Courage in the first instance

A wise teacher once suggested that it requires the same amount of courage to do something difficult, whether you do it instantly or leave it until later.  “Courage in the first instance, not the tenth.”. In a working world that is increasingly relational, where what we do depends on dealing with others, negotiating with others,…

What we need to learn

Bring to mind one of your best working moments.  One of those times when you felt on top of the world, when you were just ‘flowing’ or when you felt the warm glow of success.  It could have been when that new client signed up with you…..when you finally worked through a long-standing conflict with…

Your Work is Your Work

Charles Darwin is apocryphally quoted as saying, “It’s not the biggest, the brightest, or the best that will survive, but those who adapt the quickest.”  While he may not have actually said it, the sentiment stands. It is therefore vital that we develop ways and practices that assist us to learn about ourselves.  Much has…

A “working out loud” credo

I love the “working out loud” approach.  It’s highly social, which now, after years of personal work, runs through me like a stick of rock.  In that (ongoing) personal journey, I have learnt not only the benefits and indescribable joys (and sometimes, the excruciating pain) of joining the rest of the human race, but also…

The pricelessness of reflection

W. Edwards Deming is quoted as saying, “Experience by itself teaches nothing.”  In a fast-paced world where we are bombarded with more and more stimuli and we are called upon to carry out multiple tasks, this is truer now than ever before.  Our lives are filled with more and varied experiences which, by themselves, leave…

How ample is your toolbag?

As the old saying goes, if you have only a hammer, you see only nails.  Frankly, I’d much rather have the plumber who opens his or her toolbag and has the whole range of tools necessary, rather than the one who brings only a hammer and uses it for everything.  It’d be a pretty botched…

Can you teach a leader to be visionary?

I’ve recently been taking part in a really interesting thread on LinkedIn about visionary leaders.  The question is “Is visionary leadership teachable?  Can you teach a leader how to see the bigger picture?”  I bang on about how everything is learnable, everyone is teachable…blah, blah, blah.  I do actually believe this is absolutely true.  In…

How can I free up my creative genius?

Most of us have had moments in our working lives when we don’t live up to our own expectations. *Think of the manager who is unnecessarily harsh in a performance appraisal when she intended to be encouraging and motivating.  *Think of how we prematurely reject new ideas from others when we intend to be inclusive…

>Not everything that counts can be counted

> We are in the process of a change, from what we know well, to something new and unknown; it’s a change in the paradigm we live in.  In other words, it’s BIG.  The time of transition always feels unstable, chaotic, because that’s exactly what it is.  We know the old and we keep getting dragged…

>You’ve either got it or you haven’t….Oh, really???

>When I think of leadership, I think of things like ability to empathise, ability to achieve win-win in conflict situations, ability to motivate and inspire, ability to delegate (which implies ability to ‘let go’ and trust others), ability to think and act strategically, being self-aware….. In my previous life as a therapist, I had extensive…