What Volodymyr Zelenskyy can teach us about leadership

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy emerged as an icon of Ukraine’s determination in its war against Russia. During the past few weeks, I spent many hours glued to the news, Twitter, looking for information about the war. Despite untold horrors, Mariupol, Kharkiv and Chernihiv suffering under bombs. Ukraine stands strong and its president remains in … Read more

Why leaders should know their history

History always fascinated me and I seriously considered becoming a historian after leaving school. Nowadays, I am astonished at the low level of historical knowledge amongst the general population. Within the organisation, I led. Basic knowledge of when the organisation arrived in the United Kingdom and the rather turbulent history which followed is poor. I … Read more

Leadership is often about attitude rather than aptitude

Recently, someone shared with me some comments that they had heard at the start of my leadership journey. According to these comments, severe concerns were raised about my suitability to become a senior leader in my organisation. In summary, I was too young, too inexperienced; and knew nothing about the journey on which I was … Read more

Tall vs wide strategic leadership – Part 3: Leadership lessons from Russia

In the first article of this series, we looked at the strategic concepts of growing tall vs growing wide. Leaders can harness these concepts to grow and expand any organisation. Both concepts however require leaders to different decisions and to demonstrate different leadership behaviours. In particular, tall growth requires a constant focus on quality, reinventing oneself and anticipating … Read more

Why leaders should lead from the front

I spent a lot of time during the last few months reflecting on my own leadership experience. One of my conclusions is that leading from the front helped me achieve success as a leader. Interestingly, the concept of leading from the front is coming back in fashion since the start of the pandemic. Here is why I … Read more

What constitutes good feedback and why it matters

Less than a year after starting my journey as a speaker, I was offered the chance to become a “mystery speaker” in a Toastmasters club. As it would be my sixth Toastmasters speech, and the one which would enable me to enter the international speech competition. I said yes to this opportunity, thinking that I … Read more

Tall vs wide growth strategies – Part 2: Leadership lessons from Venice

In the first article of this series, we explored the video game origins of tall vs wide leadership strategies to grow an organisation. The objective of both strategies is the same, growing an organisation, and obtaining more resources to gain a decisive advantage over the competition. However, both strategies use different means. Tall growth will … Read more

Tall vs wide leadership strategies – Part 1: Gaming origins

Back in 2019, I explored how playing strategy games taught me about strategic leadership. I would even go as far as saying that spending hundreds of hours on them when I was younger, proved instrumental in making it easier for me to design high-level strategic plans during my leadership journey. Recently, I spent some time … Read more

Exploring short-range and long-range leadership

When reflecting on the leadership roles I held in the past few years. I discovered that nearly everything I did as a leader could be split between short-range and long-range tasks or items. Neither was exclusive with the other, and both were necessary elements of my role as a leader. Nevertheless, juggling between both sets … Read more

Why speakers and leaders should aim for simplicity

Images of two lines going from A to B. One circling around back on itself many times and the second one straight

Once upon a time, when I was a child in primary school, I distinctly remember our teacher telling us – “Your notes must be neat, tidy and most importantly, understandable to anyone visiting the school that may want to look at them.’ This sentence stayed with me ever since and often comes back to my … Read more