Guest article – Andrew Hollo

My brilliant Melbourne colleague Andrew Hollo from Workwell Consulting helps leaders and public value agencies demonstrate their value in difficult-to-quantify areas. He helps boards and leaders to truly develop and implement their strategic outlook. He is widely read, deeply curious, abundantly helpful, and has mastery in electronic interactions. I have invited Andrew to make this guest contribution from his own thought-provoking weekly 5MSM, five-minute strategic mindset email. You can subscribe below. Oblique strategies Have you ever needed a nudge to...

Retaining your vitality and optimism at home and at work

The last two months have given us a second encounter with our bubbles, those people we are closest to, or live with. In the early days of COVID-19, Dr Tristram Ingham came up with the concept of “bubbles” while advising the Ministry of Health early on in the pandemic response for the disability sector. This concept, which limits the number of close contacts with whom an individual can reside, captured the imagination of the Prime Minister, made pragmatic sense to...

Look Inside Leadership Levers

Leadership Levers: Releasing the power of relationships for exceptional engagement, participation, and team results. Get the inside story. Here’s an outline of my book on the Routledge website. Get In Chapter 1 of Leadership, I discuss the impact of intimacy in organisations, those daring interactions that bring leaders’ personal, private and professional lives together enabling people to get to know them more, rather than working with people who are soulless automatons. Working with leaders over many years, I discovered that there...

A simple method for eliciting powerful contributions

“By shifting our preparation to clarify the purpose of every agenda item discussions radically improve” Diana Jones How many meetings have you been in where despite the latent around the table, the discussions have been all over the place, littered with red herrings, point-scoring, and off-topic? How on earth does this happen? Funnily enough, few of us have been taught how to participate in groups. Most of us think achieving the task is the most important reason that we are...

Finishing touches with my new book

The proofs of my next book Leadership Levers have arrived. I have written this book as a handbook for leaders who want to work well with groups. Its full title is Leadership Levers: releasing the power of relationships for exceptional participation, alignment, and team results. This is the final chance I have to ensure all earlier edits have been actioned. Amendments to the proofs are limited to the correction of any errors that may have been generated in the typesetting process, and to...

Denial or acceptance?

“Winning is important for confidence and losing is necessary for learning” Dr Rakesh YashRoy I love high-performance sport and have enjoyed the feast of tennis, football, rugby, and now the Olympics. One standout moment for me was the rivalry between the Italians and the English in the Euro 2020 football final. Both teams have over 50 years since their last win. There was a lot at stake. Soccer is one of those oddities where players are paid millions, yet a...

The great lie that New Zealanders don’t want to work

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart” Rumi Why is it Aotearoa New Zealand is using immigration to prop up industries like rest home care, fishing, chefs, seasonal work, and IT sectors? Why don’t New Zealanders want these jobs? The assumption that locals don’t like these jobs is simply untrue. Locals don’t like these jobs most likely because they are treated poorly by employers, and they aren’t...

Belonging – Whakapapa – you belong here

“The most powerful narcotic in the world is the promise of belonging” Kalle Lasn What a great book Owen Eastwood, Ngai Tahu, has written. Every leader in New Zealand, in business, sport and communities, should read this. If you want to know how to create a sense of belonging and inclusion in organisations, generating high performance, this book is for you. Three things stand out: • Eastwood is a consummate storyteller. The stories in the book include both personal stories...

On the spectrum or just bad behaviour?

“For change efforts to be successful, behaviours must be altered. If behaviour isn’t altered, we’re doomed to repeat past mistakes.” Peter Drucker Hosting Saturday Night Live in Mid-May, Elon Musk said that he has Aspergers. This might come as a relief to some who want to explain his erratic behaviour, outbursts and wild accusations. The definition of the disease is: “A form of autism spectrum disorder that is less severe than other forms, characterized by difficulty with social interaction...

Reflections from Auckland’s Readers and Writers week

“Without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything whether it’s a relationship, a business or a hobby.” Neil Strauss What struck me about Auckland’s Readers and Writers week was the generosity of this programme. There were many free events alongside paid-for events. Each was packed. I went to Siobhan Harvey’s launch of her new poetry book ‘Ghosts’ and heard 5 poets including my friend Maris O’Rourke recite her riveting poem Kintsugi. I met and had a chance to talk with Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle...