Calm, constructive, consistent The senior leader enthusiastically described how the current CEO turned around the culture of the organisation. The culture transformed from one of fear and blame to one of collaboration and motivation because ‘whether you bring him good news or bad, you’re met with a constructive response. He’s always calm.’ I come across these three words time after time amongst leaders I coach when they describe how a good boss communicates. A leader who is consistently calm and ...

How would the people you lead describe you as a leader? Calm? Constructive? Inspiring? Autocratic? Micro-managing? What do they base this description on? Your vision? Your results? Your financial prowess? None of these. They base this decision on how you communicate. Your fantastic vision, results and financial prowess might impress them. It’ll certainly impress the City, or the Board, or the Exec Team – all key stakeholders, of course. But how people assess you, as a leader, will come down ...

Imagine guaranteeing that you get a constructive outcome from every conversation. Need to influence your boss? You know you’re on target right from the start. Need a team member to take on your feedback? You know they’ll come on-side even before you begin. Need people to take on board a tough message? Done! Impossible dream? A challenge for sure – but not impossible. Let’s define ‘a constructive outcome.’ It’s an outcome that means you, and others involved in the conversation, ...

Evidence shows that executives and senior leaders spend 90% of their time at work having conversations. In fact, we have so many, we end up trying to engage in several at once! Go on, you can trust me with your secret. You’ve responded to emails while you’ve been on a Teams call at least once in the last week, haven’t you? Because they’re so commonplace, we can easily end up treating conversations like commodities – a quick catch-up here, an ...

It’s already arrived in Glasgow – the start of a new school year. The courage to face the first day saying goodbye at the school gates; the nervous anticipation of moving into senior school with the big boys and girls; anxiety and excitement at a significant exam year ahead. For parents and kids, it’s a big deal. Since I don’t have to wave my dogs off to school, I’m doing my best to hold on to the summer vibe for ...

Did you see Mondo Duplantis set the new world record for the men’s pole vault this week? Wow! It’s breath-taking! If you missed it, Google it (once you’ve finished reading this email, of course 😊). Olympic athletes seem superhuman. They’re certainly super-impressive. But they’re still human beings and we can learn a lot from the actions they take to reach the pinnacle of sporting prowess. Their secrets will drive results for any of us, whatever success we are seeking. Here ...