A few days ago, my drive back to the office was one of those experiences that rigorously tested my ability to stay ‘above the line’. We all have them from time to time. There was a taxi trying to do a U-turn across a clearway, another car stopping mid-stream for no apparent reason, and [...]
At the beginning of my career I trained as an early childhood educator. At that time I was introduced to the works of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson who had both identified that we grow and develop through a series of stages – in our thinking and our personality respectively. I became fascinated with this [...]
In my last post I shared the ‘Basic Principles’ developed by Jack Zenger and Dale Miller, and their importance to living an emotionally healthy life. There is a fascinating story behind how I was prompted to write that post – one that reinforces our view that there is no such thing as coincidence. Because [...]
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours…” Henry David Thoreau Some time ago I wrote two blog posts (here and here) explaining the concept of ‘intent’ – a concept which is [...]
‘Leadership’ has become a holy grail of the last decade or two. Scores of books, journal articles and research papers have been dedicated to the task of trying to understand what great leadership is and how it might be replicated. There are countless ‘shopping lists’ of outstanding leadership characteristics, with the implication that all one [...]
Last week, a young leader I am working with called me to discuss some changes she was thinking of making in her career. As part of our work together she has been introduced to the Enneagram to better understand what drives and motivates her as a leader and the impact she has on others. As a result, [...]
As we passed the tenth anniversary of Global Leadership Foundation last week, it was appropriate that Malcolm and I found ourselves working with a group of leaders on Tetepare in the Solomon Islands. Our work on Tetepare is at the heart of what we aspired to achieve when we established the Foundation on April 30, [...]
Ranger diving for Trochus Shells to monitor their size inside and outside the Marine Protected Area of Tetepare, Solomon Islands. Several readers responded to my last blog post, ‘Listening for the first time’, with comments about how refreshing it was to truly stop and listen to what was being said to them without prejudging [...]
What does it feel like to be open – truly open – to the ideas and opinions of someone else? What does it feel like to listen – truly listen – without judging or criticising (even internally) what is being said? What does it feel like to enjoy – truly enjoy – what you are hearing as a new way, a new approach, a real alternative? For many of us these feelings are less than frequent. It is so easy to become ‘stuck in our ways’ of thinking that we are no longer able to be open, or to listen without judgement. We cling to what we hold dear, to what we believe to be true, to a lifetime’s supply of preconceptions. Unfortunately, this holds us back, closing off a world of possibility.
I recently had the privilege of seeing two living legends of Australasian music, Paul Kelly and Neil Finn, performing together in Melbourne. They have been travelling across Australia in a hugely successful tour that I am sure will inspire further collaborations in future. And if seeing them on stage wasn’t enough, their final concert was streamed live from Sydney on YouTube, so I was able to watch the whole thing all over again. Two very talented musicians coming together and offering new perspectives on each other’s music would be a good reason to write something about collaboration, but the connection these concerts really made for me was around the role of music in the building and strengthening of emotional health.