"Leadership is language". Words are powerful tools that energise or deflate, inspire or dishearten. When we talk about "resources" rather than "people", or use "they" rather than "we" or say someone is lazy or use "must" or "have to" or abbreviations excessively, we set the

How do we enable change? According to Greg Satell Greg Satell, ideas for change spread socially. So it's the structure of networks that determine how fast/far ideas for change travel. It's not about the mode of communication or even the individual influence of early adopters.

Doodle for the day: Focus your energy on things you can change & influence - be conscious of where you distribute it

The most important reason to treat people well is not what you'll get in return. It's who you hope to become. Kindness is not about reciprocity or karma. It's about character. Civility doesn't need to be justified with consequences. Respecting others is the right thing to do.

In my experience, people don't resist change because they have "resistant personalities" or because of "human nature". They mostly resist because of the way we go about introducing or implementing the change or imposing it on them. Greg Satell suggests five major categories of

Too often when we talk about "leaders", we focus on people who have "manager" or "director" in their job titles. We can end up undervaluing the role of informal leaders - team members who influence outcomes by the tone they set, their conduct & how they interact with others in

Stanford Social Innovation Review Stanford Social Innovation Review has just produced a new reading list on transformative leadership. There are links to multiple excellent, thought provoking articles, such as in the first link "Recognizing Leadership in All Its Forms". Inspiring reading about

Research suggests that organisations that make the space to think about & prepare for the future get better outcomes. "Futures thinking" is increasingly becoming a key leadership skill. Whilst we cannot predict what is likely to happen, we can anticipate the future, prepare for

"Efficiency" & "productivity": two terms that we often confuse. As a result, we may struggle to address the problems we face because they focus on different problems with different solutions. High efficiency does not mean high productivity. We can create highly efficient

Emotional intelligence isn't only about reading others' feelings. It’s also about revealing some of yours. People with expressive faces are better liked—and better negotiators if they’re friendly. Showing emotion is not a sign of weakness. It's a tool for communication and fuel

The post I made a couple of days ago on the differences between efficiency and productivity has been turned into a superb sketchnote & accompanying blog by Tanmay Vora ✍: qaspire.com/efficiency-and…. For those who couldn't open the original article by Avi Siegal, here's another link:

I really like this new article on psychological safety (a belief that we can speak up, take risks & make mistakes without fear of being judged, humiliated or punished) at work. It sets out a series of activities/approaches that all of us can use to build psychological safety in

We invest significant time/resources into upskilling people at work - whether it is improvement methods, or interpersonal skills or compliance or technical training. But does it deliver? Research shows only 12% of employees actually apply new skills learned from training provided

We would get better outcomes in our action planning for change if we thought more about "leverage points". Leverage points are the powerful places in a system where small changes can lead to significant impact. They're not always obvious, which is why, when we are identifying

"Humanocracy: creating organisations as amazing as the people inside them" is a book that's had big impact on my change practice. A new updated version is due out in August 2025. In the meantime, here's a fantastic new sketchnote on a key principle from "Humanocracy": impact

Why superficial, so called "staff engagement" is worse than no engagement at all. This is about "listening sessions" & "engagement workshops" where people put their ideas forward (often on post-it notes) where nothing happens afterwards or "suggestion boxes" that don't get

"We aren't currently facing a "disengagement crisis" at work. What we're really facing is a mattering deficit". Mattering is knowing we’re significant to our leaders & key members of our group. When we experience mattering, we flourish - we’re more motivated & persistent &

The little "chit chats" we have at the start of a meeting or Teams call (where we talk about our weekends, the weather, our pets or the traffic) are really important. Research shows that they actually work as a neural 'warm-up' for a deeper connection. So the next time we get

Facilitation skills are not just for change & improvement "experts". Every leader should have them. Organisations that integrate facilitation into their leadership approach report more productive & engaged teams, improved innovation & better decision-making. Facilitative

Why do so many leaders & professionals keep working at a punishing pace, even when it damages their health, well-being & relationships? And why do organisational initiatives aiming to curb extreme work hours, e.g., "no email after hours" policies, wellness initiatives - often