Why do you lead? That might sound like a silly question. You lead because you were offered a promotion to a leadership role. You lead because it was the next obvious step up the ladder. You lead because you are ambitious. One or all of those is probably part of the reason – and that’s […]

It can be very tempting to stay in the safe zone, especially during turbulent times. But more often than not, you’re trading in long-term success and innovation for short-term comfort. This is often true on a personal level, but almost always on an organisational one. It pays to take calculated risks, and to constantly push […]

Removing the fear of failure is essential to your personal growth – and the growth of your business. Discussing and learning from failures is also one of the best ways to future-proof your business. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many organisations have had to face problems they’ve not dealt with before. And though this is challenging […]

Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren’t echo chambers — and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree. Listen to this fantastic Ted talk to find out more

In January 1993, a gunman murdered seven people in a fast-food restaurant in Palatine, a suburb of Chicago. In his dual roles as an administrative executive and spokesperson for the police department, Deputy Chief Walter Gasior suddenly had to cope with several different situations at once. He had to deal with the grieving families and […]

The August 2021 report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that pollution caused by humans has led to an increase in extreme events such as heat waves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from global economic activity are at the heart of climate change, with atmospheric CO2 already 50% above […]

In the past 20 years, the agile approach to improving products, services, and processes has swept the business world. It calls for organizations to adopt small, empowered, cross-functional teams, break initiatives or challenges into small modules, and develop solutions using rapid prototyping, tight customer-feedback loops, and quick adaptation. Rooted in software development, agile has spread to many […]

The best teams are able to make quick decisions, understand why they’ve made them, and stick to them. But all too often, one or more of these elements is missing, a problem Patrick Lencioni calls ‘lack of commitment’ in his Five Dysfunctions of a Team. This can lead to teams being unsure of their priorities, […]

It’s a common misconception that ‘peaceful’ teams – ones where there are no overt conflicts – are successful teams. But in fact, the opposite is usually true. When colleagues don’t feel able to raise concerns with each other and shy away from conflict, it can breed resentment and undermine effective teamwork. Patrick Lencioni names avoidance […]