No Bullsh!t Leadership

Moment #94 // During my corporate executive career, not working at the right level was probably the most common problem that I saw holding leaders back, and it happens at every level –  from front-line supervisors to CEOs of major companies. Most leaders say they want to delegate more… to give their people more responsibility, and not have to do so much themselves… but even before those words...

Episode #323 // Last week, we launched our No Bullsh!t Leadership Hub community, and it’s already firing on all cylinders.    For those of you who have joined, you may have answered the initial survey questions, some of which highlight the common problems that every leader faces.  One comment in particular, which was articulated beautifully by Sarah, really hit home. She said, “ I t...

Moment #93 // Middle management jobs are the toughest jobs in any organization. You’re effectively the meat in the sandwich, and the senior leadership might see you as just another person in the concrete layer. You get pressure from above, and resistance from below, creating incredible dissonance. This can increase your stress levels to the point where you’re downright miserable. How do you rise a...

Episode #322 // This week, I’m announcing something big: The No Bullsh!t Leadership Hub , our brand-new free community built for leaders who are serious about cutting through the noise and creating real impact. Em and I have been doing this podcast for over six years, and it’s time to take it to the next level by giving you a place to connect with like-minded leaders.  In this episode, I shar...

Moment #92 // Whenever you need approval to allocate resources, you’ll most likely need to convince your boss that it’s a good idea. All organizations have scarce resources, and have to allocate these resources carefully. The only thing I know for sure about your business is that you will never have enough time, money, and people to do everything that you’d ideally like to do. So, you have to do t...

Episode #321 // In the final part of my conversation with leadership expert Pat Lencioni, we take a quick dive into the complex dynamics of working with family and close friends in a business setting. Whether you're leading a family-owned company or managing close-knit teams, this episode is packed with insights on how to set the right boundaries while nurturing important relationships. Here’s wha...

Moment #91 // You’ve no doubt heard the expression, Employee Engagement . It’s roughly equivalent to the age-old concept of job satisfaction, or JSAT. The big question is, does increased employee engagement improve performance? It sounds like it should be true – as long as you believe that happy workers are productive workers. Unfortunately, I don’t! Most often, happy workers are just… happy! If y...

Episode #320 // Was Lucy Letby wrongly convicted in her healthcare murder trial? We may never know… but what we do know is that her trial was plagued by serious flaws in the statistical evidence presented by the prosecution. I find it just a little disturbing that the judge, lawyers, and jury were so innumerate, that they accepted the bogus statistics on face value. This lack of numeracy is probab...

Moment #90 // There’s a lot of talk these days about purpose… we’re indoctrinated with the notion that, if you don’t pursue your purpose, what you choose to do has no meaning or value. I’m calling bullsh!t… I didn’t find my true purpose until I was in my mid-50s – but in the years prior to that, I loved my life, and made a hell of an impact. If you want to find out more about the reality of pursui...

Episode #319 // We are constantly inundated with media reports, LinkedIn blogs, and conversations around the water cooler about the amount of stress we face in today’s work environment.   What’s changed since I was a young leader at the dawn of my career? The ability to disseminate information has far outstripped our ability to absorb it and make sense of it; We are “on” for a much greater pe...

Moment #89 // You can tell the character of a leader by watching what they do under pressure. Some choose to do what’s in the best interests of their team and their company. Others just let gravity take over, and head down the slippery slope of self-interest. If you want to be a strong leader – a person of character – you need to work out how to overcome your self-interest. I stumbled across an aw...

Episode #318 // Peter Drucker, one of the founding fathers of modern management theory said, “ There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. ”  This highlights just how much of what our people do, doesn’t add any real value to the company’s performance.  You’ve no doubt heard me talk about value in the past — it’s the centerpiece of the No Bullsh!...

Moment #88 // When you get promoted, you may expect your boss to spend time with you to induct you, to explain what’s important in your new role, and to walk you through the nuances of the transition. This rarely happens, if ever. But, once you understand the reasons why your boss doesn’t give you sufficient attention when you need it, you may be a little more forgiving. You need to take control o...

Episode #317 // Research from top executive search firm, Russell Reynolds , recently found that leaders’ confidence in their executive leadership teams (ELT) is falling: and this 3-year trend shows no signs of being reversed. What drives this erosion of confidence in the people in charge? What are leaders seeing in their ELTs that makes them question whether they know what they’re doing?  We’...

Moment #87 // A “captain’s call” is a decision made unilaterally by a team leader without consulting colleagues, often resulting in a massive clusterf*#k. In the majority of cases, captain’s calls are seen by their team members as being out of touch, nonsensical, and driven by self interest. This begs the question: are there any situations where making a captain’s call is appropriate and, if so, w...

Episode #316 // I'm releasing Part 2 of my interview with Patrick Lencioni today, where we're going to dive straight into how you can use his  Working Genius  assessment to  unlock the full potential of your team ! If you’ve ever struggled with team members not being in the right roles, or felt frustration when your own work drains your energy, this tool is definitely worth che...

Performance reviews seem to have fallen out of fashion in many companies, particularly those companies that focus purely on people’s short-term needs and wants. This does your people a huge disservice, because they never gain real clarity on what’s expected of them, and whether their performance is in line with those expectations. No performance review process is perfect and, like any tool, it can...

Episode #315 // I frequently mention high performers in passing, but I don’t often talk about how to find them, how to keep them, and how to get the most out of them. Many teams never get to experience the joy of having a star performer in their midst. And the thought of leading a real superstar can be daunting… especially if you aren’t confident in your leadership ability, or if you don’t have th...

Moment #85 // Enabling perfectionism creates all sorts of problems. Even though the quest for perfection sounds noble, in reality, it's mostly driven by fear of failure ! It adds an enormous amount of time, cost, stress, and complexity to any piece of work, without any material improvement in the outcome. A quest for excellence is infinitely more useful: be smart, make good decisions, and keep mov...

Episode #314 // Politics exists in every organization. Some companies tolerate it more than others, and it’s not uncommon for ego-driven leaders to encourage poor behavior from their most ambitious people. Leaders who tolerate or encourage political maneuvering will find that it has a direct impact on team culture, cohesion, and performance. But politics is so ingrained in human nature that it can...

Moment #84 // At some stage during your career, you’ll no doubt find yourself in the position where you need to drive a turnaround in your team’s culture and performance.  When you’re faced with that proposition, it’s really important to recognize that you can’t expect the same people to do things in a radically different way. If you want a culture change to be successful, the trick is to ble...

Episode #313 // We’ve all heard the stories about the people who started entrepreneurial ventures quite late in life, and found success at a mature age. If nothing else, this serves as a reminder that, no matter how many opportunities you think you may have missed , there will always be more in the pipeline… if you’re open to them. There’s a lot we can learn from those who’ve gone before us, if we...

Moment #83 // Over the last several years, we’ve seen greater integration of our work and personal lives than ever before… some would even go so far as to say it’s unprecedented . In the past, it was considered unacceptable to bring personal issues into the workplace. These days, though, we’re encouraged to bring our whole selves to work. This has made the job of a leader much more complicated, an...

Episode #312 // Last week I leaned into the more philosophical side of my content with my 12 hard leadership truths. This week, we’re back at the coal face with a very practical episode to help you nail the 5 hardest conversations you’re likely to face as leader.   This episode is super -practical… I go beyond my more general guidance on handling conflict to give you some nuanced tips for nai...

Moment #82 // Cutting through change-resistant behavior in any team is incredibly difficult, because the people who are supposed to be driving the change – the leaders below you – are the very ones who are most resistant to the change. Let’s face it, they have the most to lose. This is why the number one predictor of successful transformation is your ability to shift the culture. The only way to d...