All too often, we try to develop leaders by giving them new skills, tools and techniques. But none of these can inspire deep, fundamental, lasting change in leaders. The most fundamental and important aspect of all personal and leadership development is...
Several years ago, a major Australian bank was accused of having a toxic culture. The CEO declared in the media that the middle management was the cause of the poor culture. I still remember how perplexed I was when I read that. The CEO was publicly demonstrating...
Developing as a leader is about cultivating our inner strength to stay true under fire, to ask questions we don’t know the answer to, to stay balanced when our world is turning upside down, to stay kind and respectful when the heat of anger and frustration are...
The basis of leadership is trust. In his book The Speed of Trust, Stephen M. R. Covey explains, ‘Trust always affects two measurable outcomes: speed and cost. When trust goes down, speed goes down and cost goes up. This creates a trust tax. When trust goes up, speed...
In their book The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner explain that, ‘Leadership begins with a belief in yourself and continues only if other people believe in you.’ To believe in you, people have to know (1) who you are and what you stand for, and (2)...
Common Patterns in Leadership During my years of leadership consulting I have met far too many leaders who are acting either from a fear-based niceness or with a heartless ‘professional’ aggression. They have not mastered mindful compassion, nor are they enabling...
