i think this is a very important article as it gets to the heart of the leadership debate in any organisation. This feels particularly important in a political environment when many politicians have a pre-set view of the world - such reviews seemed to have hardened in the course of BREXIT debates and the Trumpian era of alternative facts politics. At a more granular level it strikes me that its always simplistic to assume that the CEO is responsible for everything . Leadership is nothing in any organisation unless it is multi-layered and diverse. When things are not going right , blaming one person , as if CEO's are the equivalent of football managers, seems banal and an exercise in passing the buck. At the hear of both a democratic society and a successful organisation is always the ability to speak out on the issues that are important. If we don't respect the views of others and learn from them we are all diminished as people and as leaders.
For local government, Mark Rogers’ departure from Birmingham City Council has number of implications.First, if Mr Rogers can be ‘eased out’, what hope is there for other chief executives? He was chief executive of the largest local council operation in the country, and inherited seemingly intractable problems in children’s services and the challenge of re-energising the economic and commercial vitality of our second city, all within the context of a seriously diminishing real budget. In any other industry, he would have been lauded simply for keeping the organisation afloat. Second, what price speaking your mind? From my earliest days as a chief executive, experienced colleagues drummed into me that I was expected to speak truth to power
