Blog
Take a look at recent insights in leadership, strategy and more.
When someone isn’t taking in what you’re saying, what do you do?
Picture this... The tone of voice changes: The “uh-uh”s and “yes”s are still there, but they have a hollow sound to them. The nods of the head are automatic. The gaze is no longer intent. He’s gone. I keep talking a little longer and finish a sentence or two to be...
How much learning do we need to make something different happen?
“If you are not seeing things properly, you have no hope of any sort of breakthrough,” so wrote Joshua Cooper Ramo in his thought-provoking book “The Age of the Unthinkable”, quoting the Buddhist principle of Right vision: Right intention: Right action (in that...
In role models, do you notice your weaknesses or your strengths?
As we look at our role models, it’s easy to notice the pieces of their capability that we don’t have, or don’t have yet. Not so obvious in the picture—in fact, not visible at all—is what we have that they don’t. And it may be at least as much. Taken overall... We...
Ever wonder why some discussions go round in circles?
... and what to do about it? You’ll have been there, I’m sure... The conversation waxes and wanes, ranges about, goes round and round, without anybody ever seeming to “nail” the issue. Nobody falls out, but they never quite seem to line up either. Why is that? There...
What could an engineer possibly bring to relationship skills?
In three words—system and structure—though that’s perhaps not for everyone. My apparent shift from engineering to relationships seems to fascinate. The typical introduction goes like this: “He is an engineer by profession but/however/though/and (delete according to...
The trouble with “gaming” the system
The meeting starts in the late afternoon—to prepare for the big one the following day. The purpose is to “spin” the numbers to get the outcome we want in the meeting tomorrow; to construct an argument based on the data to influence the other side; to get them to agree...
Switching off dates on blog posts – good idea or bad idea?
It's seems a clever idea - switching off the date stamp on your blog posts. That way you can tweet about them later and readers won't realize they're not new. Well, most of them won't... The audience respond appreciatively to this suggestion by a speaker at a...
Relationship mastery: For the young or for the wise?
Relationship skills are sometimes seen as a subject for members of the younger generation—as if their need is the greater and older colleagues already know what they need to know. But it isn’t necessarily so. Sure, experienced people are more skilled in professional...
Change for leaders – Does it start out there or in here?
Messing about with key phrases on Google such as “change for leaders”, it’s very striking that most of what comes up is about doing change to other people—organizations, employees and so forth, usually by or on behalf of various corporate bodies or consultancies. It’s...
How readily do you laugh at yourself?
(Occasioned by a certain politician failing to see the funny side of the routine humor dispensed on its cover by a well-known current affairs magazine.) What do we do when someone attempts a joke at our expense? Fight back or just shrug it off? The choice we make says...
Do you solve a problem when you can?
If you’re anything like me, your first reaction to the question might be ”Of course I solve a problem when I can.” But do you? Do you always make the choice to deal with an issue when you have the means to? Or do you sometimes leave the problem because actually it’s...
The trouble with “going off-site”
When it comes to a strategy or learning day, we’re used to the practice of “going off-site” to a venue away from the usual workplace. Our intention is to get away from the distractions of the office so that quality, uninterrupted time is spent on the subjects at...
The mistake most of us make about NLP
We think NLP is something out there, when actually it’s something in here. OK, the name is unfortunate. It stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming. What sort of mouthful is that? It simply refers to the way we form habits by what we repeatedly do and say, and how we...
Your “power to”, do you use it?
We all have power to achieve things or to be a certain way, possibly more than we’re comfortable admitting. As Marianne Williamson said, "it’s not our darkness but our light that most frightens us." This is quite a different thing from “power over” other people which...
The head or the heart, where do you start?
Progress on anything challenging typically needs a balance of head and heart perspectives; some emotional intelligence alongside the logic and rationale of the numbers and the processes. Neither on their own will be sufficient. But where to start? Where to meet the...