Creating Enlightened Organisations
As a leader, this is a really important thing to remember. We often try and soften our message to not hurt someone’s feelings, which in reality, is a selfish move… we don’t want to feel bad. But that lack of clarity creates confusion and doesn’t enable that person to move forward in a useful constructive … Read more Clear is Kind – Unclear is Unkind
“There’s no such thing as stupid questions.” We’ve all heard that phrase espoused by leaders, project managers, consultants, facilitators and trainers. We’ve probably used it ourselves upon occasion. It’s the thing you say to fill the awkward silence… because you know that what you just shared is new and a little bit complicated, and you … Read more Stupid Questions: Learn to Embrace Them
Several months ago I made a commitment that was well outside my comfort zone. I agreed to give an important speech at an important event. “Big deal,” I hear you say, “I give speeches all the time”. But this was no ordinary speech… I would deliver it entirely in a language other than my own. … Read more Your Comfort Zone is Over-rated – Get Uncomfortable
“Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.” ~ Sun Tzu The ‘festive’ season is typically associated with additional stress. There’s the usual suspects – money for example. Increased expectations for treats and gifts can make us feel overwhelmed by financial obligations and the knowledge that a debt tidal wave is likely to … Read more “Resistance is Futile!” – Holiday Survival Guide
“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it.” ~ Alan Perlis Two of the roles I had early in my career were in organisations with a macro-level view on systems: one was in the area of public sector management and the other was leadership – or at least public sector … Read more Complexity: Why Most Leadership Advice Is Wrong
“…those who divide the world into two kinds of people and…” you get the picture. One of my son’s favourite bedtime stories is “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss. He particularly enjoys the scene where the Star-belly Sneetches and the Plain-belly Sneetches are racing around: “Changing their stars every minute or two. They kept paying money. They kept … Read more Two Kinds of People in the World… Which are you?
“Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything – for better or for worse.” ~ Simon Sinek Workplaces are made up of people. And people are, well… people. And people can be motivated and driven by invisible and incomprehensible forces… Our brains don’t work the same, and yet we expect other … Read more Complaining, Gossip, Sarcasm and Other Office Ailments
“If people are failing, they look inept. If people are succeeding, they look strong and good and competent. That’s the ‘halo effect.’ Your first impression of a thing sets up your subsequent beliefs. If the company looks inept to you, you may assume everything else they do is inept.” ~ Daniel Kahneman Your first day … Read more 10 Ways to Make a Terrible First Impression
“Our diversity is our strength. What a dull and pointless life it would be if everyone was the same.” ~ Angelina Jolie I have been trialling a new tool with some of my coaching clients, and I wanted to share a couple of observations with you about the breathtaking beauty of diversity. And the extent … Read more Diversity: The Power of Multiple Perspectives
“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of … Read more Personal Brand: Objectivity, Ownership and Letting Go…
“The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.” ~ Brene Brown Who is Gary Vee? I first heard the name “Gary Vaynerchuk” in a … Read more Gary Vaynerchuk and the Older Woman
In a bit of a departure from our usual discussions, I want to give you a sneak peak at my upcoming eBook Get Influential: How I built a Twitter following of 5,000 in under five months and how you can too. In the process of building an engaged community of leadership enthusiasts, I have learned … Read more “Get Influential” Your Guide to Building a Twitter Following
“Do not think your single vote does not matter much. The rain that refreshes the ground is made up of single drops.” ~ Kate Sheppard Yesterday was Election Day in New Zealand – 23 September 2017. Earlier this week we marked 124 years since New Zealand women became the first in the world to gain … Read more “We Will Prevail”: The Power of Persistence
People often ask me about the books I read. Specifically, they want to know what leadership books I’d recommend – there are so many! Usually I try and curate a list on the spot based on what I know about the person who is asking, but I almost always miss something. There are already lots of “Leaders’ … Read more 5 Books you Must Read if you Consider Yourself a Leader
“True intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes.” ~ Daniel Kahneman As a kid, I loved playing cricket. I was a fast bowler, and also a halfway decent batsman. We had a lawn big enough to have a cricket pitch, and all through the summer, I’d practice my bowling, using our … Read more Feedback Unleashed
“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe” ~ Gustave Flaubert I’ve been ‘blogging’ about leadership development for a while now (OK – nearly five months), and I have been reflecting on what I’ve learned in that time. Probably the most significant lesson – and possibly the biggest surprise – is … Read more Blogging: A Tool for Leadership Development
“I encourage active skepticism – when people are being skeptical because they’re trying to identify the best course of action. They’re trying to identify the next step for themselves or other people” ~ Tim Ferris I am proudly on the record as a self-proclaimed optimist – and I think that optimism is vital for leadership, … Read more Skeptical Optimism: Reality Checks and Fake News
Most of my posts are pretty serious. I mean not serious serious, but they’re about serious stuff. You know. Things that I think matter. Like servant leadership. And accountability. And looking after yourself. And being courageous. But every now and then, I like to make sure you’re actually a human being. Because based on the comments on … Read more A Dedication to my WordPress Spammers
I was sitting in a cafe the other day, enjoying a delicious latte, when I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation at another table that raised my ‘understanding hackles’ (yes, they do exist!)… “But what my clients refuse to understand is just how big a discount I’m getting them! Sometimes 20, 30, even 40% off retail…” … Read more Understanding: Who’s Responsible for it?
It is entirely possible that the most powerful thing in the world is the humble question mark. Whether written, or spoken, it has the potential to create revolutionary change, turn mice into men and bring dictators to their knees. How? (See what I did there!) By creating a gap. A powerful, searching, probing gap. And … Read more The Inexplicable Power of the Humble Question Mark
I failed this week. Does that make me a failure? Last Sunday, I set myself and my readers a challenge: every time someone asked me a question, I was to answer with a question. I failed miserably. I managed to do it twice, out of what must have been hundreds of questions. What a failure! … Read more “I Failed” or “I’m a Failure”: Growth from Adversity
In a recent post, I spoke about a leader’s most valuable talent – the ability to resist making complicated things overly simple, appealing to the lowest common denominator. This really got me thinking about one of the skills that we all respect and admire in great leaders: thinking on your feet. Some people are brilliant at … Read more Thinking on your Feet: Leadership Communication
Early in my leadership journey, I attended a three day retreat on Emotional Intelligence for Leaders. There were about 20 of us, all from different organizations, all at different stages in our careers, and all starting with a different understanding of what emotional intelligence was. Over the three days, there were a range of activities and … Read more 21st Century Leadership: Ditch the Military Metaphors
As a leader, it is absolutely vital to remain open-minded: to understanding that your perception of how things are, probably is not the same as the perceptions of your co-workers, your boss, or your customers. In this post I outline why this will be a stumbling block to you becoming an exceptional leader unless you can overcome … Read more Perception & Reality: Things aren’t Always as they Seem
Leadership and Storytelling Leadership is all about storytelling. There are many great articles and books that support this premise, and provide advice and guidance to leaders on how to build their storytelling craft. Stephen Denning’s The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling is an excellent example of this and there are others, including Howard Gardner, and more recently, … Read more The Importance of Compassionate Storytelling
Powerlessness and Personal Agency Do you generally believe that you are in control of your own life? Or are you a victim of circumstance? In psychological terms, everyone can be placed somewhere along a spectrum from one extreme end to the other, and everywhere in between. At the ‘victim of circumstance’ end are a special subset … Read more Powerlessness: Wasting Time on Inert Emotional Banter
Why Communication is Hard Communication (or lack of it) is the most frequently cited cause of workplace dissatisfaction, disengagement and frustration. It can lead to relationship breakdowns, corporate collapses and world wars. In a recent “Wait But Why” post about Elon Musk’s latest big idea, Tim Urban provided a deceptively simple explanation of why communication between … Read more Why Communication is so Hard: 7 Things to Improve
The gap between what we think – what we think we think – and what we actually do or say may be one of the greatest causes of inequality in our day. As social structures have become increasingly complex, so too, the need for sophisticated communication skills has increased exponentially. I call this the ThinkingKnowingSaying Gap. … Read more The ThinkingKnowingSaying Gap