How do you create a clear vision for your business when you’re operating in times of complexity? This is one of the key issues leaders face today – how to have direction, while recognising that the future is uncertain. To explore this question, I’m going to continue using the framework set out by Jennifer Garvey […]

One of the great perks of being a leader is giving positive feedback. It’s such a joy to be in a position to reward someone when they’re doing well. But of course, you can’t have the good without the bad – in this case, giving negative feedback. In Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices […]

As record numbers of people have quit their jobs, all sectors of the economy are struggling to fill vacancies. To get people back to work, organizations are changing long-standing policies and offering unprecedented incentives. Transportation companies, for example, have upped their wages to lure long-haul drivers back into truck cabs. California public schools are allowing retired teachers […]

One of the biggest challenges facing leaders today is the fact that they operate in a business environment defined by VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. You’ve probably heard the acronym before, and (I hope!) you’ve given a lot of thought to how your leadership style can flex to meet the changing demands of a […]

One of the most difficult challenges leaders of all organizations face is managing diverse perspectives. Much has been written on the benefits for teams and organizations of engaging with opposing views, fostering productive disagreement, and creating “teams of rivals.” Yet anyone who has been involved in such work knows that disagreements on strongly held opinions, often related […]

As the world grows more complex, leadership is having to adapt to keep pace. One of my favourite models for changing your approach to leadership comes from Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston in Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders. In my next few blog posts, I’m going to give you an […]

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 […]

As companies strive to build competitive advantage in a world obsessed with digitizing (which is often a must but rarely differentiating), they find that what they need from their leaders is changing. Their top people must be able to reimagine the company’s place in the world and transform the organization to live up to a more ambitious […]

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 […]

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 […]