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...
Strategy and strategic planning (3)
1 min read
Freshen Up Your Focus
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...
1 min read
How to live your values
I’ve had an absolute sh*t of a few weeks. I’ve made some of the hardest choices I’ve ever had to make in my personal life, in the face of confusion,...
1 min read
Commit or Quit
Do you ever sit in a conversation where everybody furiously agrees, leave feeling great about what you’ve decided – but then nothing happens? I see...
1 min read
How to Tame Talkfests: Focus prompts for frustrated facilitators
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...
2 min read
How to find your purpose: 7 questions from Mark Manson
Purpose gets a bad rap. It’s the domain of the out-of-touch woke millennials who spend more time thinking about working than actually doing it… and...
1 min read
How to make people listen
When people ask me to help them run workshops and meetings, they often come in with lofty goals. How do I get people to really be in this? To own...
1 min read
Stop being a hero
I used to think I was a bit of a hero—I was even proud of it. Beating the odds, I shifted my life story from high school dropout, teen mum, and...
4 min read
Public Sector Leadership in Quiet Times: Readiness
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...
2 min read
Beware the lure of the new: sustainable change
It’s been a hell of a few months. We’ve had to adapt fast as the world has gone mad. For many of us, it hasn’t been all bad. COVID has provided the...
2 min read
Good decisions
When COVID hit, many of us experienced – and are still experiencing – serious financial uncertainty. Businesses lost revenue, people lost jobs, and...
1 min read
Leverage as Less
Leverage: is it about doing more - or doing better? Doing everything with nothing I love the idea of ephemeralization, the brainchild of clever...
1 min read
Go Back to Basics
I injured my ankle badly in November 2017, when I started training for my first marathon. After a tough uphill slog on a sunny Monday morning, I was...
1 min read
Meetings that Matter: Rethink your purpose
How many meetings have you been to this week? I ran an afternoon workshop for one of my learning communities recently where one of the participants...
2 min read
Chasing cows
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:...
1 min read
The difference between strategy and plans
When I was a broke student and single mum, I remember creating countless household budgets to try and stay on top of things. I’d put the ideal budget...
1 min read
When in doubt, zoom out.
Early last year, I visited the M.C. Escher exhibit in Melbourne and enjoyed having my mind blown by some of the mind-bending perspective pieces on...
1 min read
You Can’t Work With What You Can’t See
Put your hand up if you’re ever been a martyr. Walking around carrying an invisible load of resentment, wondering why every other unreasonable person...
1 min read
Snow melts from the edges: futurist thinking
I am often astonished at how little some executive teams know about what’s happening inside and outside their buildings.
1 min read
The grey area
I often discuss the importance of brave public service—community-focused, impact-led policy and strategy decisions that change our world.
2 min read
Preparation beats prediction
One of my favourite strategy workshops to run is about strategic risk - preparing for the worst. I recognise that sounds dire, but I promise it...
3 min read
Creativity, strategy and magic
I’ve spent my life in a quiet awe of musicians and creative people. People that seem to be able to create beauty out of nowhere. What an incredible...