3 min read
Future-proof your dreams #3: Prepare for disaster
Predicting the future is impossible, but all your goals live there, so you can’t avoid thinking about it. We need plans to channel our time, energy,...
2 min read
Future-proof your dreams #2: Keep the dream alive
Predicting the future is impossible, but all your goals live there, so you can’t avoid thinking about it. We need plans to channel our time, energy,...
2 min read
Future-proof your dreams #1: Start with strategy
Our hopes, dreams, and plans live in an unpredictable future. We need plans to channel our time, energy, and money, but we have no idea what will...
5 min read
Stay alive in 2025: Why strategy is a survival skill this year
Winging it is a death wish in 2025. If you don’t know what you want, the next 10 months are going to swallow you whole. Never fear: strategy will...
3 min read
Are you having the wrong argument? The value of focus
I love a good argument, especially as part of a strategic planning process. In a good argument, everyone’s point of view is fully and respectfully...
2 min read
So nothing right now
The minimalism bug bit me over the break. I threw out, donated, or sold hundreds of household items - clothing, furniture, kitchen implements,...
6 min read
How and when to quit things (and how to do it well)
Last Friday, I announced I was retiring Not An MBA, an executive leadership programme I founded in 2021. It's been a wild ride. For the most part,...
3 min read
A fresh take on SMART goals: Crazy-SMART goals!
Are you aiming too low? What are your most important goals right now? Do you have them written down? If you do, take a moment to pull them out—I have...
3 min read
The public opinion trap
2 min read
The paradox of public leadership (or: just give them the damn picnic table)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” “I must be cruel to be kind” “The child is the father of the man” Literature is full of...
1 min read
Revenge of the Arts degree
I'm taking a brief break from my "Taking the Boot of the Public Sector" series to tell you something important about education and recruitment. In...
2 min read
In defence of the bureaucrat
8 min read
4 steps to playing the long game
How was your 2020, overall? Mine was a nightmare, to be honest.
2 min read
Is the pain real? precedent, phantom and projection
One of the worst things I’ve experienced in my adult life was a horrific abscess I had in my tooth when I was 22. I was immobilised with pain and the...
3 min read
You'd never run a business like this! taking the boot out of the public sector volume 2
This week, I continue my 'Taking the boot out of the public sector' series. It's too common to dunk on government, and when even the politicians get...
1 min read
Public services are complex
One of the most popular and least imaginative criticisms of the public sector is that it is less efficient than the private sector. Since the late...
10 min read
How running a marathon became resilience skills training
I ran my first marathon in September this year, in beautiful Tauranga. It was one of the big-ticket items on my bucket list and with a milestone...
4 min read
You can be the one who changes things
It's never been more possible to do great work You are always free to choose a different path Your employer wants you to shake it up. It's never been...
1 min read
How to ask quality questions
Bad questions kill relationships. When we turn up to a meeting, conversation, or email powered by judgement and annoyance, our questions reflect...
4 min read
Before you restructure, read this
In a client mentoring session on Friday, I was looking forward to hearing how a job interview had gone. After an extended secondment and a long...
1 min read
A strategic choice a day keeps the existential dread at bay
Do you have everything you want? Do you have the resources to close the gap?
1 min read
Tippity tap, send
Recently, my 9-year-old daughter imitated what people do at work with this handy little phrase: "Tippity tap, send.". With that, she struck an air...
2 min read
Success hack: networking with the right people
The company you keep matters. When you're surrounded by smokers, you're more likely to be a smoker. When your friends are successful at work, you're...