Should you give up digital platforms to become successful?
Usually when I pick a book from the shelf at the bookstore, I feel excited. It’s that excitement where you know that someone has spent years of devoted time to amass the wisdom and insights on a topic that I am about to benefit from. With Cal Newports Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in […]
When: The timing of decision-making as a science
With the global climate change discussions and the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC), we are constantly told that we need to accelerate real decisions on reducing emissions across all countries. This year will see two key events that are said to either make or break the global climate regime: the UN Secretary […]
3 key factors that can help you to become a successful original
In a world that in theory praises failure all across management and leadership wisdom (“failure leads to growthâ€), in reality many people’s number one worry is that they would fail publicly in something that they have invested heavily in. This means that most of us curb the innovation and original ideas that reside within us […]
How to speak up in a way that matters
How many times have you left an idea to just lay there because you did not have the courage or energy to take it forward and speak up? In Adam Grant’s Originals there are lots of insights into why some people and ideas flourish. Amongst the key messages are two fundamental issues: choosing the right audience […]
How to lead and conference through vulnerability
The European Climate Change Adaptation Conference 2019 in Lisbon this week brought together 1200 individuals who are all working on different aspects of climate adaptation in Europe and internationally. Attending the conference and listening to the conversations taking place made me reflect again how we organise gatherings and how we design spaces, moments and times […]
How to invest in people in an era of changing leadership platforms
Leadership and talent development are a growing and increasingly urgent reality for many companies. Increasingly companies are looking at their workforce through the eyes of talent acquisition and concern: who is doing well, who can do better and which processes deliver the most effective growth in the skill sets companies look to advance. Yet, the […]
How to develop truly daring leadership
Many of us aspire to be good leaders and know in theory what that should look like, yet struggle when it comes to managing teams and thinking about different levels of leadership and our opportunities to influence change. This week in particular I have spoken with many individuals about leadership, especially as I finished our […]
How to create a grit ecosystem that works for you
We all admire people who have grit, who keep on persisting and achieve great things. Many of the people who we recognise as fathers and mothers of innovation are often described as individuals who just believed in an idea and persisted. In essence, they had “grit”. So the question that everyone seems to be asking, […]
How to improve organisational fitness
Most leaders are eager to learn the secrets how to improve organisational performance, and there are countless books how to do this more or less painfully. Yet, the actual changes needed are not about culture but of structure; changes that challenge the common views and are therefore often discounted as actual solutions. I have lately […]
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 […]