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You know how they say “some things change and some things stay the same”? Leadership is no different. Back in the day, you’d find me trekking the Annapurna circuit, training for a marathon, and playing volleyball or tennis. That was before I joined a group of advanced skiers on the steepest slope I ever attempted. We were skiing down to go to a cafe but I missed the final turn and went over a ledge and hyperextended, tearing my ACL. Things had to change, even though my love of exercise hadn’t. I had to find other ways to move. I found enjoyment in doubles tennis, pilates, and walking on even ground.   I went from athleticism to rehabilitation. Everything changed. If you want to stay on top of the leadership game, you need to know where things need changing and where they can stay the same. I can help you.

You know how it is when you don’t know how to do something… You google. But if you’re anything like me, more often than not you’re left non-the-wiser. What’s good information and what isn’t? And how long are you willing to spend trying to work that out? It’s happened to me with Agile. Don’t know about you, but I’ve been bothered by this Agile business for some time. I never know what it means. But I do know that I’d really like to be more agile. I thought you might too. So I did the smarter thing. I found someone who can help. Today I am delighted to again bring you Tales of the Leadership Field…it’s where I feature brilliant leaders out there in the field. I don’t mean the ones we all know about from mainstream media. I mean us more ordinary folk. The hidden leaders, quietly doing their excellent work. Today’s tale is: Suzanne Nottage and Agile in Action. Suzanne Nottage is an IT Consultant by day (and sometimes night) and usually attached to goggles, a bike or running shoes in the great outdoors at the weekends. She provides Lean/Agile consultancy to large organisations, basically acting as a personal

At what age should you marry? My friend’s daughter is 19. She’s getting married next month. Religious Jews marry young. Everyone is delighted. Her older sister did the same thing. She was a mother at 20! I wished her Mazeltov. Still, I wondered…how do you make such a big decision? At the tender young age of 19! Then I thought how do you make any decision? Especially for leaders. After all, a leader is only as good as the decisions he or she makes. My client John sits on a number of boards. He tells me how he does it. Sometimes he waits to see how things fall. He’s patient. Other times he’ll make a call based on the information he has. If new information emerges, He’ll make another decision. He’s happy if he gets it right 60% of the time. He says they’re good odds. Are they? How can you improve that? Here are three tips for you to add to your decision-making arsenal… 1. Recognise that a decision is a process, not an event Harvard Business School researchers David Garvin and Michael Roberto find that leaders who make poor decisions hold onto the fantasy that decisions are events only they control. In

“You’ll be meeting your client on Tuesday, 10am. Come a few minutes early.” This was to be my first counselling client ever. I was half an hour early. I assumed my supervisor would be in the room with me. I figured there’s no way known they’d let me loose with a person alone. To bear witness to her inner world. To somehow make a difference. A few years earlier I’d dropped out of a Masters in Counselling Psychology degree. They said, “next semester you’ll start seeing clients”. I thought, “No way, Jose”. I’m outta here. Not ready for that. A scaredy cat. I had neither the confidence or the courage. Being a good counsellor is not unlike being a good leader. You need to be able to handle whatever people bring. To neither collapse nor retaliate. But to consider whatever they bring thoughtfully. To respond helpfully. With just the right words, at just the right time. Sometimes that’s a gentle hand. At others times, it’s firm. Whether it’s a good day for you or not. You must find a way to set yourself aside. And make yourself available for the person in front of you. A counsellor usually knows how long that

If you feel like a square peg in a round hole at the office, then you’re not alone. It’s why person-organisation fit is a thing in organisational psychology. It matters. It’s no fun when you get it wrong. And it’s hard to get it right. When you join a company, You can pretty much work out if an organization has compatible values. At least in theory. It’s a reason to join. And if you’re not compatible personality-wise? That’s not so easy to pre-determine. You’ll soon find that out. It’s a reason to leave. Some reasons the fit might be off include feeling like you’re the only person who believes: collaboration will lead to more success than competition people and passion come before transactions that your experience at the office can be different.   I’ve been invited to join an amazing lineup of experts who have come together to share their knowledge and strategies for how work can be done differently – both for you personally and for your company. The Corporate Rebel Series is a free interview training series for professionals who want to lead, be free, and find success at work – all at the same time. And it’s

No, not the TV series where you discover your ancestor was sent to the Land of Ugg as a convict for stealing a loaf of bread, became a sheep farmer and made his millions…almost Dickensian Magwitch-style. I mean more like the Delphic maxim ‘Know Thyself’ inscribed on the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. It’s the most difficult thing of all. At least that’s according to Thales, the Greek philosopher. By the way, he also said, when asked what was the easiest thing…“To give advice”. Centuries later Benjamin Franklin concurs. He said: “There are three things extremely hard, steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” Increasingly, that’s what you hear about how to improve your leadership . . . know yourself. Increase your self-awareness. Know your triggers. It’s not commonly taught in business schools. It’s not commonly taught in leadership development programs. Yet, it makes very good business sense. According to a 2013 study by Korn Ferry, “poor-performing companies’ employees were 79% more likely to have low overall self-awareness than those at firms with robust returns on revenue”. Self-awareness is one thing, but what do you do with it? Korn Ferry cite Teresa Amabile, the Havard Business

My friend’s Dad died on Sunday. He was 90. Even at that age, he died suddenly and unexpectedly. I guess it’s a good way to go. He had a good life. An Olympic skier. A wildly successful business. A family man. He knew about success. He knew what it took. He was a leader. I wonder if he had his time over if he’d do it all again. Would you? Do you know how you want to be remembered? If you’re not sure (and that includes me) one place to start is with what you don’t want to regret. It’s a compass for living. There’s no better book to help guide you than The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware. Bronnie was tired of unfulfilling work and searched for a job with heart. She found herself working as a palliative care nurse, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. When she asked her patients whether they had any regrets or if there was anything they wished they’d done differently, the same themes came up over and over again. They were: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself,

A few years ago I looked after Crumble the dog. At Crumble’s house. Crumble is an outside dog. He is impossibly naughty. He’s very low on the EQ scale of self-management. Feeling a little rebellious, I started to wonder what Crumble would do if I let him inside. I was kinda low on the self-management scale myself that day. So I let him in. Against house rules. I’d never seen anything like it. He went wild. Racing from room to room. It was thrilling because I’d crossed a boundary. I couldn’t predict what he would do. And then it went quiet. I got scared. He was out of sight. What if he’d ruined something precious? I went on a hunt. And there he was. Standing cheekily on the desk. Looking pleased as punch on the Macbook. Lucky this time. But later he snuck in…let’s just say the remote control was never the same again. The point is this. Boundaries matter. They protect us. But they’re also up for negotiation. Physical boundaries are the easiest to understand: “That’s my coffee cup!”  “What are you doing in my office?”  “I don’t care if it’s the Christmas party, these lips are not yours

Malcolm Fraser, Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister, died this week. I’m surprisingly sad despite not knowing the elderly statesman. If you were to see Malcolm Fraser on the street, you’d never say: “Hi Malcolm”. Instead, an appropriate greeting would be more like: “Hello Mr Fraser”. He commanded respect. What I admired was that, at least to me, he appeared to be true to himself. He stood for his convictions, he helped us as a nation embrace diversity and inclusion, and he even quit the party he led because he didn’t agree with their treatment of asylum seekers. He taught us that even though we’re the lucky country we have to face reality. He was known for the phrase, “Life wasn’t meant to be easy,” and it’s commonly used now, whenever the going gets tough. When a strong leader passes, it is a good time for reflection – on our personal lives and as leaders. With Mr Fraser as our guide, how much of a gap is there between where you are today and where you’d like to be? How about in terms of: being a positive role model? being true to yourself? leaving a worthwhile legacy?   While we can’t all