Goodbye to another great storyteller

13th Jan 2008 @ 6.18pm

It’s a sad farewell to Sir John Harvey-Jones who died this week aged 83. Probably one of our best known captains of industry, Sir John was a great storyteller as his 1990’s TV programmes on failing businesses will testify.

However it is his philosophy on leadership that has been an inspiration to us at The Storytellers. Harvey-Jones was a great believer in many of the principles that we now follow: co-creation, appreciative inquiry and unleashing employees energy. If these just seem like 21st Century management speak, it is worth reflecting on a few quotes from the great man himself.

“You can’t tell an adult what to do. You can only create the conditions in which they discover it for themselves”

“My experience of life is that you get the best out of people by encouraging their self belief.”

“How do you know you have won? When the energy is coming the other way and when your people are visibly growing individually and as a group.”

So long Sir John…

posted by Marcus Hayes
filed under Misc, News