Thoughts

I was recently leading a workshop for managers on how conversations shape culture. I noticed most of the managers were operating from a context of their formal conversations – the ones behind closed doors, or the ones they had scheduled in their calendars. Without thinking too much, I found myself drawing this on the board. […]

Over the summer break, I’ve managed to get through a good number of books. The topics cover leadership, organisational culture, the future of work, identity and purpose – all things I’m thinking about right now. I reckon these books are all useful, thought-provoking reads for any leader, change-maker or restless go-getter who’s searching for inspiration […]

We can’t predict the future. But we can shape it. The more intentional and deliberate we are about deciding what we want, the more likely it is that we’ll get it. That’s the idea behind Your Year By Design. It’s a process I’ve been running for myself for the past few years. It ensures my […]

Most days when I’m home in Wellington, I take a three minute walk down my street to the local coffee shop for a fix. And not just a fix of coffee. Also a fix of inspiration. This morning, my good man Roger and I chatted away as he made my usual flat white. And then […]

  Last week I was part of a panel at which final year MBA students presented their career strategies for their post-MBA life. This was their final hurdle to completing their MBA at the Auckland Business School, and part of a course called ‘Coaching For Change’ that I’ve delivered there for the past eight years. […]

On my recent windsurfing trip in Western Australia, I noticed an interesting social dynamic. One evening, our crew were sitting and chatting around the campfire. From memory, we were talking about the gay marriage debate that was raging in Australia a couple of years ago. Not a light subject, to be sure. There were two […]

When you synthesise your passions, amazing stuff happens. I’ve just got back from a couple of weeks in the North West of Australia. While I was there, I combined two of my favourite things: the work that I do, and being out there in the grand majesty of nature. More specifically, I created and filmed […]

For years, Nike’s tagline has been ‘Just Do It.’ It encourages us to act, not wait. The promise is that we’ll be better off having acted decisively rather than having waited tentatively. Nike’s message is a good one. If you want to make anything happen, you’ve got to act. You’ve got to have agency. I’ve […]

Do you spend the first week of your holidays just recovering? Do you get sick when you step off the merri-go-round of day to day life? If so, you’re not alone. Most people are in this boat. We use our holidays to ‘get back to baseline’. There’s another option. That’s to make your time out […]

How often have you wished other people would ‘get’ the future that you see possible? Yesterday I was with a client who was expressing his frustration that his managers and teams just didn’t get the importance of operating differently. It’s a common challenge, right? You’re out there leading into a new future, while others furiously […]