Blog
Do you feel guilty for loving your work or working late? Have you ever had to make a career choice that meant moving the family, and this was something they didn’t like? How do we make peace with the career versus family choice? Explore this with me!
Are you being selfish or self-first?
What stories are you telling about the choice, and are these helpful?
Do you know what fulfills you and do you let this guide your choices?
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Read MoreWant shortcuts for proven leadership strategies? Want quick ways to work with your team? Want a handbook to get this done? Scott Stein’s new book, Leadership Hacks, is just the ticket.
Personal hacks
One-on-one hacks
Team Hacks
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Read MoreWhat are you creating right now? Or better yet, who are you creating? What version of your future self are you crafting right now? Use a quest to focus your attention.
Start with who you wish to become.
Set the scene.
Negotiate, troubleshoot, launch and play!
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Read MoreLeaders are tough nuts. They’ve got the courage to step up and be accountable, to take on responsibility, and to venture on new paths. But what do they really need? What is the thing that will make all the difference? In my work with leaders I have found that having a good sounding board and a community of peers is the biggest safe haven for CEOs, GMs, and senior executives. My latest adventure on the Larapinta reveals a few of their insights.
Time out with strangers in the desert is the place to develop fast friends.
Inspiration comes from others as much as from the views
Connection deepens in wild places.
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Read MoreCould you run your work from the ski slopes? (or beach) What would it take to turn a holiday destination into a work destination? I’ve just spent four weeks skiing and working from the skifields. There are some key lessons to be mindful of.
Preparation and considerations
Expectations can be a killer - be mindful of yours
Boundaries and the value of Deep Play
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Read MoreBeing comfortable breeds complacency. And complacency kills in leadership! What it kills first is courage. Getting uncomfortable through little aventures is the cure.
Beware the false promise that good times will last.
Beware that bad times will too.
Implement little adventures - and big ones - to exercise your courage muscle.
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Read MoreKofi Annan spoke to truth to power. He was unerring in his commitment and advocacy for peace and well-being for all human beings. We may not stand on a world stage as he did, but we can bring the essence of his leadership to life in the actions we take every day, and by so doing, also lead for the world.
Inherent human dignity.
Speaking truth to power.
Keep going.
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Read MoreMuch has been made of the transition from expert to manager. In Rising to Power by Eric Hansen and Ron Carucci, the authors shed light on the hazards and adaptations leaders need to undertake as they assume the mantle of authority.
Ideas on power
Ideas on focus and change
The four superpowers for executives
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Read MoreAdventure has driven some of the most amazing discoveries in human history. We are hard-wired for it. But apart from the yearning fed by curiosity, is there a science to it?
Yes, the brain likes adventure
Yes, there are risks when we get the brain hooked on adventure
Yes, we can get adventure back in our life
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Read MoreHome base has a great sense of security. The familiar. The known. And yet it keeps us from growth. When facing a horizon, how do we muster the courage to leave the shore?
What are we holding on to?
What are we most afraid of?
What is that calling to us?
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Read MoreWe all get them: slumps. We forget they happen and are dismayed when they do. But slumps can be an opportunity. Don’t fight it; use it.
Progress happens when we bounce out of a dip.
4 types of questions to facilitate progress.
How to calculate your set point, and what to with it.
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Read MoreNot nearly enough leaders are looking to the impact of automation on job losses, including their own. Yet it’s not just that - we have a culture of blame to navigate too. How do you stack up? Are you disposable? Or indispensable?
Ego makes us disposable.
Avoid being just acceptable.
Be indispensable by knowing you are dispensable.
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Read MoreThe year is half way through. It’s a good time to take stock. Here are some questions and reflection exercises to help make the most of what has been, and what is yet to come.
Reflection is like navigation, start by assessing where you have been.
Next, determine where you are going - clarify the destination.
Finally, decide on your route plan - what steps you need to take next.
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Read MoreWe get comfortable with being comfortable. And it keeps us bound. If we are to truly know what it is to be alive and fully human, we need to heed the call to adventure.
How adventure opens the spirit
What happens when we stay wrapped in our comfort blanket
How consciousness expands in beauty
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Read MoreHomelessness is a terrifying experience. Living on the edge of society is alienating and horrific. As leaders, we can help.
It starts with understanding the issues.
Little things matters.
Who you are is the most critical bit.
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Read MoreWhen it comes to leadership, connection with others is the most crucial skill. Yet we don’t focus nearly enough on it. This makes us disposable at worst, replaceable at best. Connection has one key component to make it work best.
The pivot point that shifts isolation to connection
How connection is a river current
Why focus on others will benefit us all
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We have an innate human drive to gather, to belong. What separates those who seek company and those who create it?
What drives us to show up in community.
The giant leap to lead community, and how to do it.
Why we admire community leaders and why it could be us too.
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Read MoreSports teams: perhaps the biggest cliché for modeling leadership success. Plus, it is so far from reality it’s painful! It’s not sports, but adventure we should emulate.
Sports are finite events. Leadership is not.
There is an audience and a prize. No one is cheering or handing out awards for leaders.
You win, you lose. In leadership, there is only commitment, a do or do not.
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Read MoreIt’s lonely at the top.
The myth of the Strong Man and why we fall for it
Why we need to lead with answers
How community is the right solution for staying human - and successful - as a leader
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Read MoreBy definition, leadership is a lonely function. The buck stops with you. You make the tough calls, you cop the flack for failures, and with success, it is attributed to the team. It’s tough.
Where can we go to get re-charged?
How can we get reassurance?
Where can we get genuine a sounding board?
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