Blog
Take a look at recent insights in leadership, strategy and more.
How to get stuck
Be careful you don’t get in this situation... You’ve said you have a capability in such and such. It turns out you actually aren’t very good at it. You could get help. But you can’t accept help because you’ve said you can do whatever it is. Then you’re really stuck....
If faced with an obstacle…
You have to hit it hard enough to knock it over. Unless you can go round it that is, or dismantle it somehow. Assuming you can’t, there’s no point in wasting energy and getting a sore head by repeatedly bouncing off. You need to amass enough energy to push through the...
You and your unconscious
You and your unconscious. How have you been getting along lately? I’m serious. You’re like two people: One being your conscious mind, and the other that person in the background who actually runs most of your life, and your relationships with other people for that...
It’s you
It's you. It's you that needs to take action, that is. Or it might be. You see... You might be the one best-placed, even if you feel inadequately prepared. Sometimes you don't notice you're closest. You stand back. You think someone else will take action. Meanwhile......
Brand—a relationship thing?
We tend to think of brands in isolation, as if they exist in their own right, in an absolute sense. We think of a logo perhaps, or a style of packaging, or a particular tagline or strapline. Actually... The properties of a brand only really exist in the minds of its...
How open is your thinking?
We see it time and again... Some intriguing new information is rejected by the established order. This story is told in all sorts of contexts. I’m sure you can think of many... Something happens that suggests a radical approach to a familiar problem might lead to a...
The trap of structure
If you already have the structure of something—a task, a project, an issue... ...it might not be the thing you most need to do. Maybe you should hand it off, or be done with it altogether. We like when we know where we are and where we’re going; when we are clear on...
What do you get when you blend leading and following?
You can only either lead or follow at any given time. So says conventional wisdom. You have to choose: Follow for a while to build connection; then perhaps lead to achieve an outcome. The issue then is have you built enough connection for the influence you hope to...
A broad focus—oxymoron or enabling step?
It’s good to focus—in fact, essential if we want to be effective and get something done. Agreed. But sometimes we need to focus on the whole, not just a part. And that’s often our problem. We narrow our vision to something we think we can work on; something we...
Do you want the good stuff?
Of course you do, is your likely first reaction. But do you? Do we? Do we want the transformational insight? Do we want the bigger ideas? Do we want the deeper learning? Do we want the good stuff? Or would we rather increment forward from where are now, instead of...
Do you give yourself the leadership you need?
It’s commonly said that a leader is best to give their team the leadership they need, rather than the leadership they want. In other words... The leader needs to be somewhat demanding at times. Otherwise, the team is inclined to be too comfortable and perform below...
The person in front of you
We come up with all sorts of elaborate ways to engage with our world, but really whatever you are working on, however big or small, it almost always comes down to this... ...relating effectively to the person in front of you. Even a group situation is a set of...
Action plus brand equals result
Maybe there's something we're missing... It's healthy to believe we can replicate others' success in leading change, or in achieving business results. We can, and the approach is a good one. But there is something we need to remember... There is a missing element......
If your world is a mirror, what would you change?
It's a big step to believe that what we experience "out there" is a reflection of what we have "in here." Such a big step, that the implications continue to dawn on us throughout our lives even after we've accepted the basic premise. That's how it has been for me...
Justifying how we were yesterday
It’s an easy trap to fall into. In fact, it’s not so much a trap as the normal course... We act today to justify how we were yesterday. And we do the same tomorrow, and the next day and the next day... I know I’ve done this—many times. We all do it, I think. It’s just...