The Leadership Space

Dan Ariely

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Dan Ariely is one of the best speakers in our area of out of conscious behaviour. Check out his interview with McKinsey by clicking on the the green title above left.

Foxconn

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:14:00 +0000

Foxconn, the IPad to mobile phone manufacturer in China has been hit by a wave of suicides in recent days. In an effort to stymie the problem today and boost morale the management increased wages by 20%. Brilliant! Lack of money does not make people depressed. If that were the case there would be nobody left in Bangladesh or Niger. The leadership of Foxconn needs to take a hard look at working conditions, including interpersonal communication up and down hierarchy and job content. I strongly doubt until they address those issues that the situation will change.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10184186.stm

Michael Jackson

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:15:00 +0000

It may seem strange to be writing about Michael Jackson as a leader on the day he has died. His life was chequered. In some ways he was a leader, redefining pop genres, staging spectacular shows and generating value through his music for millions. On the other hand at times he let himself down. But that is what leaders do. To err is human and as students of leadership know, the humanisation of leaders is important if followers are to truly understand and empathise. What may be more important to reflect on, is the extent that the way he was parented contributed to the person he became. Again, most of us will never know the truth of that although, much of it is a matter of public record. Michael Jackson was never convicted of the crimes of which he was accused. In democracies, we put our trust in due and fair process, irrespective of our own views. We therefore have to settle on a memory of Michael Jackson as an unsettled and deeply flawed human but who was vivid in the way he lived and coloured many of our lives, not only artistically but challenged our views of fame, publicity and morality at the same time.

Sachs of Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:43:00 +0000

Credit where it is due. As the world faces a crisis in finance of extraordinary proportions bankers in Wall Street and London alike have drawn fire for their
(presumed) mishandling of taxpayers finances. As an ex Goldman employee, I have some experience of the way the Firm works. Blankfein rose to the top via a more romantic route than the usual Ivy League yellow brick road which most Goldman partners trod. His riches one might assume are more meaningful to him than the rest. Yet amidst this turmoil he has had the presence of mind to cancel his bonus and the Goldman senior executive have followed suit. No before you all cry " big deal, he earned $35mln last year" consider this. Bankers measure themselves on their pay. It is their way of keeping score. So money matters. Moreover, he actually does not need to do this. True, he has probably received much pressure from his old boss at the Treasury, Hank Paulson. But he is his own man now. He has shown good stewardship in the good times and now does the same in the bad. Other Wall Street banks are following suit. Leaders, as Warren Bennis said, do the right thing. Managers do things right. Blankfein has proven what he is.

President Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:57:00 +0000

Barack Obama today made a moving acceptance speech. His rhetoric was passionate , emotional and above all gracious. His words of condolence to the losing challengers McCain and Palin were more than they deserved, given the tawdry way that they tried to blacken his name with accusations of consorting with terrorists amongst other smears. Luckily the mud did not stick and today the United States can sleep knowing that at the very least there is the whiff of change in the air. The hard work of leadership though is not to be recognised it is to make things happen. Obama now faces a stiff test. If he is wise he will spend the next three months preparing for government, surrounding himself with the best, listening to the people that matter and getting some rest. World leaders age quickly once they are in role. He will need to be in shape and stay that way. Above all, what Obama brings that the Republicans never could is hope, a commodity in short supply in our world today. The leadership writer Kets de Vries says leaders are merchants of hope. The American people today bought futures in Obama's wares of hope. The next four years will critically test his ability to deliver the goods.

Barack's Family Values

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:59:00 +0000

Barack Obama yesterday suspended campaigning for the election in oder to visit his sick grandmother in Hawaii. Insodoing he shows true leadership. Many leaders with whom I work are incapable of putting family priorities above that of their work. Normally this work is, to be frank , immaterial. There is very little we need to do today that could not realistically be done tomorrow. Normally putting off a decision does not result in a fatality. Yet many of us bluster on in the misguided notion that we are very, very important. Now arguably, nothing could be more important than winning this election. It would be fair to say that Obama has put a degree of effort into it. Yet at this critical juncture he has made a decision based on a deep empathy and care for someone who, according to his words, made him who he is. The cynics will no doubt allege it is electioneering. To me it says more about him than any speech about healthcare and is great role modeling for everyone.

India's Disgrace

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:46:00 +0000

India has today joined the space race with an unmanned craft destined for the moon. The problem is it is not a race. That particular race was won around fifty years ago by the Russians and Americans. So from a leadership perspective it serves no purpose. Leadership is about creating a vision that looks beyond the horizon. Sending a rocket to the moon far from achieves this. It is neither visionary nor creative. What it is however, is akin to adolescent penis comparison. Those who know more than a jot about geopolitics will be aware that India's preoccupation is to try to better neighboring Pakistan. Pity is that India used to be a bastion of spiritual development and philosophy. With a global recession looming, in which the world's poor will be disproportionately affected this programme is misguided and profligate. How many children will die on India's streets today who might have been saved otherwise? Would this programme have run had India been led by women not a male gerontocracy? We may well wonder. I wonder what Ghandi would have made of it.

Bush Off

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:17:00 +0000

Last words on Dubya. Failed during the 9/11 crisis (missing in action), failed in Iraq, failed in Afghanistan...seemed there was not much left in which to fail. And then came the banking crisis. Where is Dick Cheney now? Cheney spent poor old Georgies presidency increasing his power but will never be held to account. It is not Cheney the history books will talk about but Bush. Bush is now caught in the perfect storm. An election looms, his policies have failed and he is just plain unlucky. The crisis could not have come at a worse time. But leaders need a bit of luck. Bush is handing this election to Obama. He lacks any credibility and the world economy will suffer as a result. It is hard to see how anyone could lead less effectively, but in the leadership business you just never know.

Darling of Finance

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:56:00 +0000

Alastair Darling stepped up a gear this week. For the last year the grey man of the British cabinet, he made up for in dullness what he lacked in charisma. He seemed doomed to failure. Yet cometh the day, cometh the man. After long consultations with banking chiefs he stepped in with a concrete rescue plan. It was better handled than the US plan which had been thrown out of Congress twice before being accepted. Navigating these choppy waters was admittedly made easier by the fact that the Conservative opposition leader David Cameron had promised full support. Nevertheless, Darling acquitted himself well. He gained consensus, delivered the right package and handled the media with calmness and firmness. He may well slip into obscurity when this crisis passes but will be remembered as the man who saved Britain's finance industry. For that he should be applauded. As a lesson in leadership one could reflect that potential is only realised when crisis strikes.

Hank the Bank

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:36:00 +0000

I worked for Hank Paulson. He ran Goldman Sachs while minnows like me ran around on the trading floors trying to add value. As a leader at GS he was often suspect. While he presided over a number of years of spectacular growth at GS people couldn't help feeling he was in the right place at the right time. Making money in those bull market years was like falling off a log. Not hard. Now however he faces the challenge of a lifetime. How has he responded. Not known for massive intellectual prowess, he actually might have got lucky again. The problems crippling the US ( and latterly) global economy are complex. It might be seen as arrogant to try to deal with all of that with a piece of draft legislation that only ran three pages. Yet at times leaders need to simplify complex situations. That is what Paulson is doing. He may not succeed. But his posture is the right one.

Tsvangirai: Courageous Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Nobody likes admitting defeat. Nobody likes letting a bully win. Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader has today pulled out of this week's election, one that has been marred by violence and perfidy. Along the way, his supporters have been harrassed,
intimidated and murdered.Above you see a picture of him after a recent beating. So why back down? Firstly, it is unlikely that he would have won that much is obvious. Irrexpctive of the actual result, Mugabe would have been a shoo in since he controls theapparatus of the election and he is a cheat. But even so, should not Tsvangirai have battled on? In fact he has shown great courage. Firstly, he has probably saved the lives of many of his countrymen, so from a humanitarian point of view he has done the right thing. Secondly, he has demonstrated tactical nous. He was on a loser anyway, so why not let Mugabe win under highly questionable circumstances than give him the pleasure of winning what he would have declared a free and fair election. Finally he has shown decisiveness and an eye for the long term. Mugabe will die sooner or later. He has no obvious succession plan such is his narcissism, so Tsvangirai will be there to fill the vacuum. Frustrating as it may be for the long suffering Zimbabweans, Tsvangirai has shown courage and leadership.

Cristiano Ronaldo: A Sorry Saga

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:41:00 +0000

Cristiano Ronaldo is, if we are to believe what we read, about to quit Manchester United. He has this week, led his country, Portugal, at the European Championships, aged 21 for the first time. His transfer, however, has been a litany of doublespeak and obfuscation culminating in the fury of the United management and wily sidestepping by Real Madrid, his prospective suitor. This sorry tale is analogous to the sort of thing that happens in many organizations. Young talented executive is promoted to a leadership position, in part because if he doesn't get it he will throw a tantrum. But in the end, the fact that there is a latent tantrum is symbolic of the fact that he is loyal to nobody but himself and when the first big offer arrives his ego is so lathered up that he holds a gun to his employers head and leaves anyway. Since the number one criteria of leaders demanded by executives is integrity, Ronaldo will have been seen by the end of this summer to have an integrity vacuum. All the more reason to pay him whatever he likes but Senior Calderon, Ronaldo, like yourself, is no leader.

Production Lyne

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:50:00 +0000

On the left Martha Stewart. On the right, new CEO Susan Lyne. No the left, I mean the right, oh whatever!! They say we create leaders in our own image but isn't this going a bit far. Susan obviously came straight off the production line. I am sure she is eminently suitable for the role but please, its like watching a re-run of Village of the Damned.

Russell Brand: Destined for Greatness

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:53:00 +0000

Russell Brand is in many ways a leader. Now before all you Daily Mail readers,(along with pundit Alison Boshoff, Brand's UK press nemesis) get all riled up consider this. Think about the characteristics that make leaders who they are, and the rest of us mere followers:
1) They innovate. Brand is a leader in comedic innovation. This is not to be sniffed at in a world of dumbed down irrelevant claptrap, mindlessly churned out by ratings driven
pap merchants
2) He has willpower and tenacity. Granted he had a horrific drug problem that came close to killing him. He has, however, been clean for nearly four years, sending a huge signal to his fans, in much the same way as Tony Adams did at Arsenal FC.
3) He has integrity ( the number one prerequisite according to a survey of 20,000 senior managers). You will never hear him denigrate women, ethnic minorities or any individual. This is unusual in a comedian and in the entertainment industry in general.
4) He is vulnerable. Brand has no qualms about admitting his weaknesses. Whilst in possession of a super-massive ego, he can often be heard admitting his faults. Sex addiction being the most prevalent. He also has a sense of humour about himself.
5) He has intellect. Don't mistake that gnarly East London dialect for stupidity. A close examination of his work unearths a quick wit and a versatile and broader than average command of English. Brand is smart.
If you put all this together in a business leader, you would have nearly the finished article. Brand, that piratical sex shaman, may not cut it at the top of BP. But he will undoubtedly march to the top of Billboard one day soon.

British Scareways

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:59:00 +0000

Willie Walsh is presiding over a disastrous start for the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow, (known in the UK as Deathrow,) and for those that have recently traveled through T5, you will understand why. But logistical problems aside, what does this calamity say about Walsh the leader. What kind of operation does he run?

The Guardian this week provided a few insights. Walsh has recently said, " The buck stops with me. I am going not going to find someone else to point the finger at". Interesting then that this week he fired two long standing senior executives with 40 years of service at BA. Accountability is one thing. After all,m if they messed up then why should he not hold them to task. Well, for precisely this reason: Union sources claim the following. That Walsh runs an autocratic regime where people lacked the confidence to tell him about the serious problems in the run up to the terminals debut. Quote:" That's the nature of the ship he runs ( airline surely ). He is an autocrat and that reflects itself in the way his directors operate. Nobody wanted to go to Willie Walsh and say there were problems."

Bill Gates has said that the secret of Microsoft's success, is that the bad news travels up. Anybody can go into his office, call him Bill, and tell him something needs fixing without fear of retribution. I fear that if Walsh doesn't change his outmoded leadership behavior, BA will go the way of Pan Am and its ilk. In the economic climate we are now in, collaboration, not directives will be the mantra of the survivors.

Ben Verwaayens Added Value

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Ben Verwaayen has moved over as CEO at BT after 5 years. Has he done a good job? According to the press today, not really. Oft cited is the startling fact that BT's share price has barely moved in the period of his charge. Big deal!

Lets get a couple of things straight. The market might be up 40% in the last five years but Verwaayen inherited a company that was flat on its back from two leaders who had made a horrific mess of the company. Its broadband penetration was abysmal at the time and it was a sprawling utility with little direction and pressure from all sides. Verwaayen made BT the broadband player of choice in the UK market so that is part of his legacy. The other more important factor is two pronged. He built a great succession plan and the new CEO is well placed to deliver. More importantly, in his own words, when he arrived BT was a miserable place, with high employee dissatisfaction and little ability to retain its best people. That has been reversed 180 degrees. Given the size and scale of the operation, if a couple of hundred thousand people are happier, healthier and working better together, then BT has every chance to be great. The pundits will never accept this, such is their focus on the filthy lucre, but I for one, see Verwaayen as an exceptional leader.

Child in TIme

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:53:00 +0000

Max Mosley, president of world motor racing's governing body and son of fascist activist Sir Oswald Mosley is disgraced. Recent newspaper revelations have allegedly shown him in compromising images with five prostitutes. He does not have much support left, whether true or not. Not only have German carmakers distanced themselves, but luninaries of the track including Sir Jackie Stewart have on him to resign. So far it has not happened yet it probably should. First rule of leadership is to uphold integrity at all costs. Leaders cannot lead without it and he will find it hard to rebound. Cases in point: Conrad Black, Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling of Enron notoriety, the list is almost endless. Given time Mosley will undoubtedly have to fall on his sword.

What is fascinating is the manner of his demise. The debauched scene in which Mosley was allegedly ensnared was strongly resonant of images from his early childhood. Mosley was apparently caught with hookers who were dressed as prisoners while others were dressed as guards in what was described in the Guardian as a Nazi themed scenario. He was supposedly heard on the video barking orders in German and spanking them. Mosleys parent were disgraced, arrested and imprisoned before they could do any damage. They never escaped to Germany, yet they were personally close to Hitler. I wonder if Mosley jnr unconsciously was playing out what his parents would so dearly love to have made happen. Moreover, it seems fitting that Max Mosely who was himself an exremist as a young man, will suffer the fate of his parents and end his career in ignominy.

Robert Mugabe: The Dark Side of Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:20:00 +0000

Robert Mugabe has many faults. It is interesting to review though from whence he came. Born to a poor background and, as is so often the case, bullied at school, he typifies the archetypal dictatorial leader who as a successful adult seeks to assert control over his whole jurisdiction. It seems that in these kinds of leader, the need for love is replaced with the need for subservience. It is as if there is a drive for retribution.

Well Mugabe has certainly got his own back. His people live in penury, with Zimbabwe's inflation at a world record 100,000%. Money is valueless in this failed state. Mugabe's demise came when he kicked out the white farmers. Wrong as it may have been for the whites to control most of the premium land, their replacements could not effectively work it to their advantage, and the people starved. Mugabe could not retract his error and stubbornly stuck to his guns. This is why Zimbabwe is in the state it is today.

Yet today, the people will go to the polls. The opposition is stronger than ever. Mugabe rules on with threats and the election will be horribly rigged in his favour. It is time for the people of Zimbabwe to erase their recent history and put Mugabe's childhood demons back in their rightful place.

MIss Speak

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:21:00 +0000

So Hilary Clinton" misspoke" last week when she told her audience that she had dodged sniper fire when she arrived in Bosnia in 1990. Subsequent footage shows that not to be the case. And the bamboozling "I misspoke" comment turns out to be that she was just plain wrong. Now the debate centers along bipartisan lines as to whether she is a liar. Of course politicians are masters of this kind of nonsense. Bill Clinton famously replied to an interviewer during his impeachment trial thus:- " It depends what your interpretation of "is"is." Quite!

The problem here is that while politicians often lie (or misspeak) leaders cannot. The first casualty of lying is the trust that ones followers bestow on you. The public expect politicians to lie, sadly. In this case Hillary might simply have got it wrong, or been carried away on a bit of an ego trip. After all, it was not exactly a beach holiday in Bosnia in those days. However, she compounded the error by trying to dodge the issue. There is no shame as a leader in saying you are wrong. In fact, it makes you stronger. This seems to be lost on the Clintons and more is the pity. It is about time we had a female president, but not a weak one.

Hands On

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:39:00 +0000

Guy Hands, the boss of Terra Firma is quite a leader. Schooled at my old firm Goldman Sachs, he set up Terra Firma having first been to Nomura. He is now, to coin a phrase, minted, rumoured to be worth £200m. His leadership style is unusual. He does not deny that he is a workaholic. Not only working from 7am till midnight, he freely admits he works weekends and expects total dedication from his team. Why does he get it. Apparently he makes many of the big decisions and is rarely wrong. So a big box is checked: decisiveness and that gets commitment. He is however, subject to volatile moods. According to the FT a senior banker who worked with him said, "He has a hell of a temper. He can blow hot and cold really quickly." This can of course, create a fear culture where employees are afraid to speak up with creative ideas. Not a problem if you are doing well. It can lead to issues around succession.

His start in life was tough. He overcame dyslexia to succeed and win a place at Oxford University.He has the self insight to know that this is his driving motivation. He was bullied at school and has taken his knocks as a professional when in one of his rare failures, he wrestled with the Thresher pub chain for years without a great deal of success. "I have thick skin though" he says. Indeed, he has created a wealth of value for himself, his employees and his backers. It does raise the question what Terra Firma would do without him.

Spat Out

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:45:00 +0000

Elliot Spitzer's rapid fall from grace is astonishing. He seems to have found a concealed basement in the political barrel he has been scraping since anointed governor of New York(and I choose the phrase carefully)18 months ago. Since that date, when he was almost as popular as the second coming at a Vatican nuns convention, it has been an out of control downhill skid. What is notable is that for leaders with such a powerful streak of morality, there is often a corollary on the dark side.

From spats over irrelevancies which cost him his popularity, to bully boy tactics which served him so well when Attorney General but made him seem like a latterday MacArthur to the populace, he misjudged a critical leadership issue. He failed to take account of his context and situation. The game had changed. He was now meant to perform, not to crusade. But he could never get out of role.

The prostitution scandal is almost a footnote. Things had already gone horrifically wrong for Spitzer. While I don't condone his actions, it is hardly an aberration nowadays that a politician makes sexual transgressions. Still, he broke the law and paid for it (literally. Moreover, he fell foul of the number one precondition expected of great leaders: integrity. Obviously, in the case of political leaders, if you are capable of personal deception, then you are capable of public deception. His demise was therefore unavoidable.

Had he more insight he may have listened to his own advice. He made a speech last year when he stated the following about a colleague:

"Niebuhr understood that the exercise of power can be shocking and, at times, corrupting. But he also understood that power is absolutely necessary to fight the battles that must be fought. The trick is to fight these battles with humility and constant introspection, knowing that there is no monopoly on virtue."

His spell in the wilderness will no doubt give him pause to reflect on his own words.

Piech's Folly

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:34:00 +0000

As I am heading off to Germany this week to teach leadership in a multinational, this is an opportune moment to take a shot at one of Germany's top business leader's. Ferdinand Piech is the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the eponymous founder of the sports car company that is now coming to dominate the world. Ferdinand junior has this week sealed a deal with Scania making VW Porsche the biggest motor group in Europe. But at what cost? Piech is not known for his gentle manner. According to one of his allies he now has his sights set on Toyota. The debris he leaves in his wake however is worrying. True, he saved VW from financial disaster in 1993. But he also has foibles. He is responsible for the £1m Bugatti Veyron known locally as Piech's folly and the VW Phaeton was pleasing to him but according to the FT not his customers. Again the FT quotes an industry executive who says:" He is the coldest and hardest to communicate with-person I know. If you are against him it is hell. But if you agree with him he will protect you very well indeed." Not a glowing leadership reference. Sometimes the journey may not be worth the target. Piech has his hands in all the pies and is controversial from a governance perspective too. One director commented" VW is a stain on Germany's reputation" . His legacy might be to have built the world's biggest car maker. I wonder though how many people will come to his funeral.

Old leaders never die...

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:44:00 +0000

...they just fade away. Fidel Castro is fading but very slowly. He finally stepped down last week and his brother Raul who has been de facto in charge since 2006 is now President. The problem is that Fidel is not dead. Not that I wish him any ill. His Communist regime has not served his people that well but let's face it, we in the West can hardly crow can we? In leadership terms Raul has a tough job. First he is inextricably linked to the old guard. So he will have a difficult time doing anything new that is recognized as such. Moreover, unless Fidel dies, he will always be seen as the ghost in the wings. That is why when Jack Welch left GE he cleared right off and left his successor to it. There are many corporate examples of CEO's who become Chairmen, just hanging around the place and confusing the workforce. Nobody really knows who to report to. In Communist Cuba this will be less of a problem as it is strictly command and control. I suspect that it will be Raul's successor that really reforms the country unless Fidel expires soon.

Avramovich!

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:29:00 +0000

Are two heads better than one? According to the old saw yes but in the case of Chelsea FC, the slow motion car crash we have been watching for the last year continues apace. Avram was never going to make it as we predicted here last year. His results have not been bad. But he is haunted by the specter of the owner, Roman Abramovich hovering over him at every turn. He is accountable but not responsible and it is a leadership nightmare. Now, as Chelsea lose to lowly Tottenham in the Carling Cup final the poultry is looking for its roosting place again. Abramovich, according to the press, is attending training, key players are not showing up, and worst of all, Grant will not tell the players who is being picked for fear they will tell the press.The trust is blown. Organisations cannot be run this way yet many are. The privilege that business leaders have is to see publicly how not to do it. Sports teams allow us that. The shame is that even with the Russian's billions Chelsea are not turning round. They say the fish rots from the head. Abramovich should get rid of the spoiled stars, pick a manager who will build for the long term and leave him to it. Band Aids will not work any more.

Sorry Mate!

noreply@blogger.com (Amandla Consulting) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:32:00 +0000

Leaders have to make themselves vulnerable in order to appear human. That's how the theory goes at any rate. On the other hand, saying sorry when you are Prime Minister is fraught with peril. It means admitting you are wrong. Normally in politics this is fatal, such is the nature of most bi partisan systems. Kevin Rudd, new PM of Australia has bitten not so much a bullet but a large shell. Last week he apologised to the aborigines for a litany of transgressions over the last century including stealing their land, resettling them, ignoring their traditions and worst of all for the 100 thousand or so children who were forcibly removed from their families.
Does any of this mean anything? Not really. It is a cunning ploy as nobody can really apologise for what someone else has done with sincerity. However, it shows the nature of the man. He has taken on what others have baulked at. Now a line can be drawn and rehabilitation can take place. As leaders go then he is a smart man. For without the vision to do something new for the blighted aborigines this apology would be empty. But since Rudd is a man of conviction, his apology makes him a leader of worth. It is time his peers took a leaf from his book.