As an executive leadership coach, I always have my ear to the ground. I love discovering innovative approaches to coaching, new ideas in business and leadership, emerging areas of psychology which I can apply to my own work. But sometimes, I think we all get distracted by looking for shiny new things. That’s why, in […]

We all complain about work, no matter how much we love our jobs. In the best workplaces, it’s just letting off steam, or raising real issues with a genuine hope of improvement. As a coach, listening to complaints and concerns is a big part of what I do. And one of the most common ones? […]

So, you’ve taken steps to be a better leader in a complex world. You’ve adjusted how you give feedback; created a clear but adaptable vision; factored in human irrationality and creativity. But you might still be feeling disorientated and on edge, in the face of difficult changes and an uncertain future. In Simple Habits for […]

Throughout the book Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders, Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston introduce several tools and frameworks which I find really helpful. I have a well-stocked toolkit I reach for at the right moments as a coach, and all of these have found a place there. Here’s a quick […]

We live in an increasingly complex world. And as business leaders, we need to know how best to operate under those conditions. The last chapter in Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston’s Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders focuses on this reality. If change is now the constant, how do we build […]

When it comes to working in complex conditions, the old adage holds true: the only certainty is uncertainty. As Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston put in in Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders: “It is an oddity of leadership that we often equate being a leader with having to predict, plan, […]

For a long time, whenever companies wanted to hire a CEO or another key executive, they knew what to look for: somebody with technical expertise, superior administrative skills, and a track record of successfully managing financial resources. When courting outside candidates to fill those roles, they often favored executives from companies such as GE, IBM, and P&G […]

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 […]

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 […]