What to do when life moves the goalposts (again)

Studies show that more people are pursuing safety rather than taking risks as the pandemic continues to impact businesses and economies around the world. A survey for consulting platform consultancy.uk showed that the pandemic’s impact will result in more people being risk-averse in future years, even after lockdowns ease. However, what appears to be the […]

“Dad how come you’re not successful anymore?”

These words cut me to the core. I am not sure my 13-year old son, Ryan, fully appreciated the power of those words as they blew away all pretence and laid my heart open and bleeding. It was a real struggle trying to find the words to describe ‘success’ in a way that would make […]

What do you look like on the inside?

In his excellent book, The Leadership Mystique, Manfred Kets De Vries looks at the importance of a leader’s ‘interior’ condition and how this influences all interactions with others (Kets de Vries, 2006). In considering this he asks questions such as: What are the problems that preoccupy this person? What has emotional resonance – or connects deeply […]

In transition? Don’t hurry.

After nearly 25 years as an executive, my season ended differently than I had expected. What I didn’t fully appreciate was how much my identity and reputation had revolved around my role and effectiveness as a leader. Many transition experiences can be traumatic and confusing, and because of this we either avoid them or want […]

Is the pursuit of balance getting in the way of success?

In Margaret Wheatley’s book, Leadership and the New Science, she challenges traditional perspectives on achieving balance, or equilibrium. She shares the following story – The daily news is filled with powerful changes, and many of us feel buffeted by forces we cannot control… I listened one night to a radio interview with a geologist whose specialty […]

The struggle of being ‘in-between’

As a child growing up in the 1960’s and 70’s, ‘Gilligan’, ‘Skipper’, the ‘Howells’, ‘Ginger, the movie star’, ‘The Professor’ and ‘Mary Ann’ were familiar names as characters in CBS’ hit television series, Gilligan’s Island. For 98 episodes the characters looked for a way to get off the island where they had become shipwrecked and return […]

Transitions – Making sense of life’s changes

Making sense of life’s transitions is not always easy. We can often experience a range of emotions – hurt, anger, anxiety, fear and many more. Mix in a dose of confusion and disappointment while trying to discover that illusive ‘next step’ can be a little overwhelming. Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes is practical and […]

Overcoming the obstacles of interruption and speed

In 2006, Dr. André Martin conducted research on a sample of 800 leaders and identified four global trends (Martin, 2011). The first two were ‘The Ground Truth of Globalization’ and ‘The Rise of Complex Challenges’. This article addresses the next two. The third trend was The World of Interruption. Martin states that 11 minutes is the […]