Forever After

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The future isn’t what it used to be! When COVID-19 disrupted our lives last year, it changed the world in ways we could never have imagined. Now, on the other side of the worst of this crisis, some things will return to ‘normal’, but the pandemic has changed some things forever. I...

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Freedom Ahead? Not So Fast!

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Right back at the start of this pandemic, you might remember all the talk of ‘flattening the curve’. Australia’s goal at the time was not to eliminate COVID-19 altogether, but to keep infections at a low enough level that it wouldn’t swamp the healthcare system. For a while last year, we d&...

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Power Up Your Team

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In March last year, when the reality of a global pandemic first hit us, we kept hearing the word ‘unprecedented’ as a way to describe how our lives had changed. Now, 18 months later, some of the changes we’ll face in the next few months are just as unprecedented. For example, we’ll be f...

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Move Fast But Stay Loose: The Secret For Success In An Uncertain 2022

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As we’re nearing the last quarter of 2021 – which has been yet another chaotic and uncertain year for so many people – many leaders are making their plans for the year ahead. Two weeks ago, I was working with a group of leaders in regional Western Australia who were building a strateg...

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Future Mind

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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...

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Trust Them!

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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...

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Don’t Just Learn Something – Do Something

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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 ...

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The Single Best Team Strategy in Uncertainty and Chaos

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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 [...

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The Power of the Pivot

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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...

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Give The Man A Fish

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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 […] Rea...

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Strong, Smart Leadership Moves In Disruption And Uncertainty

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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 ...

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Clear Their Path

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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’...

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Your Secret Weapon for Success In Uncertainty

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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...

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We’re Hard-Wired to Avoid Uncertainty – And That’s Not Good

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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 ...

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There’s a Reason They Can’t Get COVID-19 Out of Their Head

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Many years ago, when I was working in the UK, I went to Paris for a short weekend trip, and lined up at the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. Millions of people have done it over the years (and most of them seemed to be there the day I went, but that’s another story!). […] Read more ...

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Next Level Leadership: The Top Three Post-COVID Trends

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In ‘normal’ times, we tolerate mediocre leaders because replacing them is harder than keeping them. But during the worst of the pandemic, those leaders were ruthlessly exposed. A crisis doesn’t create leaders; it amplifies them. This crisis has put leadership in sharp focus, and we have clear...

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This Ten-Minute Trick Takes You From Chaos to Calm

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A few months ago, you might have been forgiven for thinking we in Australia were over the worst of COVID-19. The vaccine rollout – although slow – was happening, the spate of short lockdowns earlier in the year had stopped, and things were gradually getting better. But it didn’t take ...

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Why You Need To Change Your Mind

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As I’m writing this, ATAGI, the expert group advising us on Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, is meeting to reconsider its advice about the AstraZeneca vaccine. ATAGI initially approved the vaccine as safe for all adults, and that advice still applies. But, due to a small risk of blood clot...

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