How to create spaces for breakthrough ideas
I have started re-reading Safi Bachall’s book on Loonshots that I blogged about last week (here) and also thinking more broadly about taking time to focus and reflect on idea development. This is particularly relevant as the last weeks have made me also reconsider whether I am taking enough time to create these spaces for […]
How to create the right conditions for crazy ideas
When I heard Safi Bahcall on Harvard Ideacast talking about his new book Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, there was no turning back. A book about how to foster innovation and breakthrough ideas is simply a must have. A loonshot is an innovation that essentially […]
How to attract the hidden funding opportunities
I spent a day this week at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s conference (CASE ASAP conference) in Brisbane where I attended the role of academic leadership and its linkage to philanthropic funding. CASE focuses on “advancement professionals” who are often the unnoticed group of professionals in organisations who are tasked in leveraging […]
How to achieve unique coherence
Anyone in a leadership or managerial position knows how difficult it is to manage teams. You need to take into account the different skill sets and specific expertise, the personalities, and also different understandings of what needs to be prioritised and when. Yet, at the same time, we are increasingly told that we need to […]
How to immediately boost organisational performance
Countless books, podcasts and articles tackle this fundamental question: how do you boost an organisation’s performance and do it quickly and effectively. Google gives 7,430,000 results for “how to boost organisational performance”. We often look for different metrics across organisations, and make decisions how to run things more effectively in the hope of increasing performance. […]
How to guard your time (and be smart about it)
Do you ever get contacted by people outside your organisation asking you to donate your time and expertise for free but you end up feeling like they are doing you a favour? I do a lot of media engagement and communication in my current role because I am passionate about what I do, and I […]
Leadership and alter egos: making peer review more humane?
I have been attending this week sessions Manager as a Coach, a support program provided by the university for the staff in trying to get us to think more coach-like in how we manage people. My key takeaway messages are that power is something that is shared, that good leaders and managers focus on giving […]
How to know when you have ‘arrived’
This week I’ve been inspired by several different ideas. Listening to the latest episode of Learning Leader (#299 with Kyle Maynard) one of the things struck me is the question when we have arrived. ‘Arrived’ in this context means about reaching a point or end goal, and recognising that moment as significant. I have also […]
How to challenge norms (in a good way)
I am halfway reading Priya Parker’s book The Art of Gathering and it has really made me question a lot of the norms that we have all around us how to gather. For example, the piece I wrote last week about how to create more meaningful gatherings really struck a cord with many of my […]
How to organise more meaningful gatherings
In the past week I have listened to a number of podcasts and one of them in particular has stuck with me, The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker who appeared in Coaching for Leaders (episode 395). (and yes, of course I’ve already ordered the book). In this episode, Dave and Priya discuss her new […]