“There is still a culture of blokey-ness in leadership. You’ve got to be tough. You’re seen as successful if you’re too busy to listen. When we had a re-structure and had to let some people go, we were told to just soldier on – it’s just part of business. You’re seen as effeminate if you show you care.”
[Read more…]
How to deal with the politics of hate
Brexit, Pauline Hanson, Rise Up Australia. Hatred and rejection are alive and well in the world and politics. I was disturbed by the number of candidates and political parties in the Australian election whose platform centered around exclusion. There is so much hate and fear in the political discourse! I found myself getting angry with the candidates, and with the supporters who spruiked the same hateful vitriol.
Here’s the thing.
[Read more…]
Reinventing Men’s Leadership – beyond gender agenda
“Hold her under so she doesn’t get up.” Thank you Caro, Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman for this thoughtless repartee.
Regardless of gender, this kind of aggressive sledging is not funny. It speaks to everything that is not pretty or decent in some men’s leadership.
[Read more…]
Beyond Robots: The Service Economy
In his amazing book, The Rise of the Robots, Martin Ford paints a fairly grim picture. He recounts how we moved from an agrarian society to an industrial one. Technological improvements simultaneously pushed people off the land and pulled them into factories. When the technology improved again, there was the emergence of new service based enterprises. We moved from factories in to office buildings. The jobs we lost off the land, and then from the factories, ended up in office buildings, more or less.
[Read more…]
3 mistakes professional services firms make when it comes to performance
I work with many professional services firms that have a strong left-brain type of focus: accountants, financial planners, bookkeepers, lawyers. These kinds of roles require enormous technical expertise, strong logical thinking, and great attention to detail. All the things I kind of suck at.
[Read more…]
How to double your influence
“You like being in charge,” my husband remarked with a wry grin. We were talking about the first aid course I attended over the weekend (get your head of the gutter!). In a number of scenarios I simply took control and dictated what should be done. I’ve been doing outdoor experiential programs for 30 years, and have completed many first aid programs. It irritated me to watch others bumble their way through the process. Taking charge was satisfying for me, and hopefully educational for them. Alas, the pitfalls of command and control leadership, especially in training, are clear. There is no room for others to learn by their mistakes in a safe environment. They would have to learn through their mistakes out in the field. Sigh. I’m still learning how to let go of control.
[Read more…]
Choose your tribe, don’t let it choose you
In her remarkable book, Daring Greatly, Brené Brown remarks, “We are psychologically, emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually hardwired for connection, love, and belonging.” It’s a deep primal call to be part of a group, a tribe, that nurtures us and protects us. That’s how we managed to evolve and survive successfully as a species: tribes helped us stay safe, cooperate, collaborate, and learn together.
[Read more…]
The Future Belongs to the Adventurist
It’s 2036. 20 years ago we were all waiting with baited breath for virtual reality, artificial intelligence, driverless cars, nano medical technology, replaceable organs, and robots to help us make dinner.
That seems so archaic now…
[Read more…]
Is this political correctness gone mad?
On a leadership program a woman asked, “When did we stop being able to speak the truth?” I asked her what she meant. She explained in her organisation you can rank applicants for a job as ‘suitable’ or ‘less suitable’. You cannot rank them ‘not suitable’ or even ‘not yet suitable’.
[Read more…]
The Zen of You
When I think about the moments that matter most in leadership, these are the moments when we need to be most fully ourselves. Like when a colleague is having a meltdown. Like when our integrity is being challenged. Like when someone rejects our work. Our presence needs to be like a lightning bolt: bright, focused, electric.
[Read more…]