The more choices we have the more likely it is we will be having a fulfilling experience of life and work.

As we approach my next Leadership Event, the topic of transitions and change is on my mind, how we can operate in uncertainty and how we move forward, or don’t with projects and transitions. It’s such rich territory to see so much about life and work, and this post is a one way we can conceptualise this area to make more visible the range of choices that we think we have as leaders and humans.

The Baseline and the Net…

One of the things…

…and the struggle to market meaning

Challenging the Core Concept of ‘Change’

I’m becoming more and more uncomfortable with the language I use around what I want to do with my projects. We (let me say “I” here) throw around words without always thinking about them, because they landed with me at some point, or because they feel ‘stirring’, or more meaningful or inspiring than other words.

Plus how would I enroll people if I said I was working on the mundane, the endless, the completely unsexy work of everyday noticing and small actions? Does that sound as saleable as ‘large-scale change’, ‘global challenges’, ‘sustainable difference-making’?

…

…and how a dusty needle can help you see something new.

From ‘I’m Stuck’…

I had a fun session with a client this morning bouncing ideas around and getting creative with a sticky problem he was facing.

As well as whatever we do in the practical, it’s very important for me to know that my clients are growing their understanding of how the mind works. Yes, there is magic in what we do, but I don’t just want someone to have the experience of magic, I want them to be able to do it for themselves, and for others.

Today’s conversation reminded me…

Having less versus living joyfully…

We Love the Message, not so Much the Reality

We love the message ‘keep it simple’ and we probably know there’s some truth in it. Yet… most of us don’t live it. Most of us don’t tend towards simplification, we tend towards complexity. We love the shiny, we buy the new books, we devour ideas, we discuss and argue the nuances…

I get it, me too.

This is not going to be a call for minimalism, not at all, I love my ‘stuff’ with lots of colour and a little disorder. I have pets so it’s impossible to keep a clean house (my excuse…

How do I reclaim my mojo?

How Do You Feel?

Something came up on the last Leadership Session that I realise I didn’t answer at the time…

What to we do when we feel low?
How do we get our mojo back?

First off, me too!

Right now my world feels very small. I’m home, no-one is travelling, even my final-year student son is home; no parties, no (irl) connection with his friends, just ‘online’ like, seemingly, the rest of the world.

It feels like my life is shrinking and so, I can see how it’s possible to project this into meaning more than…

If you did only one thing, this alone would transform your world.

Listening…

I could probably fill this whole website with a discussion and examples of what I mean by self-leadership, and an hour was definitely not enough time yesterday,

Fundamentally there was one phrase that I think is the perfect entry-point for any of us to approach this topic of leadership, and it’s this,

Listen beyond the words

Since the topic is self-leadership then I think it’s appropriate to ask that of ourselves and to wonder at what more there is, or there might be, to be heard when we…

How does it work when we pay for something? Does that make us more ‘committed’?

‘Skin in the Game’?

Such a funny expression, but I understand what it means-the idea that you have something on the line, you’ve paid up, you have something to lose, you’re committed.

It can look, for all the world, as if the ‘payment’ (in whatever currency-money, or time, or perhaps offering up your first born… ;-)) is the means by which the commitment is generated.

And yes, sometimes it can feel that way.

I just paid good hard cash for an eight-week fitness programme thinking,

eek I don’t really…

What if a simple re-orientation could exponentially increase your ability to ‘do’ strategy?

Doing Strategy versus Doing A Strategy…

Like a lot of the language in the leadership world (or any world) , when we ask,

What does ‘strategy’ mean?

it’s hard to get an answer beyond a bland dictionary or business book definition.

So it’s no wonder someone gets confused, or procrastinates, or feels inadequate when asked to do something, or gets measured against a yardstick that doesn’t have a shared understanding or, even if there is a shared understanding, we’re not quite sure of the usefulness of the practical application.

Last thing I want…