Alicia McKay

Based in Wellington, New Zealand. Writes on strategy, change, leadership, consulting, public sector and local government.

3 min read

How to stop AI from stealing your job

Have you been keeping up with new AI tools like MidJourney and ChatGPT?

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Master the world’s most valuable skill

Critical thinking is the world’s most valuable skill. Unfortunately, being overworked and overwhelmed keeps people from learning how to do it. They...

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Truth is, i'm rash.

On Friday night, I went to a comedy gig in a large arena. I lasted less than 20 minutes before walking out in disgust and frustration, as the...

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The problem is never the problem

Picture this: you're frustrated with your partner. They've loaded the dishwasher wrong, again, and they've left the door wide open for you to knock...

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Use your personal compass to make tricky choices

The average person makes 17,000 decisions a day. Most of those are easy, like what to have for breakfast or what time to leave for work, but some are...

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Business planning in a recession with bright spot thinking

Earlier this week, I was working with leaders from a large corporate to set some strategic priorities. Talk quickly turned to how to survive the...

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How to care about your job again

If you've woken up today with a sense of dread about what awaits you at your desk, you're not alone. A 2019 Gallup poll found that out of the world's...

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Setting boundaries around bullsh*t

I've drawn a new boundary around my professional life: no more leadership team coaching.

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Create systems change

Have you ever started a job and had that new-starter clarity? You're baffled by all the things that don’t make sense and say annoying things in...

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Why change makes things worse before it makes things better

I recently received a request from Angela, a Wednesday Wisdom reader, to talk about the immediate impact of organisational change on productivity....

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Wear and tear

I've had a hell of a time with my house lately. After an initial few years of primarily uneventful occupation, she's turned on me in the last couple...

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Own your outcast status

How it started I left my job as a policy analyst and strategic planner in 2014. I'd been so excited by that job—for lots of reasons. I was the first...

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Boundaries, burnout, business and #bigrantenergy

I've been ranting my wee head off lately, and it's been an utter delight. I'm trying to channel that energy into pushing as much helpful goodness as...

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Don't be afraid to narrow down

Little known fact: the more specific you are about what you want, what you'll do, and what you won't do, the more likely you are to get it. When you...

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Good people and bad systems

Change is hard to talk about, because people tend to feel personally attacked. They have good reason to feel that way. When we talk about the things...

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Nail your next 8 weeks: how to keep strategy alive

In this article: How to run a great strategic check-in Free template for a 2-day strategy session Strategies are great, and 3-5 year plans are...

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3 strategic thinking skills that get you what you want

One of the most exciting modules in the naMBA curriculum is when we talk about systems. We build our problem-solving skills by drawing on the work of...

19 min read

Outrageous Conversations: How to convert controversy into connection

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this article. Your thoughts, links, resources and ideas were invaluable in pulling this piece together. I've...

6 min read

A certain type of man: the family man

I’d like to introduce to you: the family man. Not the responsible, fatherly, working class man of popular culture, mind you. A hologram. A cultural...

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Get outside of yourself

There's an excellent AA meme: "I'm not much, but I'm all I think about."

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Why strategy fails (and what to do differently)

Many of us have the wrong idea about strategy. We think it's about workshops and documents, and then struggle to understand why everyone's still...

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Use your big voice

Last Tuesday, I took my children to see Clementine Ford at the Embassy Theatre here in Wellington. Of all the wonderful things she said, one...

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Gaslighting at work

I met a curious, clever young woman recently. She was smart, a real systems thinker, and passionate about doing great work. When we got to talking...