Academy Articles
In business you learn from your failures. It's important to recognize that, particularly early on in your career, you're going to make mistakes. Early lessons are often hard-won but will stand you in good stead during the course of your career. (Duration 4:26)
Simon Lester, Chairman of North London & Hertfordshire based
Academy Group 7 is one of The Academy's growing number of individuals who've made the transition from member to Chairman. "I guess you could say that having been a member for 9 years, I
'walked the talk' by taking the decision to start my own group." Simon smiles.
Alan Branagh Chairs Group 55 - NI, the first Academy group to establish itself in Northern Ireland. Having launched this first group in the autumn of 2006, Alan intends to build upon its success by expanding into Southern Ireland and Scotland, and to launch further groups in Northern Ireland.
Research carried out by the publisher Sweet and Maxwell
1 earlier this year highlighted that the Government introduced eight new laws a day during 2007. Small wonder that busy executives struggle to keep up with the requirements and complain about the growth of red tape, much of which is to do with employing people.
Peter Pritchett is one of The Academy's veteran Chairmen, having been with our organisation for 11 years. He served his 'apprenticeship' as a member of Academy Group 2, and following an enforced sabbatical (when he was hospitalised for a short while), Peter had time to reflect upon what he really wanted from life.
Everyone has intuitive judgement - few use it well.
From unlikely beginnings in Glasgow, Juliette Lee's appetite for scientific fact coupled with hungry ambition, led her to develop a strong analytical mind and high-powered corporate career at the expense of her intuition. Her life changed dramatically the day she finally faced a difficult truth - that somehow, for some reason, all she had achieved seemed rather pointless.
In the 80s Robyn was a burnt out real estate agent and poor time manager. Today this mother of 6 and grandmother of 10, having conquered her own time challenges, works with clients around the globe helping them solve their time problems. She's author of 5 books, has a huge internet following and is one of the top time management specialists in the world.
Richard Furness was well qualified to take over the Chairmanship of Academy Group 1 from Alan Sanders this summer having been a member of the group since its inception some thirteen years' ago.
Alan Dean chairs Academy Group 19, a group of fourteen CEOs and entrepreneurs based in the Greater Manchester and Merseyside area. He also co-chairs Leaders Forum 13. Alan is now approaching his ninth year of group Chairmanship and was additionally appointed as a Director of The Academy for Chief Executives in 2007.
Delivering his first Academy workshop
Remove the Rubbish and win Genuine Quality Clients in March – the feedback from that event was not to his liking, rather than sulk and disappear Mike went to other speakers and Chairmen to learn how to adapt and deliver a truly powerful workshop that was fit for The Academy.
Personal leadership straight from the top is always a successful strategy. Attempting to develop vision through a committee dilutes the message and instead makes it less believable to the rest of the organisation. (Duration 5:48)
John was delighted to be awarded Academy Star Speaker 2007. With a strong background in performance and personal development, John brings two highly engaging and thought provoking sessions to the Academy:
Eric Peacock celebrates his 10th birthday as an Academy Chairman this year, having previously been a member. He is passionate about people and the opportunity of improving the day to day competitiveness of members' core business activities and also in helping them to build internal 'dream teams'. Eric believes that The Academy's formula is so successful because it is based upon a combination of reality based stimuli – peer group learning, thought leadership and mentoring – an integrated approach to unleashing talent within organisations.
Neil Ryder is the Development Director of Corporate LifeCycles Ltd – the UK arm of Corporate Lifecycles Inc., an international consultancy group that specialises in large-scale organisational change.
Joanna became chairman of
Leaders Forum Group 9 in May 2001 and feels that The Academy for Chief Executives represents everything that she is passionate about. In Joanna's own words, "I want to help others reach their stars. That's why I love The Academy – because it provides me with the perfect platform to inspire others to be the best they can be."
Peter Hills, Chairman of
Academy Group 18 joined The Academy for Chief Executives in 2000.
This time last year, we brought you news of
Group 7's unusual
trip to Poland to train with Polish Special Forces.
Voted "Academy Speaker of the Year 2007", Dr Graeme Codrington has quickly established himself as a firm favourite amongst Academy Groups.
Phil Jesson is Chairman of
Academy Group 42 and alongside his wife Joanna, forms half of the only husband-and-wife team in The Academy. Phil became a chairman last year but had been involved in the Academy community for a number of years – as both a professional speaker and Director of The Academy's Speaker Development Programme. Phil says of his decision to start a new group, "I liked the organisation, I wanted to do more Academy related work and from a personal level, I wanted to try to build a local side to my business activities too."
Performance.
In business, this one word encapsulates everything which matters when it comes to success.
Performance in any arena, is ultimately down to a mix of ingredients: skill, knowledge, talent, physical and mental performance, and attitude.