Or as my mother-in-law, who is from a rather different era, infamously said rather too loudly on a plane where an announcement had just gone out for a Mr and Mrs Wong to make themselves known to crew – “two Wong’s don’t make a right”. OK, so not overly sensitive, and undoubtedly a bit of … More Hiring talent : 2 wrongs don’t make a right
Artificial intelligence has landed in my Executive life with a crash, bang and a wallop. And its name is Walter (its surname rhymes with Shitty). At certain points in a long, lucky and hopefully plucky career I’ve met people who don’t fit the mould. Usually this has been in a good way – variety is … More Enter the Executive maverick : Rock Star CIO
To achieve success and longevity in your Executive life you will require a certain number of key “skills” that you need to be able to seamlessly pick up along the way. It’s not a long list – relatively short on substance as well as quantity in truth – but it is essential to get to … More Tales from the Vault: a definitive guide to nailing a presentation, and how not to.
If your gut instincts are well tuned in then you know pretty quickly when you’re being led by a wrongun. I can safely say my gut has recently been jolted into overdrive, and my big challenge is what the hell to do about it. I believe that there is a widely held public view that … More Rotten role : a sad tale of corporate incompetence
Last week I was rudely introduced to a new level of data driven executive atrocity. A very thorough set of new age psychometric tests followed by a four hour – yes four hour – face to face interview with an ex lawyer. My fault entirely that the scale of the horror hit all at once. … More The Executive Assessment
I love sport. End of story. Playing it is great. Testing yourself. As an individual or as part of a team. There are stacks of important lessons that you learn by participating in the sporting arena that will stand you in great stead for improving your executive journey. But sport is about more than that. … More The bonhomie of crowds and what it can teach us
So you’ve skimmed the blogs, articles and e-books, you’ve transformed yourself and you believe. You have your positive head on all the time. You banish negative thoughts and people. You’re tackling life and work with zest & vigour, and of course all done at an incredible no nonsense pace. You are embracing agile and digital … More Top 5 risks to your hard earned executive karma
Restructuring. Downsizing. Disestablishing. And now Transforming. These descriptors tumble out of the thesaurus like marbles through a mincer, particularly in this age of disruption and reinvention, but the one commonality is that these fancy words and phrases spell doom and chaos for the rank and file; and just as interestingly tend to lead to an … More Company restructure : a modern day Wild West
As I ponder my ongoing slightly bumpy “Road to Damascus” I can’t help but conclude that these days all the answers seem to revolve around blending. No single bold action or isolated development focus is enough any more. You need an active and curious mind to make sense of all the nonsense and to lead … More Bugs, Blenders and Bodily Betterment
I’ve spent my whole career trying not to get typecast and pigeonholed. I mean really, who on earth would want to be Ken Barlow? Successfully manoeuvring between streams has afforded me that ultimate luxury of variety throughout my career and life. And with variety you have more chance of staving off boredom. And by staving … More Tales from the Vault: Square pegs and round holes
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