Networking across countries

In this post written by Janet Shaner, you learn how to adapt your network for the country where you live / work Certain vs. uncertain business environments Did you know [...]

A Saturday morning habit that helps me be less stupid

Story I recently started a new habit. Every Saturday, I go for a 90-minute walk. The trigger to this was reading a book that a friend recommended to me:  “The Road [...]

December 6th 2019 – Executive Breakfast: “Multidimensional Leadership”

Excelling in the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world, requires a more agile and inclusive approach to leadership that fosters connection, collaboration and co-responsibility at every level within the [...]

Downwards disloyalty: An insidious threat

Collaboration is the glue that every team or organisation employs to achieve sustainable high performance. Collaboration exists in many forms and guises, some of which are stronger and more effective [...]

Public reprimanding is not a valid leadership tool

Human error and poor judgement are commonplace in business. When someone makes a mistake, it is often tempting to admonish them on the spot. Doing so can give a manager [...]

September 6th 2019 – Executive Breakfast: “Leadership: Avoiding Management Pitfalls”

Good leaders need to understand how to minimise the impact of setbacks, to be aware of common management pitfalls and be able to navigate around them. One poor leadership act [...]

“Men are not disturbed by things, but by their view of things” (Epictetus)

One could also say that people are not disturbed by things, but that they disturb themselves by holding rigid and extreme beliefs about things. Psychologist Albert Ellis said that rigid [...]

Caught in a monkey trap?

Apparently, people in India use a simple trick to capture monkeys. The trapper fastens a piece of cord to a tree. On the other end he attaches a coconut. The [...]

Why do so many leaders fail to delegate effectively

Video:  In this video, I look into the question Why so many people who want to delegate fail to do so effectively? Before I answer this question, let’s look at [...]

Team Contract – Building the foundations for constructive interaction

As coaches, we have a suitcase full of tools and are constantly developing new ones. However, if we were to talk about minimalism in team coaching, I’m convinced that one [...]

Intuition and decision making

  Use your intuition for better decisions in uncertain situations Have you recently had to make a big decision such as taking a new job, hiring a new employee, starting or [...]

Make sure your conversations pay off with “Value-COIN”

You might already be familiar with the COIN acronym, which provides an easy-to-remember, four-step process to plan and structure constructive feedback conversations: CONNECTION – OBSERVATION – IMPACT – NEXT STEPS [...]

Managing in Meltdown

Multiple challenges arising at the same time can threaten the very existence of a start-up. Here are some tips for surviving a meltdown. For new organisations, survival is the first prerequisite [...]

Why Koalas are stupid and trees don’t need a brain

“Use your brain”, said one of the workshop participants when I asked about the kind of behaviour they would like to see in their company. “What do you mean?” I [...]

Choices and Decisions – Don’t confuse the two

October is a great time to review your choices and decision. But don’t confuse the two, because the two words mean different things. “We are our Choices”  – Jean Paul Sartre [...]

Wondering what to do next

  STORY I wrote this memo after a great family vacation, travelling down the North-West Coast of the US, and managed to completely disconnect. But back home, I found myself [...]