Blog

I’ve loved receiving your comments and feedback on my Leadership Blogs throughout the year. Thank you for your thoughts and for your appreciation :-). You’ve indicated that the most valuable Leadership Blogs in 2017 have been the three I’ve linked below… How To Put Things Right When Someone’s Peeved With You   You so oftenRead more

Have you ever worked for a leader who put most of their energy into what they do—things like strategic planning, motivating the team to produce results, following up on commitments, and so on…… ……rather than who they are as a leader—things like always being authentic and personally disciplined and oozing emotional intelligence?   “Statistically Speaking,Read more

There’s so much talk about the importance of being “authentic”—the value of telling the truth about your thoughts and feelings. Why is authenticity such a big deal? Reflect on leaders you’ve been exposed to—who was great, who was not as great? I’ll bet the great leaders you’ve known were authentic and the not-as-great weren’t asRead more

“The belief that one’s own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions.” —Paul Watzlawick (Austrian-American psychologist and philosopher) Way Too Many Leaders Are Sitting Behind The Eight-Ball… …because they haven’t gotten authentic, granular feedback about their leadership practices and behaviours from their boss, peers and team members. Their self-perception is thus atRead more

Feeling anxious? Imagine habitually feeling calm and cool, even quietly excited, as you anticipate what’s around the corner. Removing your anxiety could be a real game-changer for you. Let’s look at what causes you to be anxious and what you can do to turn it around… What Causes You to Be Anxious? We feel anxiousRead more

You so often get yourself into more trouble when you try to sort things out with someone you’ve upset. In an effort to justify your actions, you typically tell them why you did what you did. But they don’t seem to sympathise with that. And so the situation often goes from bad to worse. SoRead more

Susie was clearly disturbed as she described one of her peers, Belinda. Initially, Susie had attributed Belinda’s behaviour to the fact that Belinda was quite new. She’d only been with the organisation for six-months—she’d come from an entirely different culture and her team was twice the size she was used to. Susie. who works closelyRead more

Seth Godin, the best-selling American author, entrepreneur and marketer, told this story about Gaztelugatxe… “There’s an island off the coast of Spain that houses a church. The church has 230 steps to the top—and it’s said that it’s worth the climb. What a great expression! Gaztelugatxe can now mean, ‘it’s a lot of steps butRead more

Leaders are quite consistent when they talk about their biggest challenges, frustrations and problems (as my latest survey confirmed). “Managing upwards” is nearly always near the top of the list. It’s a struggle for lots of different reasons—your boss hasn’t taken the time to understand your challenges, they think they have all the answers, they don’tRead more

  Are you curious about how you compare to other leaders—particularly your struggles and challenges? A few weeks ago, responses rolled into my questionnaire (thank you!) about your greatest leadership challenges and development needs. “If you were to choose only one leadership area to further develop, what would it be? Here’s how the answers stackedRead more

After examining bucket-loads of literature and observing behaviours, I have no doubt that the sure-fire way to influencing someone is to—here it is—be committed to their success! When I say “influence”, I don’t mean a self-centered manipulation that results in you getting what you want and the other party being screwed. I mean a positiveRead more

Seth Godin got me thinking, again, when he spoke about the choices we make. He said…… “Attitude is the most important choice any of us will make. We made it yesterday and we get another choice to make it today. And then again tomorrow. The choice to participate. To be optimistic. To intentionally bring outRead more

With great regularity, team members tell me they’re not receiving enough feedback from their leaders—which means the team member’s not getting the support they need to do a great job. Most people are somewhat in the dark when it comes to knowing enough about where they’re right on track and where they could be more on track. AndRead more

Here’s what Seth Godin said: “We spend a lot of time talking about celebrities and how attractive they are. Paul Newman’s blue eyes, how tall is Jake Gyllenhaal, how fast is Usain Bolt. Most of the time, though, our success is based on something we have far more control over: Our emotional attractiveness. People who areRead more

Every leader I coach wants to feel totally proud of who they are as a leader. And that’s my intent as a coach—to help every leader I work with feel totally proud of their leadership practices and behaviours. To help me stay true to that pledge, I have a question for you…   When itRead more

How would it be if you felt totally proud of who you are as a leader? I mean, imagine feeling totally proud! Doesn’t matter if you’re close now, or further away. Totally is a new story 🙂 . How amazing would that actually be? A Couple Of Months Ago… I realised that pretty much allRead more

It’s a challenge if you lead a team that’s been told their expense budget has been slashed and that their headcount is now frozen. To achieve your business goals, you’ll therefore need every team member to work smarter, faster, harder and longer, won’t you? Ah! That’ll mean they need be engaged, at a heart level,Read more

A lot has been written over the years, even by me, about how to influence another person. After examining a few bucket-loads of literature, asking lots of questions, observing behaviours, and checking it out in practice, there’s no doubt that the sure-fire way to influencing someone is to—here it is—be committed to their success! WhenRead more

It doesn’t matter what you call it….. honesty—authenticity—candour—integrity—frankness—truthfulness—openness—sincerity—genuineness It’s a prerequisite if you’re to be trusted by people.   Honesty and Influence Here’s the thing… It’s essential that other people trust you if you plan to be influential. Influencing is damn hard if they don’t. They’ll spend their time looking at you through squinty eyes,Read more

Do you know anyone in your organisation who loves attending meetings? Probably not. Meetings tend to get a bad rap. Keep reading if you’re eager to help create a fruitful meeting experience for everyone…   What’s Not OK About Most Meetings People are forever complaining about the meetings they attend. They tell me that manyRead more