Books

​The Leaders’ Ecosystem

A Guide to Leading, Exceptionally

This book is for leaders who want to lead themselves, the systems they operate and the people they work with, exceptionally.

What we’ve been told ‘good’ leadership looks like wasn’t designed to meet the needs, challenges and opportunities of the ecosystem we live and lead in now.

We need a flexible, agile and interconnected system of ideas, frameworks and tools to support bigger, better leadering so that leaders can successfully lead for high performance through their current and future realities.

The 9 critical essays in The Leaders Ecosystem provide a network of ideas and frameworks for leaders to successfully lead themselves, others, and systems to feel well and perform well through uncertainty.

Each of the ideas individually will make a difference, but the real advantage of the Ecosystem is in blending and fusing them to create a way forward that meets the unique needs of your situation and context.

Leaders can use the Ecosystem to successfully:

• Understand how to connect and lead to millennial generations
• Build confidence and motivation to lead through challenging times
• Surface dysfunctional team dynamics, break down silos and rebuild trust
• Disrupt cycles of underperformance and reset accountability
• Support creativity, innovation and grow by fuelling a culture of trust and psychosocial safety

Are you ready to lead, exceptionally?

Coming April 2024

​What does good look like?

Does it mean being seen and not heard?

Does it mean liking pink if you’re a girl and blue if you’re a boy?

Does it mean even labelling yourself in the way that traditional gender asks us to?

What good looks like is such an important question for each of us to consider as we orient ourselves in this world and shape a life that is meaningful, joyful and aligned with who we are.

What does good look like in this moment… this month… this meeting… this marriage… 

What does good look like for me … as a parent… a mentor… a leader … a partner

What does good look like for us? … as a team… a family… an organisation… a community… 

This book explores how what good looks like may not be what or where we think it is and invites you to consider what it means for you. 

Own It!

Honouring and Amplifying Accountability

There’s an epidemic of underperformance plaguing teams and organisations.

Activity but no progress, meetings with no follow up, confused responsibilities, impossible demands, missed milestones, low morale, poor engagement, talent drain…

What’s the cause?

Issues with accountability.

From broken promises and unrealistic expectations to finger pointing and cultures of avoidance and blame, issues with accountability – and the fear that drives them – are rampant across business, government and NGOs.

If you have people in your team you have issues with accountability.

Own It! is the book for you if…

• You’ve been let down by a broken promise or expected to do the impossible at work
• You’re struggling with lack of time, too many commitments and a culture of blame
• You’re tired, frustrated and overwhelmed with what lies ahead and can’t see a way forward
• You’re a leader who knows your team could perform better, but isn’t sure what to try next
• You’re ready to break the mould, feel energized and engaged with your work, proud of your achievements and excited about the future.

​Becoming AntiFragile

Turning Disruption and Uncertainty to Your Advantage

Are You Ready to Move Beyond Resilience?

The level of disruption as we start this new decade is like nothing we’ve experienced before. Resilience simply won’t cut it in the face of such uncertainty. ‘Bouncing back’ isn’t enough.
It’s exhausting and it’s burning us out.

We need something that sustains us in the long term.
We need to benefit rather than break from our experiences.
We need to turn disruption and uncertainty to our advantage.

We need to Become Antifragile. 

Using evidence from neuroscience, psychology and lived leadership experience, this book offers leaders practical guiding principles to:

• Embrace change rather than resist it
• Lean into challenge rather than avoid it
• Learn to thrive when times get tough.

The future is more uncertain than ever. Many leaders are struggling.
With this book, you won’t be one of them.

​Your Leadership Blueprint

Fostering Psychosocial Safety at Work

How are you creating a culture of safety and care in your team that supercharges wellbeing and performance?

Do you need practical, evidence-based approaches to help you minimize psychosocial risks in your team and across your workplace? Are you looking for ways to foster psychological safety and increase care at the individual, team, and organizational level?

Your Leadership Blueprint distils three decades of research findings from the field of workplace wellbeing science and provides leaders with small, everyday actions that can have a big impact on the safety, wellbeing, and performance of your people. Just as a leadership coach helps you boost your confidence and clarity, this book provides you with:

• Easy-to-understand insights into what the quickly evolving international and local psychosocial codes and legislations mean practically for workplaces, leaders, and teams, without the overwhelming legal jargon.
• A carefully selected suite of assessment tools, including a free online survey, to help you identify risks and understand your strengths when it comes to building a culture of safety and care.
• An evidence-based toolbox of small, busy-proof actions, designed to help you foster psychological safety at the Me, We, and Us Levels and minimize the many psychosocial risks you and others may be experiencing in your workplace.
• Real-world case stories to see how these strategies take life in workplaces, and how you can work smarter, not harder, as you integrate the latest psychosocial risk approaches with your existing ways of working and workplace wellbeing strategies.
  

Packed with over 60 evidence-based tools that you can immediately apply with your team, this step-by-step guide gives you everything you need to become an informed, confident, and caring leader, even amidst the challenges and complexity of the modern workplace.

Coauthored with Dr Michelle McQuaid.

Surviving to Thriving

A Student’s Guide to Feeling and Doing Well at University

This practical, hands-on book will help you understand, experience and put into practice skills and strategies to improve and sustain your wellbeing so that you can thrive throughout your time at university. With enough scientific theory and knowledge for you to understand why it works, our focus is on practical activities that will make a difference in your life.

Edited and authored by practising university teachers of the science of wellbeing, this textbook is essential reading for any student, whether you are studying positive psychology or just navigating university life. Each chapter explores a key area of positive psychology and provides activities to enhance your wellbeing and contribute to that of other people. Covering topics from identifying your strengths to mindfulness, and from dealing with adversity to the importance of play, this book will help you move from surviving to thriving at university.

Co-authored with Christian van Nieuwerburgh.