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
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
Ever since I was young, I have always been interested in history. I love studying history as it provides clues as to how and why the present world came to be. History more than anything can also tell us why some individuals, organisations or even civilisations ended-up becoming more successful than others. In the words … Read more
The festive season provided me with a perfect opportunity to think and reflect of my leadership journey so far. As for most people, 2020 was a strange year for me and I found myself leading a major organisation during a global pandemic. Additionally, this year marks a new phase in my leadership journey as my … Read more
If someone had asked me a year ago ‘what is the worse that could happen while you lead a major organisation?’ my answer would have been ‘people not engaging with our plans and vision’. Dealing with the consequences of a pandemic was the last thing on my mind. The unpredictability, suddenness and impact of the … Read more
One of my major discoveries during my leadership journey is how essential data and numbers are to effective decision-making. Additionally, ubiquitous computers and smart devices now make collecting and analysing numbers easier than ever. Yet at the same time, few leaders can handle data confidently and to harness it to craft strategies and power their … Read more
I recently remembered a conversation with a good friend of mine. More specifically, her use of a rather arcane electrical engineering term, ‘black start capability’ to refer to a set of attributes that made some leaders stand out from the rest. In her opinion, very few leaders actually have a ‘black start capability’ and this … Read more
There is one sentence that’s always guaranteed to annoy me in the context of leadership it is “We’ve always been good!”. This sentence encapsulates poor leadership in so many different ways. It can also be condensed into a single word … complacency. Complacency in all its forms is often the gatekeeper of poor leadership. What … Read more
When people ask me if I enjoy being a senior leader in my organisation, my answer is a consistently ‘Yes I do.’ Leadership is an amazing experience as it allows you to shape and influence an organisation and perhaps more nobly to turn a vision and a dream into reality. Nevertheless, I’ve said before that leadership … Read more
Last week, a review of data for the Toastmasters district I lead revealed that we were doing better than expected on a range of indicators. The scale of the success surprised me and I immediately set gears in motion to start celebrating this success. But why does this matter you might ask? Recognition works wonders … Read more