Blog

In a lot of my coaching conversations lately, trust seems to be coming up and perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by this. Trust is one of the most valuable, and most fragile, assets an organisation has and a person feels.  When trust erodes, everything slows down: decisions, transformation, customer loyalty, even talent retention. For some … Read more

Summer holidays are in the rear-view mirror for many and as we enter the final term of 2026, executive leaders are navigating one of the most complex leadership environments in recent memory. Economic fragility, geopolitical tension, AI disruption, cultural resistance, and workforce burnout aren’t separate challenges, they are converging. This last stretch of the calendar … Read more

In 2026, the leaders who stand out aren’t the ones with the fastest answers, they are the ones with the sharpest questions. The pace of AI, geopolitical instability, and economic fragility has made one leadership capability disproportionately valuable: the ability to ask great questions, to be an architect of inquiry if you like. All leaders … Read more

Too many executive teams treat resistance to initiatives or change as a problem to eliminate rather than a signal to interpret. Have you fallen into the trap of pushing harder, communicating more? Pressure doesn’t dissolve resistance, it deepens it. The leaders who succeed take a different approach: they treat resistance as data. When people resist, … Read more

In conversations with leaders, a common theme is that they are often focussed on the urgent with not enough focus on the important. Does that resonate with you? It is a familiar paradox: the more experienced we become, the more people rely on us, and the more our days fill with urgent demands. Messages that … Read more

I didn’t realise I had sub-consciously been trained in my early career to always act like I had the answers, to not say I don’t know. I then moved to a different organisation, and I heard a leader say “I don’t know” in a room full of the most senior people and it nearly made … Read more

Franklin D Roosevelt has many quotes attributed to him which are about fear; fear doesn’t disappear as we grow, especially in leadership. If anything, responsibility amplifies it. Courage isn’t about feeling fearless; it’s about choosing what matters more than our discomfort. What are you avoiding? Courage shows up in small, everyday leadership acts: Having the … Read more

Grr. Your team are stubbornly resisting change. Or are they? Is resistance to change a sign that people are stubborn or is it a signal that something in the way the change is being led isn’t landing? We are often trained as leaders to sell the benefits of the change but what about considering what … Read more

One of the most persistent myths in leadership is that authenticity means “being the same with everyone.” In reality though that’s not authenticity, that’s rigidity. Staying effective requires you to adjust your style; staying authentic requires you to know what can flex and what must not. The leaders who navigate this well aren’t shape‑shifters. They’re … Read more

The blog this week is about decision making and I’m struck by perhaps an obvious point.  In my interactions with leaders, it’s not the volume of decisions to be made, it’s the pace at which they can be made and the amount of friction seemingly in the way. Blurred decision rights, multiple governance layers, and … Read more