Why it’s SMART to play politics @ work, and stupid not to.

Aristotle noted, “Man is by nature a political animal.” Plato stated, “One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” A constant theme of my coaching the past 20 years has been clients’ resistance to engage in “Office Politics” on essentially moral, ethical or […]

Why you should be ruthless as a leader.

Image: Shadow of the Samurai Ruthlessness is a vastly undervalued and unrecognised trait of any High Performer and Great Leader. Mostly it manifests to people external to the leader as extreme business, selfishness or inexplicable commitment. ALL High Performers and Great Leaders ruthlessly triage their days, weeks and months based on what’s most important to […]

Why “flexible” working DOES NOT work for high performance.

Image: Navy Seal training There’s a growing trend for employers to offer more flexible working arrangements from three days a week, to working from home on regular days, to temporary contracts. Whilst this trend serves the needs of many moderately performing employees and employers, its destructive to startups, scaleups and high performing businesses and people. […]