No Bullsh!t Leadership

Last week, we produced a BUMPER episode on the pros and cons of an MBA qualification. I even gave you a framework to help you evaluate whether an MBA is right for you, at this particular point in your career. In this episode, I go a step further, as I take a look at the overabundance of leadership development options that you might choose (or your company might choose for you). How do you navigate...

Moment #106 // Most people would rather resign than raise issues with their boss…but before you push the big red button, it might be helpful to think about how you improve your relationship with your boss by giving them feedback. Giving feedback to the people below you is hard enough, but giving it to your boss can be downright intimidating!  How do you earn the trust and respect of your boss...

If you’re considering the possibility of studying an MBA – or even if you have an MBA and want to work out how to maximize its value – this episode is your ultimate guide.   We’ve developed a structured framework to guide your decision-making process, and determine whether it’s worth investing the time, money, and energy into pursuing an MBA. For many decades, the MBA has been the business le...

Moment #105 // With ready access to mountains of information, decision-making processes in many companies have become more and more about data analytics. But some of the things that should influence your decisions defy accurate measurement. Just because something isn’t quantifiable or measurable doesn’t necessarily mean you should ignore it. Judgment and experience play a part in all great decisio...

Performance management gets a bad rap these days. There’s a school of thought that formal performance management processes do more harm than good. And in the hands of an inept leader working in a poor culture, that’s probably true.   But I’m a huge believer in the power of 1:1 meetings and, even though formal performance meetings are just one example, some leaders use the trend against perfor...

Moment #104 // Conventional wisdom tells us that “ happy workers are productive workers ”... but short-term, sugar-hits of happiness don’t lead to high performance! Team morale is elusive, and you don’t build it by being overly protective, or by mollycoddling your people. You build it by giving them an environment where they’re expected to stretch, grow, and achieve. This builds individual self es...

For the last four years, we’ve run the Crush Your Career Challenge with thousands of ambitious leaders, who’ve not only set bold career goals but actually achieved them. The challenge isn’t just about planning, it’s about results. This year, we’re taking it to a whole new level. You’ll be joining over 1,000 other No Bullsh!t Leaders, all working towards their goals alongside me and Em, inside The...

Moment #103 // Virtually every company has natural tensions built into its DNA, and these tensions can deliver incredible value – if you know how to manage them ! Robust discussions and strong accountability are key to unlocking this rich source of value. It takes strong leadership to capture the upside of the tensions in your team, rather than just following the path of least resistance, and squa...

Many leaders struggle every day with oppressive workloads and long hours. We all have busy periods – it comes with the territory – but if this pattern persists for more than a few months, that’s not just a busy period… that’s the way you live! To regain control of your time, you need to fundamentally shift the way you think about your leadership role. Over the course of many years, I was able to d...

Moment #102 // You may think that the most certain way to build job security is to make yourself indispensable – but you would probably be wrong! Indispensability isn’t good if it’s based on hoarding specialist knowledge – that will just make you a key risk to your team. Your value comes from building team capability, not from holding your team back by using your knowledge as a weapon. If you want...

Today’s episode is a bit of fun! As I like to do each year, I take a look at what’s likely to be ahead for economies, businesses, and leaders in 2025. I’ve done the research so that you don’t have to! To put this episode together, I’ve drawn on highly reputable information sources – The Economist , The Wall Street Journal , The McKinsey Quarterly , The Atlantic , Harvard Business Review and of cou...

Moment #101 // In these days of competitive labor markets, greater employee mobility, and increasing recruitment costs, our emphasis has to be on growing talent from within. This requires a razor sharp focus on performance, potential, and capability development. How do you develop your internal talent, while showing your stars that they don’t have to leave the company to advance their careers? If...

It’s Christmas Eve here in Boston, so Merry Christmas everyone! If Christmas isn’t your thing, then Happy Hanukkah, Ōmisoka, or Kwanzaa - whatever your beliefs, the end of the calendar year is a time of reflection and renewal. As is our tradition, Em and I are wrapping up the year by looking back on the incredible podcast content we’ve created in 2024. This week, we’re highlighting our five favori...

Moment #100 // Many leaders talk about value, but for the people they’re trying to motivate, it’s almost meaningless. What should they do differently from what they’re already doing? How would they know if what they were doing was value-accretive, or not? Value isn’t forged in rhetoric, no matter how consistently you talk about it… it’s forged through your actions – and these actions begin in your...

One of the more difficult aspects of leadership is managing your people’s expectations. You’re in the hot seat, and your team will judge your leadership based on whether or not they feel as though you’ve met their expectations. So, what do you do when your people’s expectations are unrealistic? Or irrational? Or even delusional? As a No Bullsh!t Leader , I know you try to be as open, clear, and di...

Moment #99 // During my executive career, I gained a lot of experience in driving change. I’ve also read all the iconic literature on change management, much of which is incredibly useful But there’s one thing, above all else – a make-or-break element of any major change program – that’s often overlooked: It has to be abundantly clear to everyone that not changing is not an option.  How do yo...

Episode #328 // After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, we seem to be reaching a more stable position on how work and life should coexist in a post-Covid world. But, just as stability seems within reach, there are other forces at play which could very well create the perfect storm. An older generation of workers is beginning to vacate the workforce, making way for fresh talent, new ideas, and di...

Moment #98 // Sitting down to interview Scott J Miller was like sitting down with Graham Norton, or Joe Rogan, or David Letterman — so, I was intrigued to uncover what Scott had learned from interviewing some of the world’s most iconic and successful people. What do Deepak Chopra, Malcolm Gladwell, and Matthew McConaughey have in common?  If you want to go deeper on what makes the world’s mos...

Episode #327 // Bad news can be really tough to handle, especially when it’s so unexpected that you didn’t see it coming. At times like these, it’s human nature to try to find an explanation for what happened, so that you can process it and find some meaning. This enables you to eventually move on.  The first place you’ll look for answers is in what we were told . When the boss delivered the...

Moment #97 // Everyone says leaders are learners, but the truth is, not all learning accelerates your career. You can spend hours consuming information without gaining the wisdom and insight that truly set great leaders apart. In a world where knowledge is a commodity, the real power lies in knowing how to apply it. But what are the unconventional strategies, the career accelerators no one talks a...

Episode #326 // Yes I'm talking about Tom Brady again in this episode BUT DON'T KEEP SCROLLING! This episode is an absolute must-listen!! As you know, I occasionally take a leadership example from the world of professional sport, but it’s rare to see one of the greatest sportsmen of all time talking in detail about what makes a team great . I came across an article in Harvard Business Review , whi...

Episode #96 // Every organization talks about performance – but not every organization is serious about it. When push comes to shove, many companies simply aren’t prepared to do the basic things that would deliver high performance.  What are the telltale signs that the culture you’re a part of isn’t serious about driving performance… despite all the rhetoric to the contrary? If you want to go...

Episode #325 // I’m sure you hear me talk frequently about value creation. As a leader, your primary objective above all else is to deliver value. How you do that depends on your context .  One of the key principles that enables this razor-sharp fixation on value is simplicity and focus . Simplifying your company's objectives, its work program, and its customer value proposition is a complex...

Moment #95 // Working successfully in complex organizations requires collaboration. But you shouldn’t sacrifice strong accountabilities for the sake of collaboration. When you don’t structure your team’s work program around single-point accountability, it’s hard to know who’s doing what.  Accountabilities  become opaque, confused, and misunderstood… and performance suffers accordingly. M...

Episode #324 // Welcome to a special episode from our recent No Bullsh!t Leadership Live event in Sydney! Marty dives into the real, pressing issues leaders are facing today with his no-nonsense insights. In this episode, he tackles questions on: Managing a “Nike Boss” : How do you handle a boss who ignores resource limitations and expects you to “just do it”? Effective Downward Communication : Ho...