Ever since I returned from Australia in my early 20’s I was extremely goal driven. I was in massive debt (for a 20 year old) and had no job in an environment where employers weren’t exactly laying opportunities at my feet. But I’d managed to get myself around the world for the last year on a wing and a prayer and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like no job opportunities get in my way of getting back on my feet! I set a goal that I would get a job…any job…within 2 weeks. (more…)

In most leadership material you read you’ll come across the need to be self-aware.  I agree, it’s a very important element of growth because if you’re not aware of the need to change it will never happen, right?  But how do you do develop self-awareness?  Often times when I’m running a workshop on leadership I start with awareness and how to develop it.  To do this I always start off with the concept of the Self.  One way the Self can get into conflict is when there is too great a gap between the Actual Self and the Ideal Self. (more…)

Recently I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a couple of days at “The happiest place on earth” – Disneyland – with my family.  Being interested in how effective organisations run I paid special attention to how Disney runs things there.  I was impressed at how everything ran to very strict procedures, safety being the highest priority of course, but I was left a little disappointed at the seeming poor engagement of the staff.  A lot of them (more…)

I must admit that I’ve been on the receiving end of ‘constructive’ feedback more than I’d like to admit and I used to dread those situations.  I’d start to recognise a pattern where, out of the blue, I’d receive an email requesting me to attend a 30 minute meeting with the boss and I knew I’d done something wrong.  These days I recognise the importance of receiving feedback and now I even seek it out because without feedback we simply can’t grow.  Feedback systems are all around us…in nature, in our environment (more…)

In a previous blog talked about a few different strategies for giving feedback.  Feedback is, of course, vital to us all if we want to become better at what we do and it’s important that we communicate this in a way that it is heard and taken on board.  There are times, however, when we need to provide more than feedback.  When one of your more experienced team members stuffs up and should’ve known better it’s important that they understand this also. (more…)

I’ve always been fairly ambitious in my life and that ambition has driven me to work ridiculously hard holding down full-time jobs as well as two other part-time jobs while studying part-time on top of all that!  I’ve also gone out and set up small side businesses in the areas I was passionate about at the time but my earlier attempts always met with the same faith.  I was so driven to succeed in my twenties that it was all I could think about.  How to make money! (more…)

It’s not uncommon for people to feel flustered when under pressure to answer a question in an important meeting. Even if we know the answer our minds can sometimes go blank and we get tongue tied. If you’re like most people who’ve experienced this you may even chastise yourself for getting so wound up. While there’s always something lying underneath this response (often it’s the flight, fight or freeze response kicking in) there are some simple steps we can take to better remain calm under fire. (more…)

This summer my wife and I had grand plans of getting the garden in shape and I found myself standing in the sweltering heat of a greenhouse in the local garden center. It was a busy day and there were lots of people wandering by outside checking out the fruit trees but unable to help themselves taking a little look in to see what I was up to. It dawned on me that this is exactly what it’s like working in a professional office environment…we go through our professional lives living in our own personal greenhouse. (more…)

I’m sure I wasn’t alone when I say that I found myself with a paintbrush in my hand over the Christmas holidays. Whenever I’m doing a spot of painting I like to put on an audio book to wile the time away so I thought I’d throw an oldie but a goodie – Jim Rohn. If you’ve ever listened to or read any of Jim Rohn’s work you’ll know what I’m talking about; his thoughts are full of timeless wisdom and they are always presented in such an amenable way you can’t help but get sucked into his message. (more…)

Some of us have breezed through our careers without ever missing an opportunity for advancement but for the rest us being passed up for a promotion can be a pretty tough experience. Sometimes the reason might be an obvious one but at other times it might be a little murky…

Allow me to ask you a question, have you ever had a certain feeling about someone, you’d never call their character into question (more…)