Blog

It’s frustrating, and impossible to be a good leader, when people aren’t hearing you, right? But, worse still, you can’t expect to make impressive, progressive career steps if you don’t have a reliable method for getting people to: First, care about what you’re saying, and Second, be open-mined about seeing things your way. (I thinkRead more

Great leaders create team members who go the extra mile—and stay with the organisation, right? The results of the Corporate Leadership Council’s 2004 employee Engagement Survey indicate just how important this is. (This isn’t a minuscule survey: 50,000 employees, globally, responded.) Two of the key highlights of the survey are… Highly committed employees perform 20%Read more

Your Career Doesn’t Need to Stall So many female leaders’ careers stall as they attempt to climb the hierarchical ladder. But they don’t need to. Are you one of those female leaders who feels frustrated because you’re not being offered the promotion you’re after? (Of course, male leaders’ careers stall too. But women tend toRead more

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to notice and influence one’s own and others’ emotions. It involves competencies such as emotional self-awareness, self-regard, empathy, assertiveness, stress tolerance, flexibility and optimism.   Recently I was told about two senior executives who, in a meeting with their team members, declared that they didn’t have high EQ. One ofRead more

You’re not alone in this camp. My recent survey invited executives and leaders to share their biggest challenge. I found the result surprising in that… Well over 50% of respondents said that their fluctuating 
confidence was the greatest inhibitor to their success as a leader These leaders are also concerned that their confidence level isRead more

Seth Godin, the author, entrepreneur and marketer whose thinking I truly admire, said: “It’s possible that you are the way you are, that you do what you do, that you react as you react—and that it can never be changed. Believing this is incredibly sad though. Each of us is capable of just a littleRead more

“Maybe I’m not capable of being the leader that I want to be.” “I’m not confident that I can do a decent job as an executive.” “Who do I think I am? Truth be known, I’m not really very effective in my role.”   So many leaders talk about how they sometimes feel like aRead more

Brilliant leaders think differently to not-so-brilliant leaders. This is good news if you want your leadership to be more brilliant than it currently is—given that you’re 100% in control of the way you think :-). But let’s be clear about this: In the short-term, controlling the way you think is simple, yes—but it’s not particularlyRead more

You know that “squinty eyed” feeling you get when you’re talking with someone you don’t entirely trust, don’t you? You put so much energy into figuring out where they’re coming from and what they really want, you’re not entirely listening to what they’re saying. Because you’re busy trying to guess their end-game you’re: Not fullyRead more

There’s been a significant shift in the leadership world, during the last decade in particular, hasn’t there? The days of steep hierarchies and leading in a command-and-control fashion have long gone. But there’s another subtle change in exemplary leadership practices that’s having a massively positive impact in organisations… These Days Great Leaders Create Great Leaders—RatherRead more