Leading from the inside, out

August 2, 2019

Some of us, at some point in our lives will go through a developmental shift in our minds, from consciously and unconsciously acting out of a response to the expectations of others (family, spouse, teachers, bosses, etc.) to realizing one day, we should allow ourselves to be influenced by others but not compelled to operate […]

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Leadership is a Dangerous Act

July 19, 2019

Leading is dangerous. Inherently risky. When we lead we are advocating for what we think is right, rather than doing the right thing. We are playing to win, rather than playing not to lose. I think it would be great idea if at the end of every working day, as we closed our computers and […]

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Change is SO damn hard.

July 5, 2019

I have been coaching executives for a long time on how to be better leaders (i.e. making personal change). There are predictable steps to go through in doing this. 1. Realize that you need to improve. You are NOT a finished product. 2. Pay attention to and value how others see you show up 3. […]

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The Science of Teamwork

June 21, 2019

Everything has to be “evidence-based” these days before you offer your point of view. Even what impacts high performing teams. Probably a good thing, as many of us insist on perspectives that are based primarily on intuition, or worse, unsubstantiated beliefs, and not much on evidence and science. I still like to think it is […]

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Leading by Following the Raptors

June 18, 2019

To observe the evolution of the game of basketball and see which teams perform best now, are a good lesson for any organization and its leaders. Essentially they have evolved from groups of highly talented individuals to true teams. The game of “iso” (individual hero players taking over games in the last five minutes) has […]

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You are We, not I

June 7, 2019

Ego equals problems—not just problems our ego inflicts on others, but also on ourselves. I just read of a study from the University of California. The more people use the pronouns I, me, my, and mine the higher the incidence in coronary heart disease and mortality. Another study cited, individuals suffering from depression and anxiety […]

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Rebuilding the engine while travelling at 120K/hour

May 31, 2019

What I mean to say, is that your job as senior leaders (individually and collectively) is to transform the business while they run the business. This requires better delegation to your teams so that your teams are doing most of the running of the business, in order to enable you to raise your eyes up […]

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Individual vs. collective leadership

May 3, 2019

In my field of leadership development there are two emergent and critical development trends that have been neglected in our coaching and consulting practices. 1. What do individuals and teams have to “unlearn” before they can evolve more effective leadership of their organizations. Most of the leadership development work has traditionally focussed on developing new […]

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The Senior Leadership Challenge has become more Horizontal than Vertical

April 26, 2019

“The leadership challenge now is not the people that report to you—but all the others you need to get on side”. The main outcome of effective leadership, is influence. Relatively easy to influence your team, as they report to you, but harder to influence those in another part of the business where you have no […]

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How to give feedback (or write a thank-you note)

April 12, 2019

Part of being a leader is being a coach. Part of being a coach is giving feedback. Part of giving feedback is commenting on behaviours that you see as being effective and useful that you have observed in the other, whether a peer, direct, skip level or your boss. I thought this short article did […]

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