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What are the main determinants for a successful Legitimate Leadership implementation?
Legitimate Leadership has grown exponentially internationally in the past five years, particularly in Britain and Europe…
Fashion retail is a notoriously demanding industry as more and more brands compete for an ever-shrinking consumer purse…
Hamdi Ulukaya has understood and implemented both care and growth at Chobani. CARE is clearly evidenced by his appreciation …


Question of the Month
By Wendy Lambourne, director, Legitimate Leadership.
Question: What are the main determinants for a successful Legitimate Leadership implementation?
Answer: A Legitimate Leadership intervention is applicable in any organisation (no matter what its business or where it is located) where employee contribution makes a difference to the excellence in the organisation. Experience over the past two decades indicates that factors determine its success are: ownership by line management; positioning as an integral part of an organisation’s transformation agenda; initial and ongoing assessment; integration with organisational priorities; and accountability or consequence … Read the full answer by clicking here

EVENT: LEGITIMATE LEADERSHIP EUROPE LAUNCHED
By Teigue Payne, Legitimate Leadership.
Legitimate Leadership has grown exponentially internationally in the past five years, particularly in Britain and Europe.
On Friday 21 June, Legitimate Leadership Europe was launched at a half-day event in Belgium. 35 senior executives in a diversity of companies, both European and global, were introduced to the principles and practices of Legitimate Leadership in a highly interactive session.
The event was hosted by Legitimate Leadership colleagues Hilde Lemmens and Carina Vignigni who have an impressive track record in enabling organisational transformation in their clients across a diverse range of companies and industries.
Wendy Lambourne, founder and director of Legitimate Leadership, provided insights into this unique leadership perspective and its application over 25 years in diverse contexts in 27 countries and five continents.
Jean–Pierre Filippini, managing director of Carglass Germany, shared his company’s experiences with implementing the Legitimate Leadership model over the past three years – and what Carglass Germany has achieved as a result, both in leadership and organisational performance. He said (our translation from Flemish): “It is the first sustainable leadership training that I have come across. It provides a simple and clear framework and results – not only for better leadership but also for heightened accountability in the organisation. Our results have also been positively influenced by it.”
Feedback from attendees was that this was truly inspiring. Most expressed interest in learning more, and many have signed up to attend a 2-Day Introductory Workshop near Genk, Belgium, in September.

CASE STUDY: FUELLING PERFORMANCE IN FASHION RETAIL THROUGH LEGITIMATE LEADERSHIP
By Wendy Lambourne, director, Legitimate Leadership.
Fashion retail is a notoriously demanding industry as more and more brands compete for an ever-shrinking consumer purse. Converting ‘window shoppers’ into customers who fill their baskets rather than buy a single item, and come back again and again, is what it is all about.
Two well-known South African fashion brands embraced the Legitimate Leadership principles and practices to effect a step-change in the calibre of their leaders at three levels in their operations. Their focus on enabling those in the front line in their stores countrywide has impacted positively, not only on turnover but on all of their performance indicators. The intervention showed conclusively that you don’t have to trade off between people and results. You can have both.
READ THE FULL CASE STUDY BY CLICKING HERE
VIDEO: THE ANTI-CEO PLAYBOOK
By Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish-Kurdish businessman, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and CEO of Chobani, the top-selling strained yogurt brand in the US.
COMMENT ON THIS VIDEO BY IAN MUNRO OF LEGITIMATE LEADERSHIP: Legitimacy in leadership is enabled by two simple criteria: CARE (a genuine concern for the human being behind the human resource) and GROWTH (enabling the very best in people).
Hamdi Ulukaya has understood and implemented both care and growth at Chobani. CARE is clearly evidenced by his appreciation of the 55 employees who were going to lose their livelihoods, and how he felt for them – complete strangers at the time. For evidence of his belief in “the very best in people”, consider his complete confidence that the same people who saw the factory fail around them, given the opportunity to give their best, could make it not only succeed, but thrive.
Hamdi Ulukaya also shares Legitimate Leadership’s belief that companies do not exist to serve shareholders, but rather have a primary duty to serve their customers. Customers may not always be right, but they do come first. Without them, there is no business.
Which leaves us with a question: how can one person, even one as capable and visionary as Hamdi Ulukaya, personally serve enough customers for his business to become the top-selling strained yoghurt brand in the US?
The answer: one person can’t. But a great team can. And great leaders understand that the greatest service they can do for customers is to build a great team. One where every member is held in the highest regard by both the leader and other team members, one where only the best is imagined and expected, and one where anything less isn’t an option.
OUR SUMMARY OF THIS VIDEO: The new anti-CEO playbook is about gratitude. Today’s business book says: business exists to maximize profit for the shareholders. I think that’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard in my life. In reality, business should take care of their employees first.
The new way of business is communities. Go search for communities that you can be part of. Ask for permission and be with them, open the walls and succeed together.
READ THE FULL SUMMARY OF THIS VIDEO BY CLICKING HERE