Change can be disruptive at the best of times, but the kind of massive and unprecedented change we’ve experienced from COVID-19 is especially challenging – and will be with us for a long time. There’s no doubt we need a new mindset and skill set to manage, embrace, and thrive in t...
In the book ‘No Rules Rules’, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings explains how Netflix leaders trust their staff and demonstrate that trust in practice. For example, they post high-level strategy documents – with confidential information they wouldn’t want to leak to competitors – on a public bulle...
When the World Economic Forum’s ‘Future Jobs Report’ for 2020 identified the key skills we need for the future workplace, one of the top five (both globally and for Australia) was active learning. We can’t rely only on the skills and knowledge that brought us here; we must be willing to be ...
A World Economic Forum survey of Australian employees about a year ago found almost half of them worried they wouldn’t have a job by the end of this year – as a result of the pandemic. That’s a shocking number, but – given our current challenges – it’s not too far from the truth. Even [...
Some leaders and business owners cringe now when they hear the word ‘pivot’, because it’s one of those words that became a cliché early in the pandemic – along with ‘the new normal’ and ‘unprecedented’. Many people with no business experience were urging struggling businesses t...
I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying: Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. There’s a lot to like in this idea, but it’s not always appropriate. Sometimes you need to give them a fish first. In a stable […]
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When you’re leading in times of uncertainty and rapid change, you can’t wait until you’re certain of the future before you take any action – because you’ll never be certain. The only way to make progress is to act with clarity despite an uncertain future. Clarity doesn’t remove the fog ...
Although my first sporting love is cricket, I’m also a fan of Australian Rules Football (I support the West Coast Eagles – thanks for asking – and our season is hanging by a thread right now, but that’s a story for another day). A common defensive tactic in Aussie Rules is ‘shepherding’...
With most of Australia back in lockdown, it’s easy to think ‘Here we go again’! Be careful, because there’s a common – but dangerous – trap many leaders fall into when the future is uncertain. Because you can’t see far ahead, it’s tempting to think only about small goals and sho...
How well do you deal with uncertainty? Probably not as well as you’d like – and that’s a problem, because the uncertainty we’re facing in 2020 and 2021 will continue for some time to come. Unfortunately, we’re hard-wired to prefer certainty, and there’s research to prove it. In ...