Are middle managers unsung heroes? It’s certainly easy for them to keep a low profile, while still doing an excellent job. They’re in the middle of the hierarchy so, by definition, the buck seldom stops with them. Both big decision making and hands-on creative work are done by other people in the organization, above and […]
All Posts, Change Management, Strategy, Team Management, Uncategorized
I was looking forward to interviewing leading sustainability expert Wayne Visser for our Expert Interview podcast. The plan was to talk face-to-face but we ended up speaking via Skype instead. I’d like to say I chose technology over transport to reduce my carbon footprint, but actually the decision was more about timing. This got me […]
All Posts, Change Management, Expert Interview, Leadership, Strategy, Team Management
Boards govern, management teams lead. That's what Nancy Falls told me when we talked recently about her new book, "Corporate Concinnity in the Boardroom: 10 Imperatives to Drive High Performance Companies." It makes sense that boards and management teams should do different things. But where does corporate governance end and leading the company begin? According […]
All Posts, Expert Interview, Leadership, Strategy, Team Management
I hate negotiating. The problem is, I love a bargain! One of my favorite pastimes is pottering around antiques fairs, car boot sales and junk stores, trying to find things to restore or upcycle. But I’m hopeless when it comes to haggling and, more often than not, I’ll pay the full price without even bothering […]
All Posts, Career Skills, Communication, Problem Solving, Strategy
It's early morning on a day when most sensible people are still in bed. But I'm far from home, in a dew-soaked field, under an ominous gray sky. This is pretty standard for me. I'm an agility addict and, most weekends throughout the summer, you'll find me and my dogs competing at various venues around […]
There are many occasions in life when it seems easier to stay on a familiar, risk-free, but ultimately unsatisfying path, rather than to strike off into uncharted territory. And it's easy to understand that position. If you have a family or a mortgage, or economic conditions are tough, the risks of change can appear to […]
Since leaving my job as a news reporter for Thomson Reuters and going freelance some years ago, I've had to come to terms with failure like never before. Pitching articles to magazines and newspapers can be tough. Sometimes I get a great response but, other times, my emails are met with radio silence or a […]
Authenticity is something I've become very interested in as my career has progressed. I loved being a news journalist for many years but towards the end of my last post, as a reporter on British politics, I began to realize my interest in that kind of work had waned. It no longer seemed in line […]
All Posts, Career Skills, Leadership, Strategy, Stress, Team Management
It's not often I find myself unable to put down a business book. But this was recently the case with "The Objective Leader," by Elizabeth Thornton, which starts with the gripping story of how the author raised and then lost a million dollars on a fruit-juice importing venture. That was 20 years ago, when Thornton […]
All Posts, Career Skills, Leadership, Strategy, Team Management
I run my own small business and, several years ago, I joined a business group to network with other entrepreneurs in my community. I was nervous about going to the first event, a socializing dinner, but I'd invested in the membership and was bound and determined to make use of it. To say I crashed […]
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