So you’ve decided to take the plunge and start your own business. You’ve got stars in your eyes and grand visions of working in your jeans, having the time and flexibility to “do lunch” with friends and pick up the kids each day from school.
SOUNDS APPEALING, DOESN’T IT?
The reality, ... Views: 1475
From an early age, most of us are raised to believe that success equals happiness. We work hard to get good grades, finish school, and land that fantastic job. Then many of us find that we still are not happy, so we work hard again to climb the corporate ladder and get that promotion, in the ... Views: 1327
Stuck in a rut? Feel like you've hit a plateau at work? Not sure what to do next to get your career progression into gear?
Then it might be time to take a look at your attitude. Just what attitude am I referring to? There are many positive attitudes that can enhance your career advancement - a ... Views: 1561
Remember these four words and see if you can recall them by the time you finish reading this article: apple, penny, key, admire.
Have you ever noticed that as you get older, time just seems to fly by? Time doesn’t speed up as we age, but this perception is a result of your ageing brain and ... Views: 1908
We all know that the life-blood of any small business is cash flow, cash from clients and customers.
However data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that times are tough for smaller operators and over the past ten years, conditions have worsened.
While small businesses ... Views: 1509
Your success in every area of life will be influenced by the relationships you develop and maintain. The ability to communicate and converse with confidence and clarity is a key trait that will help you get to the top of your profession and field.
Without making these business relationships or ... Views: 1410
The holiday season is upon us and no matter what country you are in or faith you follow, I am sure you are finding yourself winding down, filing things away and putting off new projects and meetings until the new year.
This could be a big mistake!
The fastest way to achieve what you want and ... Views: 1245
Trust – it’s a term bandied around all the time when it comes to leadership and organisational culture and with good reason. Nothing builds a solid culture better than growing a cushion of trust and nothing harms an organization more than a lack of trust in those leading it.
For such a simple, ... Views: 1146
According to ABS research around a quarter of all employed people go to work feeling unappreciated and considering leaving their employer. Why? Because they feel unappreciated or no longer valued and like they aren’t making a difference. Sobering facts huh. Even more concerning is the fact that ... Views: 1204
Today's leaders are faced with problem solving opportunities every day - what sets apart average managers from great leaders is the way that they approach them.
Managers generally focus wholeheartedly on the problem, acknowledging, worrying over and discussing the problem to themselves and ... Views: 1179
This past week I have had a lot of discussions about meetings; in particular how much time we waste making meetings, attending meetings and travelling to meetings, how managers are always the ones calling meetings and how bad we are at running meetings.
If you added up all the time people ... Views: 1130
Do you make resolutions at the beginning of each year?
With the new decade upon us, now is the time to review, renew and reignite your plans for what you want the next year to hold in store.
So how can you create results and not just empty resolutions? Simple. Treat the new year as you ... Views: 1013
In our inaugural Leading Ladies International Top 20 list we issue the names of the women who we believe most positively impact our world both locally, nationally and globally.
Why women?
“In today’s changing world we believe there is an increasing need for greater focus on right brain ... Views: 2262
If you haven't given yourself a New Year's resolution yet, here's one for you....get in early and take advantage of the new property cycle.
Buy the right property, in the right location and most importantly, for the right price and you could do very well in the long term.
Here's three ... Views: 1057
How often have you heard an executive or CEO tout "our people are our greatest asset"?
A dozen or more I wager.
And yet how many employees have you heard say "management just don't care about me. I'm just a number. I get no respect"?
Dozens? Hundreds?
How is that possible? How can ... Views: 1149
Good leaders are great communicators who build trust consistently over time. A leader with poor leadership communication will find leading far more challenging than a great communicator. Respect and confidence on the part of staff, executive teams, members or a board will be much harder to ... Views: 1736
This year has flown by faster than ever before. It has certainly had its challenges with stock market fluctuations, interest rate rises and the retail sector experiencing the strain of consumers reigning in their spending. You only have to switch on the television or read the news headlines to ... Views: 1531
This year has flown by faster than ever before. It has certainly had its challenges with stock market fluctuations, interest rate rises and the retail sector experiencing the strain of consumers reigning in their spending. You only have to switch on the television or read the news headlines to ... Views: 1650
How often do you hear yourself saying "I can't afford that", "I don't suit that colour", "I couldn't do that. "I'm not good at that"? Have you ever thought about how your unconscious mind hears and receives these messages you say to yourself? No? Well spend a ... Views: 2250
The world’s high profile and top earning companies are not immune to the everyday challenges that the rest of the business realm experiences. They too can suffer a hard time maintaining highly talented employees; even the cream of the crop in the most senior positions can end up leaving their ... Views: 3250
A recent blog post by Jamie McIntyre got me thinking… “If the world had 75% females and only 25% men civilisation would continue unabated and be an even safer place. However if the ratio was reversed to a point of 75% men and only 25% females, civilisation as we know it would be likely to come ... Views: 1124
During my initial years as an employee a couple of my superiors drove me to my wit’s end. Sure they were nice and I would have to be fair and say they meant well however in my view they were completely incompetent as leaders and managers. To make it worse people on the outside used to comment to ... Views: 1333
We live in an interesting world, would you agree?
Companies it seems, are rising and falling faster than ever before. Technology, globalization and the speed of communication has totally changed the workplace environment.
Yet even in these fickle times, some companies and brands endure. More ... Views: 1486
Feeling like you're overwhelmed and there's not enough time to get it all done?
Whether you're a business owner, manager or employee, the end of the year can be a very stressful time to navigate. It can often be like running the last few miles of a marathon and you just want to finish those end ... Views: 1329
It’s a well known fact that your ability to set goals and make plans for their accomplishment is a foremost skill of success. Developing this ability and embedding it as a habit will do more to assure continued success and achievement in your life than any other skill you can possibly ... Views: 2380
Building a company and brand today is very different from building one 50 years ago.
It used to be that a couple of executives got together in a board room, wrote some fanciful, aspirational words on a flip chart and Bobs your uncle, the company’s values and brand positioning was ... Views: 1764
The power of communication is what the listener does with the message, not what the message does to the listener. Messages, stories, speeches, movies and advertisements that move people deeply do not do so because they are powerful in themselves. They do so because they touch the audience's most ... Views: 2056
Leadership is all about communication. However most leaders when preparing for an important pitch, a crucial board meeting, an employee review or a supplier negotiation go about it all wrong.
They prepare and plan, concentrating on the words they will say, the handouts they will use and the ... Views: 1223
Being offered an interview often means you are part way there, but the toughest test is still to come. The key to success at interview is preparation, preparation, preparation!
Do your research, surf the company’s website, news articles about them and internal literature such as the annual ... Views: 1533
Have you ever met someone for the first time and felt an immediate connection or felt uncomfortable with them straight away? Researchers from New York University found that we form opinions about one another in the first seven seconds of meeting. First impressions count!
Whether we like it or ... Views: 3321
It's true – innovation is a huge buzzword and we are all aware. Craig Lambert describes it as being "...bandied around a bit like a Miss Universe contestant talking about world peace." While the idea of innovation is tossed around and misused, it doesn't mean businesses can't or shouldn't ... Views: 1249
I read a quote in the book Apprenticed to a Master by Sri M this week that really got me pondering:
“You are so full of knowledge that you have acquired, that there is no space to retrieve the truth which is waiting to enter.”
As I have been walking the path of minimalism for over a year now ... Views: 1092
"Inner peace is impossible without patience. Wisdom requires patience. Spiritual growth implies the mastery of patience. Patience allows the unfolding of destiny to proceed at its own unhurried pace." - Brian Weiss
The above quote reveals a secret I found unlocked and practised by many in ... Views: 1526
I get it. Companies need to have some rules, but ‘brules’, that’s what leaders need to question.
Coined by Vishen Lakhiani, founder of Mindvalley and author of The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, brules, otherwise known as ‘bullshit rules,’ is a term for limiting rules, largely unconscious, ... Views: 1182
It's a fact of life that everyone makes mistakes and the busier you are and the more you do, the more mistakes you will make. The important differentiating factor between ordinary people and extraordinary people is how well they deal with these inevitable ups and downs of life.
The ... Views: 1350
Decades of research, in multiple countries around the world, has shown time and again that investing in a positive, high-trust workplace culture yields distinct, tangible business benefits. Studies show that great workplaces enjoy significantly lower turnover and better financial performance ... Views: 1400
"Our jobs are killing us and the people who are responsible are our leaders."
I recently heard Simon Sinek say this in a YouTube video and it really struck a chord. How did you feel when you read that? Harsh reality? Don't believe me? Or perhaps you have had an experience yourself or heard ... Views: 1199
Are you over last year already but not sure how to make sure this year is your best yet? I have just one tip for you.
Begin with gratitude.
Gratitude is an immensely powerful force that can expand your happiness, create loving relationships, and even improve your health. Many scientific ... Views: 1011
We’ve all experienced it at some time in our life. Feeling like we’re not good enough, like we’ll be found out or like we’re out of our depth.
Damn you imposter syndrome. She sure can hit hard, especially for us women. It’s so common that I included a question in my Cards for Uniqueness pack ... Views: 1048
It was during working on a campaign while I was Director at WorkCover that I had an epiphany that would stay with me into all my future work and businesses.
We ran a marketing campaign called Homecomings with the help of creative agency Shannon’s Way – it was all about the need for workers to ... Views: 1241
Power. What is it? How do we use it? Who is seeking it? Why do we have a love/hate relationship with it?
"Power is just the ability to effect change." Martin Luther King
"Powerlessness is the most dangerous state that we could ever ... Views: 1548
Most businesses understand the tremendous value associated with growing a base of loyal customers. However the old loyalty program model is getting a little tired and a little too same old, same old.
Unfortunately for many businesses, any advantage that was originally gained through loyal ... Views: 1197
Are you one of the 25 to 50 per cent of people reporting feeling overwhelmed or burned out at work? Do you find you are working for more hours than the dollars you earn and end up like a circus performer trying to keep all your spinning plates in the air at once?
Well you're not alone. In ... Views: 1478
I believe the fish rots from the head.
I believe profit is hoarding.
I believe people join a company and leave because they don't feel valued and seen as a unique human.
I believe culture change must start at the top.
Spend time in any workplace like I do as a company culture architect and ... Views: 1166
It began with a feeling, then a sign, a nudge and then a book. A signal to change, to slow down, to breathe more deeply and to go within.
At first I hesitated. Unsure, confused. It was so against my normal way, my DNA. Or so I thought. A typical A type personality I had spent the larger part ... Views: 1001
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man with a vision. It was a huge vision which he dedicated his life to and who challenged the rest of us to do the same. Not only did he champion equal rights but also equal access to economic opportunity for all Americans. A lesson we can all learn from MLK is ... Views: 1231
I’m wondering if you have you ever had the experience of trying to help someone, and you weren’t able to do so because they wouldn’t stop talking for one minute? They ask you a question and then jump right in stacking another question, a solution, or continue to rattle on about how frustrated ... Views: 1361
While the world’s workplace has been going through extraordinary and often radical change, the practice of management and day to day business has been stuck in time warp.
New workers – especially younger generations – want their work to have meaning, flexibility, fun oh and they don’t want to ... Views: 928
I just came out of a mentoring session with my mentor Linda Hutchings what a great reminder it was to take my own medicine and keep it clean by making things simple.
Perhaps like me you're a multi-passionate entrepreneur or leader who has 50 business ideas a day and struggles to decide which ... Views: 731
Would you send a text to your children in the next room and ask them - "How do you think I'd rate so far as a parent? Are you planning to stay or leave?"
No? Well why would you do it to your staff?
I believe standard surveys don’t work for reviewing a company's culture. That's right I am not a ... Views: 911