No Bullsh!t Leadership

Management by Walking Around has often been touted as a critical activity to motivate your people and give them greater clarity.  But we don’t often talk about how valuable it can be in helping you to get a handle on what’s happening below you.  The concept of Management By Walking Around was pioneered almost a century ago, but it’s still as relevant today as it ever was. Your people nee...

The fastest way to lift performance isn’t more effort. It’s ruthless focus on value. Cost and value are different. Knowing how to separate the two is essential. In this Moment, I identify the 6 biggest barriers to value capture, so that you can attack the problem at its core. Creating a sharper focus on the things that create value will equip your team to effortlessly deliver a massive performance...

It’s easy to talk about the benefits of leadership, but very few people talk about the cost of leadership. There’s a price to pay, and unless you’re willing to pay it, you’ll never be truly comfortable in a leadership role: You will have to make hard decisions that negatively affect people you care about You will be disliked, despite your best attempts to do the best for the most You will be misun...

If your confidence has slipped lately, this 5-step reset could save your performance. Occasionally, for some unknown reason, you may experience a slump in performance: and it can seriously affect your confidence. How does something like this happen? And, more importantly, how do you dig yourself out of the hole? If you want to take a deeper dive into how you can quickly recognise a performance hic...

Success isn’t accidental; it follows principles that most people prefer to ignore. In this episode, I show you how to focus on the things that really matter: the timeless principles that will make your success inevitable. Traditionally around this time, we produce an episode focused on the outlook for the year ahead but, heading into 2026, we decided to do something a little different. I'm going t...

How to execute layoffs decisively without damaging trust, morale, or talent. Termination for cause? Termination for convenience? Role redundancy? As a leader, you’ll sometimes have to face the difficult task of terminating someone’s employment. How can you do it without spooking your best people, and forcing an exodus of top talent? If you want to take a deeper dive into how you can pull out costs...

Most leadership content is consumed. Very little of it is used. In this end-of-year episode, we count down the  5 episodes from 2025 that genuinely changed how leaders think and act -  not because they were popular, but because they were applied. This isn’t a highlight reel. It’s a practical breakdown of why these episodes resonated, what made them work, and how you can use the ideas imm...

Resilient leadership isn’t about toughing it out, it’s about staying calm under pressure. Every leader likes to think they’re highly resilient. But many lack composure in high-stress situations (and also the self-awareness to admit it). Resilience is about regulating your own behaviour. But if you’re a leader, the real acid test is whether you have the mental, emotional, and psychological strength...

Your career already has a direction…the question is,  did you choose it? In 2026, relying on hard work, loyalty, or good intentions isn’t enough. AI is reshaping roles, career paths are less protected, and the system you’re operating in has plans for you...whether you like them or not. In this annual  Crush Your Career  episode, we unpack why deliberate career strategy now matters m...

Leadership vs management: why great leaders must also manage to make better decisions. While the debates about leadership and management continue to rage, the truth is that they’re intrinsically linked: they live on a continuum, in a spectrum of subtle gradients. You can’t be a great leader unless you’re a good manager. And the converse is also true: you can’t be a great manager unless you’re a go...

You worked hard in 2025. The real question is whether any of it actually mattered. Most leaders roll straight into a new year without ever stopping to review the last one properly. They plan harder, set bigger goals, and hope things improve. That’s how you end up repeating the same mistakes with a fresh calendar. In this episode, I walk you through a clear, no BS review of your leadership in 2025....

If leadership feels heavier than it should, this might explain why. To be a successful leader in the longer term, and at the most senior levels, you first have to learn how to manage yourself.  Strong leaders are strong people… strong enough to maintain their energy and positivity through years of stress and pressure…strong enough to shoulder the duty of care that comes with any impactful lea...

You already have a leadership brand…the question is, does it serve you? Every leader shows up with a reputation. It might be clear and consistent…or vague, confusing, and accidental. Either way, your people have formed an opinion about who you are, what you value, and how you lead. This bumper episode covers the three practical building blocks of a strong leadership identity: clarity on your perso...

Discover the 10-Second Rule that turns pressure into decisive action for real leaders. In situations that feel overwhelming, many people freeze, consumed by their fear. Their ability to make decisions, which might be OK in non-stressful situations, becomes virtually inoperative. The only thing they can do is wait for someone else to step in and take control. This is where you see real leaders emer...

Avoid costly hiring mistakes! Use these 5 interview questions to expose bullsh!t and find real talent. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to attract and retain the best people. But we all know how fickle the hiring process can be… recruiting talent is an imprecise science, which is why you have to get really good at interviewing. This is where you get the opportunity to meet your potential...

When nothing feels black and white, these principles keep your leadership unshakable! A lot of the principles I espouse in No Bullsh!t Leadership are quite categorical… in order to convey the principles clearly and concisely, I explain them in a rather singular manner: “ Do this! Don’t do that! ”  But nothing is that black and white, and the complexity and uncertainty of the environment can e...

How to spot (and stop) the koalas sabotaging your culture: nepotists, jerks, and ass-kissers. In Australia, koalas are a protected species. When one of the leaders in our No Bullsh!t Leaders Club started talking about the “koalas” in his company, I knew exactly what he meant. Working with koalas can be infuriating. They don’t play by the same rules, or observe the same cultural standards as everyo...

Leaders who earn trust fast get freedom to execute! Whether you’re trying to build trust with the people in your team or the leaders above you, there are certain behaviours you have to demonstrate in every single interaction. Using the CEO / Board relationship as a model, in this Moment I reveal the 6 things you can do to build trust with the leaders above you. If you want to have a deeper dive in...

AI is coming for your job…or is it? Right now, boards and CEOs are being sold the dream that AI will replace thousands of people, slash costs, and magically boost profit.  Meanwhile, leaders like you are stuck in the middle, trying to keep customers happy and deliver real results with tools that are still hallucinating and half-baked. So how do you cut through the hype and work out what is ac...

Is your team pushing back? Uncover upward bullying and take control as stronger leader. We hear a lot these days about work-related anxiety, which can easily lead to claims of bullying and harassment.  But we rarely hear about the impact this has on leaders like you, who bear the brunt of people’s personal problems in the workplace. For many companies, the explosion in stress-related claims h...

Every leader faces recurring challenges, the kinds of problems that don’t go away, they just evolve as you grow! In this rapid-fire Q&A, Marty and Em tackle 9 of the most common leadership issues that came in from our listeners across Instagram, LinkedIn, and email. From surviving a toxic boss and getting out of the weeds as your business scales, to knowing when “checking for standards” become...

If you’re struggling to work out how to manage your boss, it’s probably because you’ve never truly assessed the situation.  You have to know who you’re dealing with, and what makes them tick. In this Moment, I reveal the questions you can ask yourself to work out exactly what type of boss you have. Only then, can you understand how to manage up effectively. If you want to go deeper on how to...

Get buy-in fast, and learn how to consult without slowing change or losing momentum. I’ve spoken quite a bit over the years about organisational change, particularly as it relates to leading people through major disruption. Humans aren’t particularly adaptable, which is why a whole industry of organisational change management theory arose in the mid-1990s. In this episode, I take a slightly differ...

We all get things wrong, sometimes… but if we apologised every time we made a mistake, we’d be forever grovelling to someone .  If you never apologise, you’ll seem arrogant, disconnected, and out of touch… but if you apologise too much , you’ll appear weak, indecisive, and ineffective.  When should you drive forward confidently, and when should you take a step back and show remorse for t...

Are your people truly empowered, or just waiting for permission? Find out here. “Empowerment” is a word that seems to be used in an increasingly offhanded, throw-away fashion. When that happens, it loses both its meaning and its power. But, despite the dumbing down of empowerment, it’s still one of the most critical ingredients of execution. If you can’t empower your people effectively, you’ll sty...