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IOL News
5 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
The leadership crisis is not out there, it's with you
Effective leaders adapt their style to organisational needs, but transformational approaches often share core beliefs: believing in oneself and others, being optimistic, caring genuinely, and knowing thyself. Image: Sunday Independent / Ron AI 'Concentrate on polishing your own lantern so that others may follow its light.' — A common Zen Buddhist principle WHAT kind of teacher do you want to be? What kind of leader do you want to be? We often default to teaching the way we were taught, especially if that model was positive and passionate. The analogy Peter Boonshaft draws between a music teacher and an airplane pilot resonates with me: both must be calm in a storm, act rather than react, assess circumstances swiftly, constantly monitor surroundings, and sometimes respond in ways that seem counterintuitive. Crucially, we must control a powerful entity capable of causing disaster or creating feelings of awesome beauty. It has been said that only three things happen naturally in organisations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership. Surveys consistently show a perceived global leadership crisis. Leadership isn't an innate talent, but an observable, learnable set of skills and abilities. Despite the abundance of modern leadership resources, the core qualities people admire have remained remarkably consistent. Decades ago, surveys identified key leadership traits: thorough job knowledge, fairness, clear thinking under pressure, calmness, genuine interest in personnel, trust, respect, leading by example, encouragement, and maintaining mission focus. It seems these timeless traits are still what people seek in their leaders. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ The phrase 'natural born leader' is a misnomer. Effective leaders have typically been exposed to good examples, received mentorship, and actively learned. Anyone can improve by reading widely, seeking training, and gaining experience through observation and simulation. Put yourself in others' shoes and ask, 'What would I do?' To stay relevant, leaders must 'fill their tanks'. As the Zen principle states, polishing your own lantern allows others to follow its light. Rejuvenation — whether through learning, rest, or quiet reflection — is essential. Creative ideas often emerge in stillness. Research identifies two main leadership styles. Transactional leadership works from the outside in, focusing on expectations, roles, and compliance. Transformational leadership works from the inside out, instilling vision, purpose, and encouraging risk-taking and learning. Effective leaders adapt their style to organisational needs, but transformational approaches often share core beliefs: believing in oneself and others, being optimistic, caring genuinely, and knowing thyself. Believing you can positively impact your environment (self-efficacy) is crucial. Optimistic leaders see assets where others see deficits. Caring about others builds the relational trust vital for sustained improvement. Understanding yourself, your emotions and how others perceive you, is linked to effective leadership practices like focus and situational awareness. Developing mental fitness measurably reduces pain points and optimises performance, making it easier to create alignment and movement. For some, it's about being the best leader; for others, maximising organisational performance; for others, a personal path. The common thread is transformation — seeing the world anew to stop creating pain and start creating performance. Mental fitness is one's measurable ability to engage constructively daily, regardless of stressors — the capacity to respond optimally with minimal recovery time. It starts with recognising that the real drivers of results are the hidden habits of our minds — our entrenched perspectives about ourselves, others, and the world. Mental fitness is most transformative when we feel stressed or hindered, becoming 'triggered' and defaulting to suboptimal behaviours. Mental fitness helps avoid pain by allowing us to lead from a position of optimal performance — 'leading lightly'. This involves rapidly applying a set of learned skills, the five 'muscles' of mental fitness, to change perceptions and internal reactions: choosing personal accountability over blame, selecting helpful beliefs over limiting ones, accurately assessing your internal state, holding multiple perspectives instead of binary thinking, and modulating your own physiology when distressed. Applying these skills intentionally changes how we see ourselves and our environment, breaking free from reflexive reactions that limit potential. With practice, we optimise performance and consistently create better leadership results. Developing these muscles makes you feel lighter and more in control, leading yourself and others 'lightly'. Negative interactions soften, and instead of getting triggered, you respond with adaptability and curiosity. Coming to a leadership role with this mindset means understanding that for different results — for yourself, your team, or your organisation — you must change at the root. That change begins with you. * Dr Vusi Shongwe works in the Department of Sport, Arts, and Culture in KwaZulu-Natal and writes in his personal capacity. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media. Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Battle for Barne: Ep2 – Secret phones, wiped laptops and ‘dirty' money
John Magnier – one of Ireland's wealthiest men and a notoriously private individual – has taken the stand in a high-stakes legal row over an estate that makes Downton Abbey look modest. Mr Magnier, the bloodstock billionaire, and two of his children are seeking to enforce a handshake deal agreed between Mr Magnier and Richard Thomson-Moore to buy Barne Estate, a 751-acre property in Tipperary that has been in the Thomson-Moore family for nearly 400 years. Mr Magnier contends that the €15m deal agreed in his Coolmore home in Tipperary on August 22, 2023 with Mr Thomson-Moore is binding. He argues that a later €22.5m deal Mr Thomson-Moore and his family trust agreed with Maurice Regan, the US-based Kerry building tycoon, is 'unlawful'. Land, riches and reputations are all on the line, with recent evidence hearing details of secret phones, wiped computers, hidden assets and 'dirty' money. Today on The Indo Daily, in the second of a two-part special, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Mark Tighe, journalist with the Sunday Independent, to hear the blockbuster revelations in the case over the future of Barne estate.
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
The Indo Daily: Ep2: Secret phones, wiped laptops and ‘dirty' money
John Magnier – one of Ireland's wealthiest men and a notoriously private individual – has taken the stand in a high-stakes legal row over an estate that makes Downton Abbey look modest. Mr Magnier, the bloodstock billionaire, and two of his children are seeking to enforce a handshake deal agreed between Mr Magnier and Richard Thomson-Moore to buy Barne Estate, a 751-acre property in Tipperary that has been in the Thomson-Moore family for nearly 400 years. Mr Magnier contends that the €15m deal agreed in his Coolmore home in Tipperary on August 22, 2023 with Mr Thomson-Moore is binding. He argues that a later €22.5m deal Mr Thomson-Moore and his family trust agreed with Maurice Regan, the US-based Kerry building tycoon, is 'unlawful'. Land, riches and reputations are all on the line, with recent evidence hearing details of secret phones, wiped computers, hidden assets and 'dirty' money. Today on The Indo Daily, in the second of a two-part special, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Mark Tighe, journalist with the Sunday Independent, to hear the blockbuster revelations in the case over the future of Barne estate.
Irish Independent
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
The Indo Daily: 'Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness?' - Washington tells Ireland to ‘sober up' over Occupied Territories Bill
So states the outline of the Occupied Territories Bill, as introduced in 2018 by senator Frances Black. Seven years later, the bill is increasingly the subject of public pressure and debate, as Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris continue to address criticism. And it's not just here at home, with a growing number of international political voices chiming in, some in more derogatory fashion than others. US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee slated the Occupied Territories Bill and told Ireland to "sober up". "Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness," he posted on Twitter. The diplomat said the bill was "so stupid" it smacked of "diplomatic intoxication". The Taoiseach stressed that people needed to focus on the ongoing loss of life in Gaza and across the Middle East. Today on The Indo Daily, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Mary Regan, Political Editor with the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent, and by Tabitha Monahan, Political Reporter with the Irish Independent, to explore the Occupied Territories Bill, and the political flashpoints that underline it.
Irish Independent
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Letters: The Triple Lock does not make us more democratic, it actually diminishes us
Leaving judgment on the integrity and morality of our aspirant humanitarian operations to the whims of the permanent members of the security council through our Triple Lock policy seriously diminishes our democracy, in my view. When one observes Donald Trump's America and how it is conducting its politics with regard to Gaza and Ukraine, in particular, we must now add the US to China and Russia, in terms of countries that merit no influence whatsoever on our decisions with regard to our military deployments. The reality of Triple Lock in terms of our neutrality and democracy fades into utter insignificance when weighed against our integrity and ability to stand up with compassion for the freedom and sustenance of 'our fellow man'. Michael Gannon, Saint Thomas Square, Kilkenny Well done, Kris Jenner, for your costly looks, let's hope the insides work as well Regarding your article ''I love to see people's reactions when I tell them how old I am,' Kris Jenner's neck lift sparks surge of interest among Irish women' (Sunday Independent, July 20), I think that while it's great to look good, Kris's remarks remind me of an old banger of a car I once had. I got it totally re-sprayed and it looked really good – unfortunately the engine blew out a short time later. The moral of my story is look after your inner health and grow old gracefully. Seamus McLoughlin, Keshcarrigan, Co Leitrim Our children are exposed to the adult world far too early and it damages them Will children and young teens ever be allowed to have a childhood again? CMAT's forthcoming song Euro-Country highlights the stress and anxiety of young people who grew up during the last recession endured. I grew up in the 80s, at a time when money was tight and job losses occurred regularly. Like most children of that era, I received a treat on a Sunday and hand-me-down clothes from cousins. But as I marked off each passing milestone of youth, I did so with little knowledge as to what was going on around me. Because I was immersed in childhood. My generation was sheltered from adult talk, with adults whispering their worries, insistent upon keeping such tales from children's ears. My friends and I didn't have 24/7 access to politics and news and were oblivious to the intricate details of the goings on in the world. We were allowed and encouraged to be children. Today smartphones bring a constant barrage of news to young people's attention, as they attempt to traverse their own world, the real world, an online world and a world far beyond these shores. How and when are they supposed to be children? Marie Hanna Curran, Ballinasloe, Co Galway Tyrone McKenna keeps honourable tradition of fighting Irish alive in Gaza Long has Ireland, the North and Belfast in particular had a rich history of fighting pride. Legends like Rinty Monaghan and Hugh Russell paved the way for world champions like McCullough, Barnett, Frampton and Cacace. Heroes like McCarthy, Eamon and Brian Magee, the Conlans and Paddy Barnes broke the mould. Sean McComb is a world champion robbed of his belt. Volunteering to help children in an active war zone is not a natural reaction, especially when you have two at home. Risking your livelihood and legacy does not come naturally to any sportsperson, let alone someone in the twilight of their career. Tyrone McKenna has honoured the rich tradition of Belfast fighters, entertaining every single time he has graced the squared circle. He has never backed down and has been gracious in victory and defeat. This week he epitomised the spirit of the fighting Irish by flying to the illegally occupied West Bank to volunteer at the Aclai Palestine boxing gym to raise much needed funds. He's doing it because he believes it's right. Eamonn Brady, Lurgan, Co Armagh When this many cannot pay for electricity or heat, the budget needs to step in The cost-of-living crisis was the biggest single issue during the general election campaign. In the Dáil's last day before summer recess, there was palpable disagreement about how best to tackle this same issue. At Leaders' Questions, the Government's decision to rule out another support package in the budget was not for relenting. Since January, an extra 64,000 people couldn't pay their electricity bills. That means for the first time that we have circa 300,000 households that cannot pay for their electricity. We have circa 175,000 that can't pay for heating. I believe that there does need to be a cost of living package in this year's budget. John O'Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary What has Israel achieved other than filling the ranks of Islamic armies? The attack on a Catholic church in Gaza shows an Israeli military out of control, not just because of this attack, but because of their overall mission in Gaza that has left tens of thousands of people dead, injured and suffering starvation. Where is the morality in what they are doing and what have they achieved other than creating an apocalyptic landscape and putting hostage lives at risk and starving the population? What they have done is harden the attitudes of the outside world while they fill the ranks of extremist Islamist groups in the region. This insane attack on innocent people, who are caught between Hamas and their fanatical followers, and Netanyahu and his right-wing ideologues, both of whom want to wipe out each other, makes one wonder what have they achieved other than death and misery? What they have achieved, both at home and abroad, is further division between groups of people who at this stage have so much distrust and hatred for each other, that there is very little prospect of bringing peace. What both sides in this bloody carnage have created is a world where close allies are now also divided and mistrust each other and a lasting legacy of mutual hatred.
