No Bullsh!t Leadership

Tired, cynical, or stuck? Learn 4 tools to beat creeping frustration at work. Have you ever been in a situation where you just get worn down? Where all of the little things just seem to add up? This is what I call creeping frustration …things that, by themselves, are hardly worth mentioning…but they add up over time to create a drag on your capacity, mood, and effectiveness. It’s the proverbial de...

Have you ever thought of quantifying how well your team is performing? You probably should, because so much of it is down to you, and how you lead. The Value Delivery Rating is a useful guide. It’s simply the product of effectiveness and efficiency , and it shows you how much performance upside is yet to be captured.  If you want to go deeper into how you can supercharge your team’s performan...

Astronomer CEO on Coldplay Kisscam: A leadership lesson in trust, power & judgment. Social media platforms have been full of schadenfreude (read: pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune), as the relationship between two company executives was inadvertently revealed for the world to see on the Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert. We shouldn’t fall into the trap of making moral...

You’re not responsible for everyone’s success. Here’s what you are responsible for. As leaders, we often feel as though it’s our obligation to make sure that everyone on our team is happy, motivated, and succeeding.  As much as that would be nice, it is also incredibly unrealistic. The notion that you can make everyone successful is somewhat ridiculous, given the myriad human conditions you’l...

How to handle pay reviews, bonuses, talent retention, and asking for a raise. Last week, we released a bumper episode on remuneration — Ep.358: How to Pay People Properly . How do remuneration packages work? What’s involved in the different types of incentive payments? How is each pay component evaluated? Having built the foundations, in this episode I take it to the next level by walking through...

Ambition isn’t bad - here’s how to harness it without burning out. There are plenty of people who will tell you that ambition is inherently bad. But without ambition there would be no innovation, no invention, and no progress. So don’t be misled by people who tell you that ambition is bad or undesirable. The trick is to learn how to manage your ambition so that it becomes a source of infinite good...

The biggest cost item on most P&Ls is labour. You’ll probably spend more money this year paying people than you will on any other operating expense.  But do you know what you’re paying for ? And do you know how to get the most from this major investment of your company’s resources? We’ve had several questions from the leaders in our current cohort of Leadership Beyond the Theory on the re...

Is servant leadership helping - or hurting - your team’s performance? Here’s the truth. The concept of servant leadership isn’t new. It departs from traditional leadership models by shifting the focus from the organisation to the people who work for it. But is this a good idea?  Can your team still perform at its peak if you divest the accountability of your position?  Or is this noble s...

Can you really trust business research? 3 tips to sort facts from flashy findings. We have a deep fascination with the research that’s pumped out of the world’s top business schools. But are the findings as bankable as we’re led to believe? The number of academic research papers that have been retracted due to faulty or manipulated data has blown out massively over the last several years. More tha...

Moment #127 It’s easy to fall into the trap of “ do as I say, not as I do ”, which is why it's important to be aware of any mixed messages you might be sending. Your people watch your feet, not your lips! They see every little inconsistency between your words and your actions, so self-awareness is everything. If you want to go deeper on how to be congruent, not hypocritical, have a listen to Ep.19...

One of the tensions you’ll feel as a leader is the constant trade-off between high-minded aspirations and practical outcomes. When you’re faced with any sort of ethical dilemma, it’s important to remain grounded, and this requires a deep understanding of the driving forces behind corporate decisions. This episode is about maintaining your perspective… ensuring you behave in a way that’s consistent...

Moment #126 There are a few difficult truths that may be crucial in your quest for leadership success. There’s no doubt in my mind that these principles are rock solid. They’re like gravity… they operate the same way on all of us, whether we believe in them or not!  In this Moment, I take a brief look at these 12 truths… if you find yourself having an adverse reaction to any of them, it might...

When we started the No Bullsh!t Leadership podcast in 2018, one of our first episodes focused on how to build a High Performing Team . Part mythbuster, part rallying cry for strong leadership, I outlined the essential characteristics that are common to all great teams. I also identified some attributes that are often said to enhance team performance, even though they do nothing of the sort. After...

Moment #125 When it comes to business, your raw intelligence doesn’t necessarily guarantee superior performance. There’s a massive difference between being a great leader, and being a smart executive. Unfortunately, I haven’t met many great leaders. The higher up you go, the more you rely on others for your success – so you’d better work out how to get the most out of them! Don’t let over-reliance...

Most leadership advice assumes you’ve got support and alignment, but what if your boss won’t back you, your peers are undercutting you, and politics matter more than performance? You don’t have to wait for the system to ...

Episode #124 // Career progression is a contact sport. If you want to be at the top of your game (and if you want to be in the tent when the promotion circus comes to town), it’s critical to build the 10 ingredients of promotability into your leadership repertoire. If you want to go deeper on how to improve your chances of picking up your next big role, have a listen to Ep.289: Improving Your Prom...

Over the last several years, Em has had countless conversations with the leaders in our global community. One of the trends she’s recognised lately is the breaking point that many leaders reach as they get promoted to more senior roles. Many natural leaders have the ability to wing it… at least for a while. But eventually, they realise that it takes more than good instincts to lead confidently. In...

Moment #123 // When it comes to any company’s operations, leaders tend to focus purely on the technical and process elements of performance. But the technical barriers that confront you are dwarfed by the organisational barriers that exist in your people and culture. How do you get your people to step up for the good of the business? If you want to take a deeper dive into how to make your operatio...

We hear a lot these days about personal branding, and there’s an expert for every occasion promising to guide us through the leadership branding maze. Is our “brand” important in helping us to realise our career aspirations? Probably… But there’s a dangerous misconception that you can construct an external image of desirable behaviours and values, without actually possessing them.   That appr...

Moment #122 // Some of the most important success principles are counterintuitive. It’s in our nature to look for easy answers to the things that challenge us.  The fact is, though, there aren’t any silver bullets.  In this Moment, I look at one of the most powerful counterintuitive truths, which every leader faces at some point. If you want to take a deeper dive into how to build a mind...

I came across a great quote recently, thanks to one of the leaders in our inner circle, Natasha Read .    It was a quote from Maria Montessori , who devised the Montessori method of teaching. The method focuses on the development of a child's inherent initiative and ability, allowing them to develop at their own pace. It emphasises growth through independence and experimentation.  ...

Moment #120 // Humour can vastly improve team dynamics and culture, by breaking through tension and giving people a laugh. But organisations have become pretty stiff over the last 10 years, and the part that humour plays seems to have greatly diminished.  In this moment, we look at what forms of humour are likely to be OK, and what might cross a red line at work. If you want to take a deeper...

Fewer, Better People. What a great mantra! The meaning is crystal clear and, what’s more, there’s absolutely zero fat on it - no corporate speak, no flowery adjectives! It’s one of those expressions that can apply to any business, in any industry, in any geography…it sounds blindingly obvious as soon as you hear it, doesn't it!? But that’s what makes it so incredibly powerful. It’s clear, and it’s...

Moment #120 // It’s almost guaranteed that when you take over a new team, it’s going to be a little dysfunctional. Sometimes, the team you inherit is completely broken, and you’re left with the unenviable task of repairing it. Fixing a broken team takes relentless commitment, but there are a few things you can do to greatly improve your chances of success.  If you want to take a deeper dive i...

Psychological safety is a critical part of a high-performance culture. Unless people feel comfortable contributing their ideas and challenging the vocal majority, the team will easily slip into the complacency of groupthink.   But psychological safety is often misunderstood, which is why we produced this mythbuster episode to debunk some of the commonly held misconceptions. I talk, from two d...