Routine versus ritual. What's the difference? Ever thought why that might matter? Are you routinely "treadmilling" life away? Or does your life's work …More
Leadership Concepts
Leadership of others begins with leadership of self.
So the blogs contained in this Category cover both the discipline and the personal traits we need to master in the way we lead our life first as well as the many tips and traps related to harnessing that confidence in leading others to the (hopefully) jointly held vision and purpose.
There are almost 60 blog articles spread over the leadership concepts of leading self and others that will help crystallize and remind us of many aspects of leadership to "make our own". However our experience, both from what we learned as executive business leaders ourselves as well as all the incredible leaders we have coached, groomed and mentored, is that we are often "blind to how we lead" and only when we have a trusted confidante "hold up a mirror" do we hear that and see that. (Have you ever had a golf-pro show you video footage of your swing?)
The reality is that no matter how well we try to control our ego, there are extremely few people that are good at taking any criticism on their leadership on board, particularly not from partners or employees. This is the realm of the coach and mentor.
If you are any good as a leader, wouldn't you avail yourself of that differentiating benefit?
Reaction versus Response. Why is it important to distinguish between them?
Reaction vs Response. Which are you better known for? Can you be triggered into a reaction? Or do you calmly consider the options before giving a …More
Being Focused: Who Is Flying Your Plane?
Amidst all this pandemic hype, we find many businesses being focused so heavily on protection, that there's nobody left flying the plane. …More
Are You “Always On”?
Do you find you're almost "always on" working from home and that your hours are creeping up? Easy to slide into, isn't it? If you prefer …More
The power of reframing “YET”
Sometimes guilty of "beating up on yourself" when you've fallen short of your own expectations? Do you know how powerfully reframing the word "yet" …More
I Get IQ & EQ, But What’s This SQ?
If Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) leverages wisdom, compassion and seeing meaning and purpose in life and work, how and why do you use it beyond IQ and …More
(How) Can You Leverage A Few Deep Breaths?
When last have a few deep breaths rescued you from overwhelm or a confronting situation? Or can you use them in your favour all the time? If you …More
Who is Filtering Your Messages?
How badly are others "filtering" your messages on their way up or down? How adept are you at playing this form of corporate politics? If you prefer …More
Seeking Approval or Forgiveness?
Approval or forgiveness. Which are you better known to seek for in your corporate or business decision making? If you prefer listening to reading, …More
The Credibility Leaders Look For
How's your credibility with your leadership? With your line managers? Key senior stakeholders? Their leaders? Is it where you'd like it to be? If …More
What Stories Are You Telling Yourself?
What stories do you keep telling yourself in your mind chatter? If they're negative, what might they be depriving you of? Do you realize how much …More
Using Head, Heart and Tummy
Can you use Head, Heart and Tummy, leveraging all the keys on your piano to differentiate you as a superior leader? If you prefer listening to …More
Being Deliberate
Being deliberate. If I asked people who really know you how genuinely passionate you are towards your purpose what might they say? Would they say …More
Front Office and Back Office
Is the front-office and back-office divide alive and well in your organisation?How well do you contend with and manage its vagaries? If you prefer …More
Holding The Power In The Room
How well do you "hold the power" in rooms of significance? Can you? Or do you admire others for this and wish you could too? I coach lots of …More
Keeping Good People
Finding and keeping good people. Ask any leader and this is usually the most common leadership challenge. If you are a leader would you agree? What …More
Managing Distractions
Managing distractions to stay on track towards your goals? Or are they a welcome escape? How do they affect your focus, energy and success? Prefer …More
Fair Dinkum Transparency. Really?
Leadership transparency. Are you really fair dinkum? How "filtered" are your messages? What makes you (and me) think I can trust you? If you …More
Why Aren’t You Leading If You’re The Leader ?
If you're the leader, why aren't you leading? Well are you? Or are you hoping everyone in your team will "just do the right thing?" If you prefer …More
What are you worth?
How much have you invested in your personal and professional development this year? And last year? Tell me and I’ll tell you what I think what are you …More
How Do You Deal With Adversity?
What will it take for your handling adversity to become one of your primary winning characteristics? What makes it so? Willing to have a go? If you …More
Delegating. Why such a challenge?
Delegating. Whether new to it or despite many years of practice and experience, why are so many still challenged by it so much? Are you? If you …More
Leadership Transition – Why All The Fuss?
Are you a doer, an orchestrator, a manager or a leader? How do you move from one to the other? And why all the fuss about leadership transition? If …More
I’m An Introvert – Is That A Problem?
Are you labelled to be an Introvert? What does that mean to you? Is it a problem for you, are you ambivalent to it, or do you see its power? If you …More
Attitude Determines Altitude
Does the cliche "attitude determines altitude" work for you, or does that irk you? Are you "always up" or somewhat more volatile? Are you in control …More
One Big Idea
If I asked you for "One Big Idea" that you could develop for your career or your business that could catapult your success, what might it be? How …More
Having a Go
What drives you more - having to win or having a go? Are you so focused on winning, that you lose sight of all the pleasure of having a go? If you …More
Leading from behind
Sometimes situations require leading from the front, others leading from behind. Can you confidently apply the right one(s) for the right …More
Recognition and the place for Criticism and Praise
It’s not what people say or do that we remember; it’s how they made you feel, isn’t it? Recognition: are you the “good finder” or the …More
Accountability
Are you and your team always crystal clear about the difference between accountability, responsibility and authority? Who or what's holding you …More
Vision
Are you so busy doing that you have lost sight of your vision, or even never known where you are going? How much more could you achieve with real …More
KPI’s
What are your Key Performance Indicators? Whether employee, leader or contractor, are you ensuring your and your people's performance is being managed …More
Edification
Edification. When you tell the person you are speaking with about someone else, can they look forward to meeting them because you have "talked them …More
Trust and Respect
How consistently do your deeds and behaviour prove you “walk the walk” and that you deserve trust and respect? As a person? As a parent? As an …More
Managing Agenda’s
How well are you managing agendas? And those you answer to in supporting you to implement the agendas and expectations that they set in the first …More
How good are you at “I don’t know”?
Faced with an "I don't know" situation, is your fear of being found out preventing you from learning what will prevent you from being found out? If …More
So when you face a challenge….
When you are facing a challenge, do you focus on the obstacle or can you be inspired by what you’re about to learn now? If you prefer to listen …More
Balance
How do you measure what balance you have across work, life, health and wealth? When do you know whether you are or you aren’t in balance? Are you …More
Power over ourselves and others
How do you go about exercising power - your power? How do you use your power? How often have you abused your power over someone else? How do you feel …More
Values
When last have you defined or refined your values? You know, the filters by which you judge good & bad, right & wrong? Are you truly living in …More
Front Bench or Opposition?
Are you more constructive or destructive? If it isn’t your idea, do you criticize or “find the catch” or do you prefer to add perspectives that might …More
Are you part of the Problem or Solution?
Problem or Solution? Do you need to be a problem solving hero, or can you step back and operationalize so the problem can’t happen again? If you …More
Character and Charisma
Does the character and charisma in your personality enable you to inspire, influence, enthuse and motivate with care and an attitude of “fun and …More
Dancing until it rains
Perseverance. To get what you want, are you just willed to “dance in the rain” or are you prepared to keep dancing until it rains? If you prefer …More
Mindfulness: Pleasure only in Leisure?
How great is your mindfulness about your experiencing pleasure any and all the time, or is that only possible when you are in a leisure …More
Choice or Chance?
Choice or chance? Are you leaving your destiny to chance, or pro-acting what will raise the possibilities of these choices to be better supported by …More
Can you Meditate?
How often do you allow yourself to find a quiet space where you can reflect and visualize deep down into who you are and what you want most? Can you …More
The Blue Honda
Does “the harder I practice, the luckier I get” work for you? If self-talk becomes your self-fulfilling prophecy – does yours invoke the Law of …More
Gratitude
Gratitude. Are you able to use your “what I’m grateful for” list to inspire you to raise your game even more or through tough times when you may be …More
Friends
We are who we hang out with, aren't we? If I asked you to “show me the friends you keep”, what might they tell me about “who you are”? Aren't friends …More
Gesundheit!
Healthy wealthy and wise - how well are you balanced across these 3 key attributes in your life's work? Are you in, out or on top? Gesundheit! …More
Can You Go From Good To Great Without Humility?
How might adding more humility into your leadership style add to your success? What do you think you can learn from leaders that have gone from "good …More
Self awareness – how do you spell your “I (k)no(w)”?
Whats coming out of your eyes? A self awareness that "you know that you know", or a doubtful "I think I (k)no(w)"? What's it going to take to change …More
Goosebumps
When you get "goosebumps", do you recognize what your intuition is trying to tell you that is important right now? Or does your running treadmill …More
Authenticity
If I asked your friends about your authenticity, what might they say? Would they have to think about it or would they respond straight out about how …More
Performance Management Trilogy
Have you ever wanted to read or listen to an executive life coaches' view about Performance Management in one convenient place? Well, this blog post …More
Leading A Great Performance Review
As a leader, are you leaving leadership performance management to chance, or are you pro-actively driving it? Are your performance reviews a chore, …More
“Blitzing” Your Own Performance Review
How many times have you come out of your performance review and felt you had been “rolled”? Can you honestly say that you had invested in the best …More
Managing Performance
How can any form of managed performance to expected (personal or organizational) outcomes be achieved if you don’t have a system or a process that …More
Do you give a …?
How much are you really caring about your people? In your leadership role or business, how well are you empowering your people to doing what it takes …More
Posturing
How well are you able to apply posturing for strengthening your presence, enhancing your position and influence in meetings, presentations or …More
Inspiration, passion and obsession
Would people call you an inspiration? Or are you bored or boring? When do you inspire with your charisma and passion or when might you go “over the …More
Awareness
If I asked about your awareness, how awake, alert, aware and connected would you say you are right now to what’s going on with, in, on and around …More
Leaders serve
Do your leadership attitudes serve those you lead, or do you prefer to have them serve you instead? Is it all about you or more about empowering …More
Values, ethics, integrity and compliance
How often have you been in a situation where you knew the boundaries of your business integrity and compliance thereto (your “price”) was being …More
(How) Are you leading?
Do your leadership styles make things happen or do you just let them happen? Does your team know what you are shooting for and what their part is in …More
Watch your language
How well do you watch your language? Does it give away the inner view of your self-worth? Is it indicative of your current station or already reflect …More
Prejudice
Racialism. Intolerance. Preconception. Bias. Superiority. Inferiority. Stereotype. Would you own up to some prejudice, or are you “squeaky …More
Anyway…
Is life drifting away week by week, heading towards Friday - anyway? What’s got to change for you to be taking control and leading it to where it …More
Taken for granted?
How often are you taken for granted in your relationships or work? How guilty are you of taking others for granted? Easy to feel. Harder to fix, isn’t …More
Tribal Influence
Notice how tribes have their own membership behaviour codes? How tribal influence can cut across organizational structures? Do they work for or …More
Being too Defensive?
Are you too defensive? Confident or not, are you known to be too protective of your own ideas and them having to prevail? Do other viewpoints threaten …More
Doing the right thing
How solid is your personal integrity? Where is your "line in the sand” on “what is right or wrong” for your life and work? What’s “your price”? Doing …More
Walkabout
As a leader, how comfortable are you to be walkabout and amongst your people? Or do you prefer to wait for them to come to you in the safety of your …More
Ego versus Outcomes
How good is your ego management? How often do you allow your ego to cloud your judgement of what's really happening or what you really want to …More
Making good decisions?
Are you better known for making good decisions or to “agonize” over them? What role does confidence and procrastination play in your decision making …More
The Blame Game
When you see the “blame culture” in an organization blamed when something goes wrong, do you play along or make a conscious choice to do the right …More
Accepting it like it is
Do I have the self acceptance and serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the …More
Discipline
How good would it be if you had the discipline to just keep doing what it takes every day - long after the euphoria in which the decision was taken …More
Patience
Patience (Audio) What are you best known for: patience or intolerance; perseverance or frustration; calm or agitated? Would your critics suggest …More
Rhythm
Are you in tune with the rhythms that really work for you? Which ones drive your success and fulfillment and what gets in the way? Rhythm …More
Me Time
When will your self-worth allow you sufficient time to protect some regular personal “me time” just for you? Can you really raise your game without …More
Thresholds
If I’m paining, I must be gaining – or realize that I’ve reached another of those thresholds, right? Time to get excited - growth must be around the …More
Giving Thanx
How good was it when last you were thanked? How good are you at giving thanks? When last have you said a genuine thank you? Or do you forget - …More
Leaping out of bed
In the last 30 days, how many times were you leaping out of bed and how many times did you groan out of bed? Time for a wake-up call on doing what you …More
