In turbulent times it's usual to get mixed messages on the state of the economy. Are we in recovery or about to dip back into recession? What impact will the planned government spending cuts have? For the time being the balance of the news seems tilted towards bad news. While the optimists feed on the odd scrap of good news or the occasional positive statistic, the pessimists can feast on a glut of depressing facts, figures and stories.

A recent discussion on the LinkedIn IoD members' group asked how to keep employees' morale up when the news seems so consistently depressing. Maintaining that morale and encouraging high performance is an important part of any leadership role. It's made a lot easier if a leader is able to inspire people, both inside and outside the company. That inspirational ability is at the heart of our search for the inaugural winner of the Director Lifetime Achievement Award, part of the first national final to the IoD's Director of the Year Awards.

The winner will have spent an entire career inspiring those around them, bringing about positive change, both commercially and socially. But they might not be a big media star or "celebrity leader", this award is also open to the quietly inspirational, those who go about their job without always playing to the media gallery. The Lifetime Achievement Award will merit admittance into the Director Business Hall of Fame.

Suggestions have been coming in steadily since we launched the campaign earlier in the year and so far candidates range from the obvious to the more considered. Naturally there have been mentions for the likes of Sir Richard Branson and Sir James Dyson, but there have also been suggestions that we should honour Sir Adrian Cadbury, seen by his supporter as the father of modern corporate governance codes. Other suggestions have included the Eden Project's Tim Smit and Apple boss Steve Jobs. Alongside calls to honour recent retail legends, such as M&S executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose and recently retired Tesco CEO, Sir Terry Leahy, we've also had a nomination for an older retail giant, the man who kick-started Tesco's rise from pile it high bargain retailer to its current dominance, Lord MacLaurin. 

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced at the Director of the Year Awards UK Final lunch on 1 October at the Lancaster London. For more information on the awards lunch, click here

Richard Cree

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