How to Stop ‘Dumb’ Meetings at Work

There are four types of meetings that you’ll be having in your team. The type of meeting you’ll be having will ultimately build the contra and results of your team. The distinctions between these types of meetings can be small; but even though they are small, they can have a huge impact. Through sitting in […]

How to Deliver Clear Messages in Meetings

One of the most important, underutilised, painful areas in many businesses is how meetings are run. Meetings can be some of the most painful experiences that we have in our day (that’s an understatement ). I speak with managers all over the world, and there’s a similiar message: all of them say that many of […]

How to Overcome Speaking Nerves

Public speaking can be incredibly terrifying. When polled, professionals ranked ‘public speaking’ high on their list of greatest fears — right along with flying, death, and man-eating snakes (watch out for those:). It’s no wonder it’s a hot topic for most professionals. I’ve found that the trick to calming anxiety before a speech is to […]

How to Get Your People into ‘FLOW’

During many of the times I’ve felt challenged, I’ve had an internal tendency to want to get out of the challenge, but I’ve also enjoyed the struggle at some level. It’s an interesting tension of enjoying the pressure but at the same time, wanting to be released from it. If you reflect on your life, […]

Do your employees like you?

One of the foundations of being a relational leader is having warmth. Warmth is about approachability. It’s about being a leader who is approachable to colleagues and employees. This is important because it reduces a ‘fear response’ in an employee. David Rock, in his neuroscience research, found that when people create a non-threatening environment, they […]

Give Presence

Every Monday night, my wife and I go on a date night. One of the biggest challenges I find as a male is to be present. My wife Sarah (who is 33 weeks pregnant) will be sitting across the table from me, sharing her heart, and I’ll be looking into her eyes, but in my […]

Relational Leadership

I believe that leaders need to find a nice balance between challenge and relationship. Many leaders today either verge too much on trying to get the other person to like them (relationship), or too much on trying to drive the other person (challenge). There needs to be a nice balance between creating likability and pushing […]

You’re More Powerful Than You Think

One of my clients the other day told me about a time he was speaking with a stranger at a coffee shop.  After a short conversation, the stranger mentioned that he was a close friend of a significant business owner in the area. He mentioned it in passing, but my client’s ears pricked up and […]