2 min read
Three ingredients of perspective
It's conference season, and I've been a busy girl the last few weeks, hitting stages on both sides of the Tasman.
Articles and think pieces on life, work and leadership. Subscribe for more.
2 min read
It's conference season, and I've been a busy girl the last few weeks, hitting stages on both sides of the Tasman.
2 min read
With parenting, it’s what we do that counts, not what we say. When my two eldest girls reached 7 and 11, I decided to institute a more formal...
7 min read
In this article Your 4 minute strategy MBA We are all strategists 15 tell-tale signs of a strategist
1 min read
What problems are you battling with right now? If it's one of these three things, I have some useful stuff that might help.
4 min read
Idea technology, a term by Barry Schwartz, is an excellent framework for thinking about the ideas that drive our thinking and decisions.
2 min read
ATMs and Strategy When ATMs were first rolled out, economists, politicians, and the media panicked. Automation was to rob bank tellers of their jobs!...
2 min read
I've always been a bit of a hero. Beating the odds, I shifted my life story from high school dropout, teen mum, and no-hope foster kid to university...
2 min read
Most meetings and workshops are a waste of time. They're full of people resolving trivial issues that could be handled by email or delegation with...
1 min read
This week, I've been thinking about the warning signals that something needs to change. It stems from some work I'm doing around change and...
3 min read
Why am I like this?!" is a bit of a catchphrase in my house. Usually, I’m bemoaning something I’ve stuffed up. Either I’ve messed up my admin, worked...
2 min read
I started a new programme with the senior leadership team at Christchurch City Council last week. One thing I noticed about how GMs communicated was...
1 min read
Hi, I'm Alicia McKay, and I'm a serial fast-moving thing-breaker.
2 min read
Let me paint you a picture of a workshop I facilitated recently. Fourteen senior leaders crowd around the boardroom table of an artful...
2 min read
What would you do if you won Lotto? I bet you know the answer to that question, and that you've had this conversation at least half a dozen times...
1 min read
Man, I get sick of people talking sh*t. To be fair, it’s an occupational hazard. I run strategy and leadership workshops, where people are used to...
5 min read
It would be easy to treat 2020 a bit like a regretful purchase – you know, when you throw the receipt away without looking at it or stuff your...
3 min read
Everyone is having too many meetings. In many teams, people click from one conversation to another, becoming paradoxically more bored and overwhelmed...
2 min read
When I was at university, I was a broke single mum. Funds were tight, and I was a militant budgeter. I’d sit down and create detailed household...
4 min read
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
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that priorities shift. As we returned to our homes, spent more time with our families, watched our health more...
2 min read
As a facilitator, I can spot a cynic a mile away. Their body language is pure resistance: folded arms, suspicious expressions, and deep sighs. They...
4 min read
I wrote a Wednesday Wisdom last week, that I had to do an emergency withdrawal for on Tuesday night, after the Prime Minister’s COVID announcement. I...
3 min read
Fear Is Like Alcohol .. because it makes parties more interesting. JUST KIDDING.Fear is like alcohol because it clouds our judgement. And when we...