We often forget that behind the title of "leader" is a human being. The very qualities that make us human are the same ones that challenge our effectiveness as leaders. And those things that make us imperfectly human are what give us the capacity to lead with heart, wisdom, and resilience.

This blog offers an exploration into what I think leaders need most urgently to thrive in today's world. It is based on what I am witnessing with clients and what our team is hearing from our resilient leadership programme participants. Remaining calm, seeking clarity, being courageous, offering compassion, and maximising curiosity—these are hard skills that can be built through self-awareness and self-care.

Two (or more) seemingly contradictory things can be true at once. But, our brains really don’t like it. One of the hardest things to do in leadership is be curious about the contradictions and paradoxes in the world, their relationships and within themselves.

When stuff happens, we draw meaning from it and the meaning we draw isn’t always fair. Leaders who are aware of this, who check their assumptions and lean into curiosity reap the rewards of enhanced communication, better relationships and greater levels of trust. This blog explores one common form of meaning-making, the fundamental attribution error.

Most of us, myself included, value expertise. And because we value expertise, we are tempted to view people who have it, or have relatively more of it, more favourably than those who don’t - and this gets in the way of our individual and collaborative efficacy. In my humble and expert/non-expert opinion... 😅

Relentless hard work, busyness, being always ‘on’ has become the norm for most of the leaders I work with. Most of my clients put this down to the sheer volume of work expected of them. When we dig a little under the surface, we find there is much more to it than that. This blog unpacks everything I have learned about the ‘busyness epidemic’ in my years of coaching executive leaders.

You can tell a lot about a person based on who their idols are. In this blog I share some of the most thought provoking ideas from by my top three leadership idols.

Leaders bend rules. And, it’s important that they do. But, rule-bending often comes at a price that has to be paid in instalments over the longer term. So, how can leaders know when to bend the rules and when not? This blog highlights the ethical dilemma that leaders face in today’s VUCA world and offers some questions to ponder when faced with the decision to bend or not to bend.

A need to please and be liked is one of the most basic human needs. Without it, we would be expelled from the clan and be in danger of becoming prey in the wild. In leadership, it’s a pattern of behaviour that can serve us and erode us. This blog offers an exploration of ‘people pleasing’ and some thoughts on how coaches can support their clients to reframe their thinking.

Externalising blame is a protective behaviour which we all fall into sometimes. In leadership, it gets in the way of moving forward and is eroding to the individual and those around them. This blog explores what it looks like and how coaches can take radical responsibility and support their clients to do the same in their leadership.