blog: news and opinion

Creativity, innovation and leadership

29th July 2013

David Bowie, pop artist and visual artist, was a creative and innovative pioneer. The leaders we need in our turbulent and fast-changing climate likewise value experimentation, creativity and innovation, they read the market and the system, and they have the courage to pioneer.

Career refocus: stepping off the treadmill

8th July 2013

Several of my executive coaching clients feel like they're on a treadmill, stressed and under pressure. And yet it's exceptional for any of them to choose to get off the treadmill. Instead, they make career decisions based on a fuller sense of awareness, within a context of well thought-through perspectives, rather than being based on emotion, stress, exhaustion or just not seeing broader horizons

Development and transformation as coaching outcomes

24th June 2013

Development is the release of more of an individual's potential and transformation is a fundamental shift in thinking, feeling or behaving. In my experience the shift is often around a previously unresolved issue that an individual has kept carefully guarded for a very long time. When they make their peace with that old issue in a transformational way, the change sticks and the chances are higher that they will become a transformational leader.

Mindfulness: coaching the leader

10th June 2013

Mindfulness training and practice enable sustained attention, an improved capacity to regulate emotions and to manage that chatter in the mind that can so inhibit constructive thinking, reduced stress levels and increased resilience and well-being. How will my clients benefit from my training in mindfulness.

Mindfulness, leadership and results

3rd June 2013

Mindful awareness is about learning to pay attention, in the present moment, and without judgement. It's like training a muscle - training attention to be where you want it to be. It's a valuable tool for impactful leadership.

Building blocks of healthy relationships: autonomy

24th May 2013

Leaders who treat their people as autonomous adults are likely to get the best out of them: an autocratic style gets quick, short-term results but anything less than an empowering style doesn’t adequately nurture the discretionary effort and engagement that are essential for organisational success.

Building blocks of healthy relationships: respect, care and listening

10th May 2013

Through healthy relationships individuals flourish, they become balanced and resilient, and they contribute to the world around them with energy and commitment. In such circumstances it’s relatively easy for people to learn how to manage their emotions by articulating them and being heard rather than judged. The messages for leadership are clear.

Relationships: the leader’s secret weapon

3rd May 2013

Leaders are sometimes tempted to focus on the task and the process for fulfilling that task. Such an approach may bring short-term results, but the real differences are made when the leader focuses on strengthening relationships, listening and building trust.

Neuroscience and the leader

26th April 2013

We all have not one but several selves, and several self-esteems, and it is in part the job of the coach to enable the coaching client to raise their awareness of their range of selves rather than of one self. Self-esteem varies according to context and we have several self-esteems alongside our several selves. The coach can play a valuable role in working with the coaching client to uncover and manage those self-esteems.

The path to authentic leadership

22nd April 2013

An authentic leader is true to himself or herself, who therefore engenders trust, who leverages the potential of diversity, and who is able to manage with integrity the tensions between their own agenda and that of their organisation. The first and most fundamental step on this path is the journey towards self-awareness.