No Bullsh!t Leadership

Episode #142 // When tech firm Basecamp released some new company policies, around a third of their people resigned (hey, it’s only a small business, but even so)! What’s all the fuss about?    These fairly innocuous changes made by co-founder and CEO, Jason Fried, drew clearer lines between social and work-related interactions, and set some boundaries that Basecamp deems appropriate. &n...

Episode #141 // Understanding risk, and being able to respond in a manner that’s both appropriate and proportional to the level of risk is a fundamental capability for leaders. When we talk about judgement in leadership and decision making, a lot of it comes down to how well we can assess and respond to risk, given the uncertainty that faces us at any given point in time. This episode brings the d...

Episode 140 // In this week’s Q&A, we’re going to cover two questions about the subtle art of managing upwards and how to deal with a passive aggressive boss . We do get an awful lot of questions about how to deal with those leaders above you, so much so that we’re actually planning out a mini-course about it! In the meantime, the two questions we’ve chosen for this episode cover the main issu...

Episode #139 // This week we take on a great listener question that will be on many people’s minds at the moment. Fear has been stoked to extraordinary levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent impact of lockdowns and travel bans on many businesses has been severe. Many people are living in fear, as they see their companies struggling to survive, and are faced with the harsh reality...

Episode #138 // I recently had a robust after-dinner discussion over this old expression. It’s often said by someone who’s trying to explain the reasons behind another person’s success. And, yes, it’s designed to somehow diminish their achievements. It implies that learning and knowledge are inherently more noble and worthwhile than building relationships… or perhaps there’s an element of favoriti...

Episode #137 // This week’s episode is another interview, this time with marketing icon, Eric Siu! Em managed to secure this interview with the man who was instrumental in us understanding how to build our business, in a world that requires mastery of both physical and digital marketing channels. For those of you building your own businesses, this episode will be invaluable. For those working in l...

Episode #136 // How do you know when it’s time to leave an organisation? Like almost every question in leadership, the answer is - it depends . Every situation is completely different, and only you know the factors that affect you: the workplace culture, your personal circumstances, the impact your boss has on you, and your ultimate career aspirations. But wouldn’t it be great to have a framework...

Episode #135 // Is there such a thing as “ too much empathy ”? Despite what many pundits say, I believe that there’s a place for almost limitless empathy in a leader. The more you have, the better you’ll be able to lead your people.  The risk is that weak leaders often allow their empathy to devolve into sympathy, which is a very different thing. If you combine empathy with the right leadersh...

Episode #134 // Have you ever been told that you need to be “more strategic”? t can come as part of the dreaded post-interview feedback, when you find out that you haven’t got the job, or in a talent management discussion when your boss tells you that you aren’t seen as someone who might rise to the next level. Telling someone that they need to be more strategic means… well, nothing! This episode...

Episode #133 // INTERVIEW After 130-odd episodes of me giving my two-cents worth on all things leadership, we’re starting to introduce the occasional interview with a leader who has really made a difference in the world. In this episode, I interview Luc Robitaille , President of the Los Angeles Kings National Hockey League franchise. After a 20-year career as an elite athlete in one of the toughes...

Episode #132 // There are many variables that have an impact on what a CEO role entails at a given point in time - industry, company size, maturity of the business, external market forces, customer segmentation, ownership structure etc. On top of this, every day can be vastly different, which is why some of the most important attributes for a CEO to possess are adaptability, change tolerance, and...

Episode #131 // I run into leaders all the time who struggle with the personal impact that a leadership role has on their lives. It can be emotionally draining, and it can have far reaching impacts through every aspect of their lives. To be a successful leader in the longer term, and at the most senior levels, you first have to learn how to manage yourself. As they say during the airline safety br...

Episode #130 // As leaders, we expect most things to be logical. They should make sense to us, and be easy for us to explain to our people. And to a large extent this is true. But we also can’t overlook the fact that some of the most important principles of success are actually counterintuitive, and we need to be able to hold this dissonance in our heads. It’s in our nature to look for easy answer...

Episode #129 // INTERVIEW In today's podcast, I talk about the 'Executive Breakthrough' with Michelle Foley, Chief Customer Officer at The Arnott's Group. Michelle has been with The Arnott’s Group for over 17 years now, and knows the company intimately. The iconic Aussie brand that brings us Tim Tam cookies and Jatz crackers is now going through some change, and Michelle is one of the key executiv...

Episode #128 // In this episode, Em & I discuss a few brilliant listener questions relating to promotions. The first question is from Anne, who asks about breaking through the middle management ranks to get to more senior levels when you think you’re overdue for a promotion, but your bosses don’t see your potential the same way you do. The second question is from John, who asks about some of t...

Episode #127 // We’ve had a lot of people recently asking us about the role of purpose in business. In this episode, we answer a great question from one of our Leadership Beyond the Theory alumni, David. What should we make of the push for organisations to be ‘purpose-driven’? Can we truly put people before profits? What are the pros and cons of setting up a purpose, and trying to use that to driv...

Episode #126 // At some point, every leader needs to present proposals to their boss in order to gain approval for deploying the organisation’s resources. After years of analyzing and approving investment proposals (many for hundreds of millions of dollars), I demystify the process, giving you the practical tips that will enable you to deliver a winning proposal, every time. Whether you’re asking...

Episode #125 // How do you develop a mindset to make decisions confidently, while removing any concerns about the implications it could have for your job - your promotability and future prospects? This can be a particularly vexed question when you work in a larger organisation, where the politics can sometimes be quite vicious. So how do you learn to take smart career risks, knowing that things wi...

Episode #124 // There are very few people who are totally comfortable presenting in a public forum, whether it’s a submission to the board, a ‘town hall’ style meeting for people who work on your team, or a sales presentation. We released an episode over 12 months ago, called “ Epic Presentation Fails ”. This focused mainly on how to structure a presentation, and how to not bore your audience to d...

Episode #123 // There was a lot to celebrate in 2020, despite the difficulties we all faced. And whereas much of the world was focused on leading through the pandemic, it still didn’t stop the run-of-the-mill failures that come from deceptive, negligent, and self-interested leadership. As a subscriber to the Australian Financial Review (our daily Wall St Journal equivalent), I just love their end-...

Episode #122 // As much as I think any day is a good day to rethink what we’re doing in our lives and careers, a milestone like the new year typically prompts us to reflect a bit more deeply. 2020 was a pretty tough year for many of us. This time last year, when we released the Crush Your Career challenge, we had no idea what twists and turns the world was about to take! Having said that, if you d...

Episode #121 // As we traditionally do in December, Em and I thought we’d take a look back on the year of podcasts, and pick out our favourites for you to go back and listen to while you’re enjoying some downtime in the New Year. It’s been a helluva year and, as I look back, I feel an incredible sense of gratitude for what I’ve personally experienced, and feel especially humbled by both the busine...

Episode #120 // This week, I share a mentoring session with a senior leader from a large industrial business. Vahid ran an extremely successful transformation program in his own business unit, and asked me how he should go about expanding the initiative so that the broader organisation might benefit.  Having seen some early resistance in other business units, I talked Vahid through some of th...

Episode #119 // A lot of leaders say that their organisation is suffering from “change fatigue". Although there are no doubt many impacts from the seemingly endless list of change initiatives that organisations roll out, is change fatigue really a thing? Maybe it’s simply an inevitable part of life in a fast-paced business environment. But the problem with using cliches like ‘change fatigue’ is th...

Episode #118 // When we spend so much time dedicated to our work, it’s pretty common to feel as though we’re neglecting other important areas of our lives: our families, our health, our friends… we can even lose our basic zest for living. We forget that we’re supposed to be working to live, not living to work. In this episode, we focus on how to have a stellar career, and still be successful in th...