Bite Sized Business Tips

2 minute reads for the values-led business leader

Snippets for purpose and values-led business leaders about meeting our responsibilities to our team, customers, owners, communities and suppliers. Context is everything, so these aren't dogma - rather a stimulus for thought. Subscribe below.

Good leadership is a paradox solved by context

"10 things all good leaders do". Nice clickbait, but almost always trite, misleading and written by someone who's not led their own way out of a paper bag. Because there's only one rule that sits above all others for successful leadership. Consistently successful leaders identify their context, and lead accordingly ...
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Celebrate business founders – but for the right reason

"Most of you will fail, disrespected, impoverished, but we are grateful for the risks you are taking and the sacrifices you are making for the sake of the economic growth of the planet and pulling others out of poverty. You are at the source of our antifragility. Our nation thanks ...
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Is your company suffering the great resignation or the great reshuffle?

The great reshuffle is a far more accurate description of what's happening than the great resignation (sadly, I didn't coin that!). And for those of you running companies, once you get over the initial pain, you should welcome it. It is genuinely amazing for humanity that so many are stepping ...
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Male bosses need to read this to better understand their female team members

Gender-specific post for blokes who run companies. READ THIS BOOK! Many men, myself included, have often said that the system's not broke. But that's because we're fish in water... David Foster Wallace recounts the story of two young fish swimming along who come across an older fish. "He nods at ...
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You can’t have it all. But you can have what’s important

I get somewhat fed up seeing and hearing advice about how you can "have it all". Sure, at some level, usually a transactional one, you can go from either/or to both/and. But at a life level? At a company level? Or at a country level (the main reason I don't ...
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Even as we live longer, we are thinking shorter

My father was a lawyer by profession, but a gardner in soul. He understood that it takes time and patient nurturing for a seed to turn into a tree or a flower. And he did, in fact, sow hundreds if not thousands of plants in his life. It was one ...
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Great and Mediocre Teams and Ideas

"if you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better." Love this from Pixar co-founder, Ed Catmull. Always been my ...
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Give them a chance even though they might fail

I've often given young(ish!) people in my team positions of relatively large responsibility. Almost every time I've done it, they've succeeded. Almost. Every. Time. I'm not suggesting that the responsibility should be given lightly, or given to anyone who asks for it. You still need to choose carefully - both ...
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Reasons your team won’t do what you told them to do

One of the most common frustrations I've heard from CEOs and managers more generally is "But I told them ...." Whether it's to do something or to behave a certain way (e.g. values). But "telling them" isn't enough. Here are some reasons your team may not be doing what you ...
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Freedom has Consequences

Freedom. So easily abused and misunderstood when we have it. So fundamental for our humanity that we have to fight for it when we don't. My heart (and many more useful things!) goes out to those fighting for their freedom. Whether in Ukraine, Palestine, Syria or elsewhere. Those of us ...
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Where strategy goes to die No. 9 – The framework is rarely the problem or the solution

A common response when strategy doesn't seem to be happening is to throw out the framework for implementing it and look for a new one. But in my experience, the framework is rarely the problem. The far deeper and bigger problem is discipline. I strongly believe in the importance of ...
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Where strategy goes to die #8 – A masterpiece of spreadsheets, not humans

A strategy articulated by the most beautiful and elegant diagram of neatly-fitting geometric shapes is often laid waste by the less elegant actions of totally ungeometrically-shaped and unpredictable objects. Humans. The military's long known this. The noted and successful Prussian general military strategist Von Clausewitz based much of his strategy ...
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