Every leader I meet wants a team that tells them the truth. They say it in different ways: I want people to challenge me. I want to know what is really going on. I don’t want to be the last to hear it. They mean it, too. It is not a line. But… here is … Read more
Ask most people what they should be doing differently, and they can tell you. Quickly, and with a fair bit of accuracy. Ask them why they aren’t doing it, and things go a bit quieter. That gap is the most interesting thing, and it is worth understanding, because almost nothing else you try will work … Read more
So, congratulations to Spain. Regardless of what you think about the World Cup, who won, who lost and who was robbed, something was on display over the last few weeks that was worth paying attention to. Teams. We watched teams with real cohesion, where players seemed to know where their teammates were without needing to … Read more
It is that time of year in Australia, and if you are anything like the leaders I know and work with, you are probably running on something that stopped being energy a while ago and is now just momentum. Nothing is technically wrong. Just like the volume on something important has been slowly turned down, … Read more
I keep thinking about what it means to feel recognised. Really recognised; not evaluated, not processed, just genuinely seen by another human being. It should be unremarkable. Right now, it feels like one of the most radical things one human being can do for another. Many of us might be looking for the big gestures. … Read more
It has been a few months between editions, but what I have been seeing in rooms lately made it time to write again. Seeing leaders who genuinely want to lead well, who care about their people, are committed to their organisations and are working incredibly hard, but somewhere between the intent and the reality, something … Read more
You know that quiet moment when a post lands, not because of likes, not because of comments, but because someone reaches out to say, “me too,” or references it weeks later? That is what I have been noticing this year. And what struck me is not the topics themselves. It is the patterns beneath them, … Read more
I have been doing a lot of work lately. Most of it only a handful of people in my life know about. I have been calling it “the invisible work”. Basically, the quiet, unglamorous work you do behind the scenes that does not belong on social media. Partly because it is the exciting groundwork I … Read more
December has a particular sound to it. For some, it is the soft hum of wrapping things up and for others, it is a full-throated roar of final deadlines, last-minute expectations, and that familiar end-of-year intensity that seems to arrive earlier every year. And somewhere beneath that noise, many leaders feel a subtle “itch”, a … Read more
There is a particular energy that shows up at this point of the year. You can almost feel it in the way inboxes speed up, calendars tighten, there are way too many events and catch-ups, and coffee cups become a permanent fixture rather than a choice. On the surface, it looks like momentum. Wrap this … Read more