A note to young leaders. Bigotry and racism are not only toxic to your happiness and wellbeing, they are just plain dumb. When I was in my mid-twenties, the late John Caldon – former Deputy MD of Macquarie Group – once posed this question to me: “We all have two parents and four grandparents, Adam. […]
Read More… from We’re All Connected: Why Bigotry and Racism Are Not Just Harmful, But Illogical
Don’t be in a hurry to announce your dream. Dreams are fragile in their infancy. If you have a dream, share it only with people who can help you research it or realise it. Until you have completed your research and quietly started and tested your idea – sharing it with everyone will only excite […]
Read More… from Protect Your Dream: Share Wisely, But Be Open About Your Challenges
Experiments worth trying. Try smiling – instead of frowning – at situations and people that annoy you. Observe how it changes you, how it changes them and how it changes the range of possible outcomes. One day is all you need to conduct the experiment. Make it today, not one day. […]
Read More… from An Experiment Worth Trying: Smile Through Annoyance and See What Changes
To everything there is a price. The price of illusion is disillusion – and that’s not a price worth paying. Illusions can be rewarding to entertain, while they last. But when they eventually burst, they will cause you pain. And when the disillusion comes, blame no one except yourself – you played with fire, you […]
The first task of a leader is to cast a clear and compelling vision. The clearer the vision, the clearer the mission, and the clearer your definition of your target audience. Anna Wintour, the legendary editor in chief of Vogue magazine, is one such leader. She was crystal clear about where she wanted to take […]
Read More… from How Anna Wintour’s Clarity Drove Vogue’s Success
Are you feeling nervous about an upcoming speech, meeting or pitch? Good. That’s your body telling you that you’re working on something important. Nervousness is the flip side of excitement. Excitement is high stakes plus confidence. Nervousness is high stakes minus confidence. Confidence comes with preparation. So to put it differently: nervousness is excitement minus […]
Read More… from Turn Nerves Into Excitement: The Power of Preparation
An instant cure for jealousy. Jealousy is a perverted form of admiration – in effect, “admiration, negatively expressed.” Why would anyone resort to jealousy, when admiration is an alternative? Two reasons: (1) we are insecure about our own talents and achievements; and (2) we have assumed that we can’t learn much from others and/or they […]
Leadership magnifies you, just as a stage magnifies an actor. Remember that, the next time you feel inclined to be dramatic. To illustrate, listen to this story by actor, Michael Cain, when rehearsing a role that involves him playing a drunken man on stage: “I was cast as a drunkard and at my first rehearsal […]
Leadership comes with a robe of power. Relish neither the robe nor the power, relish instead the good you can do with it. And you do no good to anyone if you spend your time as leader constantly second-guessing yourself. If you are fortunate enough to be given the mantle of leadership, play the part […]