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Practical reads on all things strategy, change, and leadership. 

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Change and personal development

7 min read

Learn from your mistakes: make the most of failure

Everybody makes mistakes, but only some people know how to use them to get better. If you've made a mistake this week, that's great. It means you're...

8 min read

Time management for consultants - (and everyone else!)

The life of a self-employed professional (SEP) is a busy one. When running a one or two-person business, there's no shortage of tasks but few people...

3 min read

Share your work in progress

I have a house guest - our former au pair, visiting from Germany. She's launching her yoga video channel and last week; she confided how disheartened...

1 min read

Reasons, seasons and changing jobs

You're probably familiar with the opening line of a poem by Brian A. Chalker:

2 min read

Why people are opting out of corporate bullshit

I only lasted 4 years as an employee. I loved the work I was doing (strategic planning and policy in local government) and I wanted to keep doing it,...

1 min read

Pick your path: stress, guilt, fear

What problems are you battling with right now? If it's one of these three things, I have some useful stuff that might help.

3 min read

How to do scary things

Being a person is pretty scary, to be honest. If you're a mildly anxious human like me, you might face a frequent war with your brain as it churns...

4 min read

How to shape a fulfilling career

If you crave meaningful work, it might not happen by accident. Here's how to shape a fulfilling career by asking five questions. You spend a lot of...

2 min read

Pick your path: boundaries, decisions, focus

What problems are you battling with this week? If it's one of these three things, I have some useful stuff that might help.

6 min read

How to make hard decisions more easily

Have you got a hard choice to make? Whether it's at work, or at home, having tricky choices ahead weighs on you, even when you aren't actively...

1 min read

Happy people don't judge you

Do you find yourself worrying about what people think about you?

3 min read

7 ways to feel better about your job

Work is a pain in the proverbial. It's also where most of us will spend most of our waking hours. The average person spends over 13 years of their...

3 min read

How to stop AI from stealing your job

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

2 min read

10 business and self-help books for your summer

Over the past 10 years, I reckon I've read over 500 self-development and business books. (That's why I instituted a three-month non-fiction ban in...

3 min read

Values-based living: The hardest and easiest path to peace

When I was 25, I left my job with two kids, a mortgage to pay, and a husband on apprentice wages. I'd left my policy job in frustration, looking for...

1 min read

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...

4 min read

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...

3 min read

Be Yourself to Beat Burnout

The Lion King was one of my favourite childhood movies. It was one of a few films that my cousins had on VHS and we would watch it on repeat, until...

3 min read

Work Towards The Grain

One of my coaching clients is an exceptional leader. She has a rare combination of strategic, systems-focused perspective along with a burning desire...

2 min read

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...

3 min read

Setting boundaries around bullsh*t

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

2 min read

Create Systems Change

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 meetings like:...

3 min read

Strategists Get Whatever They Want

Here's something strategists know that not everyone else does: you can have literally anything you want, at work, home or in your life. Nothing is...

3 min read

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...