How to Lead with Ease Who we are is how we show up. In the big moments and the little ones; the moments that matter and the moments that slip by unnoticed. Who are you in each of these moments? With colleagues and peers? Family and friends? Your nearest and dearest?...
The Upside of Constraints… You can’t always get what you want… It’s a reality of life, and whether we like it or not, there are often constraints in the world that we have to work with. When we rail against the system or the reality in front of us, we make and keep...
Letting go to level up I was so angry… furious No. More than that, I was embarrassed. I felt humiliated. I was in a high level meeting of peers that I respected and admired. In these kinds of situations it’s not often that I will raise a hand and put my voice...
How to communicate signal not noise “We’re shouting at each other, with closed minds and an attachment to ideas, experiences and beliefs. Is it any wonder there’s so much defensiveness and division?” This was just one of the golden nuggets of wisdom that conscious...
Why leaders need to chew before they swallow One of my favourite books to read to my children, as they were growing up, was “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen. A classic children’s picture book, it tells of a family, going out on an adventure to find a bear...
How to make good choices How can we stay on track with ‘what good looks like’ when there’s so much else going on at work and in life generally? This was a question at The Leaders Surgery this week and I understand why… It’s one thing to understand what good looks...
The biggest risk in your team and organisation The silence was deafening. A senior leadership team I was working with had just been asked their views on an important strategic initiative by the CEO. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Now this CEO was good at holding the tension...
How to Use Disappointment to Your Advantage There is a word in the world that strikes me to the core… a real punch to the gut … a wobble to my confidence and sense of identity. It’s the D-word. Disappointment. Whether I’ve disappointed myself or others, or I hear it...
Are you a Well-Intentioned or Intentional Leader? Do you lead on purpose? I’m not talking about the values aligned, purpose driven type leadership (although that is important) I mean, do you lead purposefully? With intention? There’s a big difference between having...
Are you a bad collaborator? I’m not one for collaboration. It’s uncomfortable to admit, but I haven’t loved my experiences of working with others in the past and they’ve left a stain. Mismatched workloads, poor communication, a lack of ownership and personal...
Reality Checking What ‘Good’ Looks Like “We need to let go of the idea that we can change large complex systems” is one of the uncomfortable truths I often share as I work with senior leaders. Railing against systems that are unfit, unfair and under-resourced is a...
Facing the Hurricanes of leadering and life Hurricanes is a track by Dido – one of my favourite artists as I was in my early adult years in the UK and Europe. Her album Life for Rent released in 2003 was the soundtrack to my life as I moved from a Business...
