Does your financial duty trump your moral one as a business leader? For sure, we want to align the two if we can, but what if there is a conflict? Here are 4 books I’ve really enjoyed, which complement each other really well, and should be read by everyone building a purposeful business (i.e. a […]
Leadership
Your team’s question to you is often not a question at all
Something I’ve observed in many leaders is the feeling that they have to have an answer when asked a question. Not so. And not even for the reason a thousand coaches have told you, which is to be vulnerable. There’s a deeper reason. Which is that often it’s not really a question at all. Here […]
The dangers of advice
“I cannot judge what he did, because I did not have his information”. A particularly sage comment from the then 82-year-old Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore. Judgement is in many ways the same as advice. When we give advice, it is from our perspective, which is always different from the person receiving […]
Leadership may need you to use soft skills to do hard things
It’s a funny thing I notice about LinkedIn. Posts about vulnerability, authenticity and psychological safety get a lot of interaction. Which is great, as these are important, if nuanced, topics in leadership. However, posts about some of the harder parts of leadership, such as dealing with an underperforming team member, or making challenging commercial decisions […]
Being good isn’t enough
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” What is true of “men” in Edmund Burke’s famous quote is true of any social unit – communities, companies, governments. I believe most humans are good, and the vast majority are not intentionally bad. With a few exceptions (step […]