoughts and ideas can move in directions that make their own unique patterns and an encouragement to allow the potential of your kindness and your ideas to find new patterns for you and your colleagues.We need everyone to care more because in so many respects we have created environments in which it is hard to thrive. We have extended the hours and years we expect to work, while supercharging our exposure to overwhelming quantities of data, pointless communications and needless change. We have made too many working environments toxic for our mental health and for our career development. All too often we fail to create sustainable, supportable infrastructures, and then over-rely on personal goodwill to get anything done. We promote people to lead without investing in their leadership potential and all too often we treat career and family aspirations as an inconvenience to short term target setting.The anthology does not offer easy answers, but Paul's intention is to call out some of the nonsense, and to stress our collective responsibility to care and to lead with kindness. We can make it better, but we have to listen and show some courage. Paul hopes the commentary, insights and ideas in this book will give you a pause to think, a chance to reflect, and a moment to change something. Some of the blogs and articles will make you smile and others may inspire you to act. Above all Paul hopes it will encourage you to share your stories and your wisdom, to show others that you care to lead as well.