Leadership
Develop your leadership potential with insights and strategies from our expert contributors, to help you excel in leading others. Whether you're a seasoned manager or aspiring to take on a leadership role, learn essential skills such as effective communication, listening, and team building. Discover how to motivate and inspire your team, navigate the challenges of hiring and recruitment, and implement successful management practices. Enhance your leadership capabilities and drive your team to success with expert guidance and practical advice.
Are You Truly Listening To What The Room Is Already Telling You?
I want to talk to you directly for a moment, not to leaders in general, not to the concept of leadership, but to you, the person reading this, probably between two other things, with a meeting queued up...
How to Communicate Effectively to Get Buy-In at Work
What this article covers? Why smart, capable people fail to get buy-in, and a practical framework for identifying what the person in front of you actually needs to hear before you speak. What you will...
Extreme Listening and the Seven Layers of Questions
Deeyah Khan calls it extreme listening and it’s an appropriate phrase. It is not easy to do, especially when tensions or disagreements are deeply rooted in emotions and belief systems. Extreme listening is...
Your Professional Voice is Costing You Credibility
When the stakes are high, most people don’t rise to the occasion. We lose the intention to communicate, and we start focusing on sounding polished, respectable, impressive, and in control. Before we even open...
What Writing a Book Taught Me About Leadership
I thought writing a book would teach me about publishing. Instead, it taught me about leadership. Not the polished kind we often see highlighted on social media. Not the carefully curated version filled...
Why Presence Is What Many People Long For But Few Truly Experience
We live in a world where people are more connected than ever before, yet increasingly disconnected from themselves, their relationships, and the present moment. Many people are...
Why Brilliant Thinking is Not Whole Intelligence – Part 2
In the first article of this series, I wrote about what I call the brilliant but limited mind: the head-led mode of intelligence that looks, listens, speaks, compares, analyzes, predicts, critiques...
Why the Skills That Got You Promoted Are the Ones Now Holding You Back
You were the best engineer, the sharpest accountant, the most reliable technical mind on the team. That is exactly why you were promoted. It may also be exactly why you are now struggling, working harder than you...
The Five Capacities of a Thriving Workplace Framework
Here are some questions that rarely get asked in performance reviews, talent programs, or leadership off-sites: Why do brilliant people disengage? Why do experienced professionals buckle under pressure?
Be a Floor, Not a Ceiling
Great leadership is not measured by how high a leader rises, but by how many people rise because of that leader. Too often, leadership is misunderstood as a position of control. Some see it as a title...
You Are Successful, but You’re Still Operating at a Fraction of Your True Capacity
Many leaders and CEOs believe they are living life to the fullest simply because they perform at a high level. They build companies. Lead teams. Make high-stakes decisions. Handle pressure. Create...
Why Smart People Keep Making Bad Decisions
Most people believe wrong decisions come from wrong thinking. That belief is wrong. Smart people make poor decisions every day in business, relationships, and leadership, not because they lack intelligence...
Why 'Push Through' Leadership is Bleeding Australian Businesses Dry
Burnout is costing Australia $14 billion a year. The problem isn't just tired workers. It's the leadership mindset that created them. She was one of the best leaders I'd ever worked with. Strategic...
How to Lead Without Having All the Answers
If you’ve built your career on being the one with the answers, you’re not alone. For many leaders, being an expert is what earned them trust, recognition, and promotion. I’ve experienced this...
You Can't Navigate a Room You Were Never Invited Into
Many professionals are told that career growth depends on speaking up, networking strategically, and building executive presence, but for high-performing individuals, especially women, the deeper issue is often...
In a Disembodied World, the Body is Revolution
We are surrounded by information, yet so many of us are hungry for wisdom. We are more connected than ever, yet often estranged from ourselves. I meet teachers, healers, coaches, and leaders with...
5 Lessons From My Father on Building a Lasting Legacy
We often think legacy is built through major achievements, titles, or defining moments. My father’s recent passing reminded me that it is more often built quietly, through everyday behaviours...
Leadership Starts At Home – What My Son Taught Me About Resilience, Advocacy, and Legacy
Leadership is often associated with the workplace, titles, teams, and performance. But some of the most powerful lessons in leadership are learned far from the spotlight. For me, one of my greatest teachers...
Do You Have A Clear Plan In Place For Success? Ten Top Tips For The Innovative Leader
The 10-step process to defining and achieving your personal goals. This is a unique approach to improvement in your success programme. The template for your success is below.
The Illusion of the 'Crystal Clear' Founder
Wanting something is not necessarily having clarity; it might be that you are only stubborn and want to prove everyone else wrong. As a business mentor, this comes to my mind too often when I hear...
3 Tips For Dancers & Teachers to Conquer Turns in Second
Ready to feel confident in teaching and/or starting the improvement on your turns in second skills? In today's competitive dance world, these turns are becoming more popular and extremely difficult...
A Values-Led Guide to Relocating Abroad with Children
Moving abroad with children is often framed as a logistical challenge, but for many families, it’s something much deeper. This article explores how a values-led approach can transform an...
The Silent Cost of High Performance
High performance is often celebrated as the driving force behind organizational success, but beneath sustained output and reliability, many high performers are carrying invisible levels of pressure and...
Joy, Limits, and Meaning for Those Who Help Others
If you are someone who chooses to help for a living, yours is the work of hope. This article explores how activists, doctors, therapists, and frontline workers can stay close to pain without losing sight...
Leadership is Not a Title, it is a Body of Work
There are priceless moments in life that remind me why I have such passion and humility in all my endeavors. At the turn of the century, a wiry 9th grade student entered the gym and with a puberty challenged...
The Mental Noise Problem Every Leader Faces
Most leaders do not realise they have a mental noise problem. Not because they lack self-awareness, but because they have been conditioned to believe that the “mental grind” is simply the...
How Healing Past Trauma Can Unlock Peace, Purpose, and Happiness
What if the very pain you’ve carried is not meant to define you, but to elevate you into a life of deeper meaning, peace, and purpose? This article explores how healing past trauma can unlock not only...
What Publishing Taught Me About Leading Whole
I want to start with something I don't say often enough in public, I have not always been a whole leader. I built Red Thread Publishing on passion and instinct, and for a long time, I confused the two...
Why High Performers Mistake Dysregulation For Drive
I used to think the tightness in my chest was just something I had to power through. “Just do more, get to the other side of the project, and you’ll feel better”. That is what I would tell myself. I thought the...
The Identity Crisis No One Talks About After Career Success
There is a particular kind of confusion that successful people rarely admit out loud. It happens after the promotions, recognition, and years spent building a respected career. From the outside, life appears ...
Wellbeing Without Compromise and Why Authentic Leadership Is the Future
There is a moment many women in leadership quietly experience, usually somewhere between managing a crisis at work, replying to emails while sitting outside a child’s activity, remembering a...
You're Not Stuck Because You're Not Working Hard Enough
Let me say the thing that nobody will say to your face. You are probably working incredibly hard. You are showing up, delivering, going above and beyond, and doing all the things you were told would lead to...
Why Spiritual Healers Struggle in Business and the One Belief They Must Heal to Truly Succeed
Spiritual healers are deeply devoted to transformation, yet many struggle in business due to unhealed beliefs around money, visibility, power, and leadership. To truly succeed, they must...
Why Do Women Leaders Burn Out? And How to Lead Without Losing Yourself
Burnout isn’t just about working too hard. It’s about working in a way that goes against who you are. For high-achieving women, leadership often comes with a hidden tax: the emotional, physical, and energetic...
The Top Reason Why High-Functioning Moms Still Feel Overwhelmed
High-functioning moms often feel overwhelmed not because they aren't managing tasks, but because their nervous systems are overloaded. Chronic stress disrupts their ability to relax, making...
What Tomorrow’s Employees Expect That Organizations Aren’t Ready For
One of my aunts recently shared a horrifying recruitment story with me. She had been approached by two recruiters, and after a few conversations, she realized they were from two different recruitment...
Quiet Quitting or Burnout Fallout – How to Reignite Engagement Through Purpose
Let’s talk about something that’s been bubbling up in workplaces everywhere, disengagement. By now, you’ve probably heard the phrase “quiet quitting.” It’s become the go-to way to describe employees...
The Great Police Exodus and Why Smart Companies Are Recruiting Former Officers
When crisis becomes opportunity: How the exodus from policing is creating an unprecedented talent pool for private enterprise. The statistics are sobering. Police officer departures have reached record...
Hiring Right – What Nonprofit Boards Need to Know Before Appointing Their Next Executive Director
When it comes to nonprofit leadership, few decisions carry more weight than hiring the right executive director. Yet, too often, boards approach this critical step with good intentions but limited...
Unlocking 5 Secrets To Keeping Your Top Talent
In today's competitive job market, opportunities abound for talent with exceptional skills.
Struggling To Grow Your Teams? Consider Fractional Hiring
As a business owner, you know your business can only be as successful as those who work for you.
Modern Hiring Is Broken Through The Pursuit Of Perfection
There is a good chance that you know someone who is in the midst of the most challenging job search of their life.
Why Executive Presence Needs a Rethink
I have been noticing, across articles, podcasts, LinkedIn discussions, and professional forums, a growing number of people questioning the concept of "Executive Presence." While traditionally defined as a combination...
Why the Leader's Brain is the Bottleneck No One Talks About
In my previous articles, we explored why productivity stalled long before artificial intelligence arrived, why psychological safety is widely discussed but rarely designed into organisational systems, and why...
The 28-Day Neuro-Reset for New Managers
Your first management role is a fast identity shift: your job is no longer doing great work, it’s getting great work done through others. If you’re excited, anxious, or both, this 28-day plan will help you...
Why the Most Effective Leaders Stop Trying to Be Strong and What Physics Has to Do With It
We have built leadership cultures that reward certainty and punish doubt. That celebrates the polished answer and quietly shames the honest question. We have told ourselves, and each other that to lead well is...
The Future of Leadership is Human and Why Self-Aware Leaders Win
Forget charisma. Forget hustle. The most powerful skill a leader can build right now isn’t in a textbook. It’s self-awareness. The old playbook rewarded control, output, and technical smarts. Today’s world moves...
Your Team Feels You Before They Hear You and Here’s Why It Matters
After 25 years at sea, navigating some of the most unpredictable conditions on the planet, I learned a lesson about leadership that no textbook ever taught me. It wasn’t strategy, it wasn’t experience, and it certainly...
5 Strategies to Reduce Stress and Unlock Team Performance
Let’s be honest: work can be stressful. Tight deadlines, shifting priorities, and complex personality dynamics can quickly create a sense of overwhelm. And as a leader, you’re not just managing your...
The Unhoused Encounter Significant Barriers to Access Quality SUD Treatment Services
I am a person who has lived through and overcome adversity. I was raised by a single mother, a woman I loved deeply but who struggled with addiction to prescription opioids. My parents divorced when...
How to Speak So People Listen and Remember You
I have worked with executives who closed multi-million dollar deals and still felt nervous walking onto a stage. Not because they lacked intelligence or expertise. But because public speaking exposes...
How to Ace Your Next Presentation
When I was in Grade school, public speaking was part of the curriculum. Everyone from Grade 4 onwards was required to deliver a fully memorized 3 minute speech in front of the class.
Why Recovery Is Non-Negotiable as a Speaker
I was recently flying back from Houston, where I had spent the day directing two of my VIP clients for an intensive filming session on set. We'd done deep work crafting their stories, refining their...
Let’s Talk About the Power of Common-Unity
In today’s rapidly changing world, organizations often struggle with disengagement, isolation, and the growing epidemic of workplace loneliness.
What Public Speakers and Performers Can Learn From Elite Athletes
Are you in it for the long haul or for overnight success? In a world where instant celebrity is yearned for, quick success is pined after, and easy wins are applauded, this question becomes more relevant...
You Don’t Need a Crown to Have Gravitas – Why Authority Is a Choice, Not a Title
What gives someone gravitas? Most people assume it comes from seniority or status, the job grade, the title on your email signature, or the visible signals that suggest influence. But these are surface...
