Purpose-driven insights and thought leadership.

A conversation on embedding purpose

The best way to start is to “humanize” organisations treating it as a living ecosystem that aligns and develops resilient and engaged people.

7 mins read

The power of brands to contribute to a sustainable future

Individuals and governments each have their role to play in shifting toward sustainability, but so do businesses.

34 mins watch time

IPA Keynote: Developing a growth mind set.

On July 10th our Chairman and Founder Brian Bacon talked at the IPA’s Business Growth Conference 2019 in London where he shares his perspective on…

5 mins read

Too good to fail: purpose-driven business

Since 1868, Tata Group has made a habit of putting communities first, and has thereby grown to a market capitalisation of $141 billion. Something’s clearly…

7 mins watch time

Purpose-driven leadership at Virgin Media

ExO CEO panel with the topic “Purpose-Driven Leadership” In this clip: Jeff Dodds, COO at Virgin Media talks about Leading with Purpose in one of…

9 mins read

The solutions in our midst

Fatalism – the belief that things cannot be changed – is the greatest enemy of transformative leaders.

6 mins read

Reinventing management

Many books and articles have now been written to explain the causes of the credit crisis of 2007–2008 and the broader upheaval in the financial…

30 mins watch time

Leading with purpose: How purpose drives performance

Our new Vodcast “Leading with Purpose: How Purpose Drives Performance” explores how Virgin Media has embedded purpose in the organization, how the Oxford Leadership program…

4 mins read

A hidden lever of leadership

Most of the time, large meetings are tedious downloads from leadership. Sometimes they are participatory, but lack accountability and follow-through.

4 mins read

Corporation as CEO: Character based leadership

For most leaders the following situation is all too familiar: a senior and valued employee comes into your office to announce that he is leaving,…

11 mins read

Using intuitive intelligence to guide decision-making

Do you trust your gut when it comes to the big stuff? Instincts and ‘hunches’ may have a comforting influence on day-to-day decisions, but when…

4 mins read

Out of classroom experiences

Rather than point to a training course, leaders will talk about a time when they stepped out of their comfort zone to rise to a…

2 mins read

Women and negotiation: why men should come to the table

Women generally do better than men in win-win types of negotiation, and worse in win-lose negotiations.

Articles, Reports and Papers

11 mins read

Creating effective leaders who can implement strategy at a global level

The demand for business coaches is expected to rise as more businesses look to boost performance and productivity.

15 mins read

The challenge of articulating “REAL” conversations

A person's leadership can be seen in the quality of the relationships he or she generates. The quality of the relationships, in turn, is conditioned by the quality of the conversations: by their sincerity, by their depth,

15 mins read

Leadership 4.0: A review of the thinking

The 4th Industrial Revolution is bringing unprecedented changes to societies and organizations throughout the world. The multiple ramifications of digitalization and the accompanying acceleration and increased complexity.

How to combine mentoring and coaching to get the best out of staff

A recent study published in the journal Sustainability found that a combined program of mentoring and coaching employees is an effective way of improving organizational commitment and work performance.

Conversational leadership: aligning people with strategy

Often, it seems that, in the hectic pace of doing business, there’s barely a chance to say “boo” much less reflect on how and why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Why employee empowerment works

Research from the hospitality sector has uncovered some interesting insights into what drives individual employee empowerment. It highlights the issues and resistance when staff are empowered to act without assistance from management.

Is your personality a good predictor of job satisfaction?

A recent study by researchers in the USA looked at whether personality is a good predictor of job satisfaction. And the results may surprise you.

A new study on intrusive leadership and remote working

Leadership practices have changed over the past few years to reflect the new and different styles of working. Remote working is an example of this and is a practice which continues to increase at an astonishing rate, and had been even before the Covid pandemic.

Collaborative leadership

Collaborative leadership is an increasingly vital source of competitive advantage in today’s highly networked, team-based, and partnership-oriented business environments. Yet few leaders have been trained to lead collaboratively, especially those at more senior levels who climbed the organisational ladder in a different era.

Characteristics of high-performing team meetings

The success of a team is evidenced by how efficiently it manages meetings: in essence, a team’s performance is determined by how well it prepares, conducts and follows through after its meetings.

Building cultures of sustainability

The BE-DO-HAVE model helps define the prerequisites not just for sustainability initiatives but also for any organisational change effort.

7 mins read

Creating psychological safety: managing with the brain in mind

Neuroscience research confirms that we are social animals, and threats to our social standing are every bit as stressful as physical pain or going hungry.

Dark triad executive and business coaches – A new study

Coach Dark Triad Traits may be a neglected area of attention. What happens when the coach has dark triad traits? In a new study, Professor Adrian Furnham, of University College London has explored the area of coach dark triad traits and what impact they might have on coachees.

10 mins read

How to repair deviant, toxic corporate and organizational cultures

Toxic corporate culture is bad for society, bad for employees, bad for a company’s corporate image and, ultimately, bad for shareholders. Changing toxic cultures takes time and a united effort from the top down to make change for good.

11 mins read

Using intuitive intelligence to guide decision-making

Do you trust your gut when it comes to the big stuff? Instincts and ‘hunches’ may have a comforting influence on day-to-day decisions, but when it comes to major strategic choices and matters of great complexity, intuition doesn’t often get a seat in the C-Suite.

7 mins read

Leadership 4.0 The future does not need your leadership

Interview with Cyril Legrand, founding trustee and Chief Executive Officer of the international leadership consultancy: Oxford Leadership. He speaks about leadership development in the context of the 4th industrial revolution: Leadership 4.0.

Managing and leading in the midst of uncertainty

Good planning balances speed and completeness. Ideally, it articulates the overall strategic intent to ensure all staff can make informed judgments when needed.

8 mins read

What coaches can learn from positive psychology

Positive psychology is an emerging branch of psychology that has grown in popularity over the past 10 years. Focusing on positives rather than negatives is an incredibly powerful tool that can be used by coaches in the workplace.

What’s love got to do with it?

Growing beyond a culture that values competition and hierarchy above all else can be a powerful game-changer – one that takes individual and organizational performance to a new level.

Leadership Talks & Conversations

19 mins watch time

TedX: The future of leadership

A crucial part of positive change today are playing women and especially mothers, which Eve and her initiative ‘LadiesLeadChange’ empower to find their voice and excellence. Eve was an executive in the industry for 14 years before she started her boutique consulting firm ‘Inspiration Without Borders’ which leads managers and organizations through transformation of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

15 mins watch time

TedX: How intuition and courage lead you through crisis

We all face crisis situation from time to time and very often our analytical self does not help in finding a sustainable solution. There are just too many facts, figures, and data out there. Therefore, we need a higher level of finding solutions: our intuition, gut feeling, or common sense.

15 mins watch time

Courage and Fear Decoded, Leadership Talks with Carl Lindeborg

Anybody can perform a task that they’re unafraid of. But pursuing something while being fearful, worried, nervous, etc… that’s what true courage is all about. Courage is fundamentally acting from the heart.

11 mins watch time

Leadership for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Leaders who are succeeding in this ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ have embraced a new mind-set, viewing the organisation as a living organism or eco-system, rather than as a mechanical machine.

13 mins watch time

Women in business, with Danuta Gray pt 1/2

It has also been proven by the positive way in which female business women can affect business relationships and organisational conversations. The problem is that women are not always afforded access to the necessary resources to stand out and make themselves heard.

29 mins watch time

Business Leaders Panel at ExO World Summit

Jorn Madsen, CEO at Maersk, Lutz Sculer CEO at Virgin Media, Jeff Dodds COO at Virgin Media, March Nohr Group CEO Miroma Agencies, George Paterson Managing Director at HSBC Global Tech Investments, discussing the topic "Purpose-Driven Leadership"

25 mins watch time

Leadership Plasticity and Neruogenesis, with Cyril Legrand

This ability has to be instilled and nurtured in the core of the organisation, its people. To enable people to adapt, leadership has to change how they think by activating brain plasticity, or reactivating silent brain networks.

30 mins watch time

Leading with purpose: How purpose drives performance

Our new Vodcast “Leading with Purpose: How Purpose Drives Performance” explores how Virgin Media has embedded purpose in the organization, how the Oxford Leadership program (Leading with Purpose) has boosted their eNPS scores, and the story behind being a purpose-driven company (& team).

11 mins watch time

Trends in Leadership Development, with Ricardo Sookdeo

During our annual global conference we had the pleasure to get some insights from Ricardo Sookdeo - ( Head of Talent, A.P. Møller - Mærsk) on “Trends in Leadership Development” and “What differentiates Oxford Leadership from other consultancies”

60 mins watch time

Leadership webinar: How Purpose Drives Performance

What are the skills and attributes that leaders need to grow exponentially?

12 mins watch time

Vertical Learning to support Change, Pablo Tovar

It has been proven by an increasing number of leaders, and supported by research from well-known institutions, that how we know is at least as important - if not more so - than what we know.

Raise your leadership game with our events, thinking & insights.

Thoughts from the blog

Be Yourself Better and Play a bigger Game

Finding meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in both life and work is essential for a person to lead a satisfying life.

8 mins read

6 mindful hacks to boost productivity, energy, and reduce stress

Digitalisation, priority / transformation projects outside of the day to day work, firefighting, responding to changing conditions, long Teams or Zoom meetings, and everyone is pinging each other with questions, requests, and emails makes the traditional to-do lists out of date.

7 mins read

Women in top leadership roles benefits business and society

The benefits of having women in leadership positions have been well-documented, with numerous studies finding that gender diversity in leadership results in better financial performance for companies. Despite this, women remain significantly underrepresented in leadership roles across industries and countries.

Unlock team potential & performance with the GROW framework

1 min read

Accelerating growth with the SML® Online Programme

BBH London implemented the Self-Managing Leadership® (SML®) Online Programme as part of their BBH University Course: AMPLIFY YOUR DIFFERENCE. ACCELERATE YOUR GROWTH.

Reflection: Are you hiding behind your social attributes?

You are not the title on your business card, the car you drive, the exotic vacations, nor the clothes you wear. But it’s so common to prop up our identity with social attributes, especially with social media and people caring more about getting the perfect picture of the beach than actually enjoying it.

Leading yourself through the eye of the storm

Human beings are amazing. The COVID-19 pandemic will eventually pass. Medical science will save the day. At huge personal risk and cost, our heroes, the frontline doctors & nurses, supply chain workers, supermarket workers and other essential toilers, will get us through.

Story telling through the lens of coaching – why are you telling me this?

We are telling ourselves and others stories all the time. Stories can be a few words or just non-verbal communication.

How purpose supports your leadership in a VUCA world

As we move into a new, exciting yet scary era of exponential change and disruption we can’t rely on the old ways of leading and organising our businesses and society.

A “happily ever after” starts with analysing your “once upon a time”

What is your Story?... We all grow up with a narrative that describes our place in the world—our own personal story and unique series of life events. These stories manifest themselves through the beliefs about ourselves, and the world around us. We need a story because it defines who we are and how we show up.

How purpose drives performance in organisations

Helping senior leadership teams and executives to lead ‘with a sense of responsibility for the whole’ has been our essential purpose for more than two decades.So, it’s pleasing to see that ‘Purpose- driven business’ has become a monumental movement.

7 Characteristics of Leadership 4.0 – What successful leaders do

Recently, I have received many questions of whether I could clearly differentiate traditional leadership and Leadership 4.0 (what some are calling “digital leaders”), so I am providing a short synopsis of insights and observations in context with what is perceived as a new phenomenon.

3 Principles for embracing the weQ trend

The sharing economy, weQ, cooperation, co-creation, and community are key principles of weQuality trends. In the midst of a social cultural change, new principles are created for our working world. The enormous upheaval is readily visible.

Leadership 4.0 in the “Digital Age”

Today “Digital Leadership” or “Leadership 4.0” is one of the latest buzzword within organisation boardrooms. But what does it mean? Essentially, it is a type of leadership that is fast-paced, cross-hierarchical, responsive, cooperative, and team-oriented.

Leadership challenges in the V.U.C.A world

I work with many outstanding leaders with extraordinary competencies; they are brilliant people from whom I’ve learned a great deal. I am grateful and privileged to be able to work with people like this.

Leadership 4.0: adapting organisations in a rapidly evolving world

How do you lead an organization today? Political and social upheaval combined with technological revolution are fundamentally altering the leadership landscape and changing the way we live, work, and relate to one another.

4 Rules of leading high-performance teams

One of the major mistakes people make while managing teams is thinking of them as something mechanical, like machines that work perfectly when geared.

Purpose-driven leadership for turbulent times

Today, organisations are frequently dealing with rapid changes and complex challenges. To survive and excel in this new, volatile environment, we need to apply a more purpose-driven approach to leadership and organisations.

Leadership lessons from Nelson Mandela’s life

The first lesson is that it takes more than a single heroic leader at the top to change the trajectory of an institution, or a nation. The second lesson is that in leadership, character is always more important than strategy.