Thoughts

Following the shocking events in Christchurch in March this year, I’ve been reflecting on ‘being with difference.’ It’s hard for me to comprehend how someone could go to such extremes, and I’ve found myself in a strong state of judgment about the shooter’s behaviour. Probably like most of us. And as I notice my judgment, […]

I’ve been in a few conversations recently where people were experiencing the old ’Imposter Syndrome’. That nasty, frustrating jumble of thoughts and feelings that stops us from shining and leading in the way we really want to. Let’s start with this. If you experience Imposter Syndrome, that says to me that you’ve got some humility […]

At a recent workshop in Wellington, I was in conversation with a group of senior managers about the people whom they believed were most effective leaders in times of change. After some reflection, here are some of the words that come out to describe those people:   One of the managers stopped for a bit […]

We all harbor two things: A desire to be significant Fears about our ability to be significant These two things compete for our attention all the time. Which one do we listen to? The desire, or the fear? Our desire to be significant is…significant. We want to be seen. We want to matter. As we’ve […]

Do you ever get to a point where you say “I just need a holiday!” And then you look at what you’re already committed to, and realise that you can’t book a holiday for another two months? Aaargh! Let’s change that. As we close out 2018, your mind’s probably turning to what next year looks […]

For years I’ve wanted to created more space in my day-to-day calendar. You know – for thinking, for downtime, for reflection. For breathing out and lightening up. For the past couple of years, I’ve even had ‘spaciousness’ as one of my words for the year. I’ve been super-committed! And each year I look back on […]

I was watching a guitar tutorial on YouTube a couple days ago. The instructor was really good, both as a player, and as a teacher. (By the way, he’s teaching one of the coolest songs you can play on acoustic guitar, ‘Never Going Back Again’ by Fleetwood Mac). Towards the end of the tutorial, the […]

When people talk about achieving ‘work life balance’ and other such notions, I get the impression that they’ve got some nirvana in mind where everything is perfectly sorted. There are no tensions or conflicts to solve. Nothing changes. Sounds boring to me. Beyond boring, it’s not actually how life works. To my mind, ‘balance’ doesn’t […]

Earlier this week I was talking with a leader who said to me “I feel different to other people in my organisation. I don’t feel like I’m ‘one of them’. I’m committed, but it’s kind of uncomfortable.” I simply said to him “that’s great!” It’s your difference that defines you, not your sameness. As Brene […]

  After shooting this video, I spent plenty more down-time on that T-Bar. I got to thinking about the challenge of choosing to slow down more often. I’ve known for a while about the importance of slowing down and reflecting, and I consider myself to be someone who builds in regular down-time. But my life […]