Embrace Your Uniqueness and Back Yourself

You’re not just “one in a million”, you’re one in 7.9 billion. There’s no one on Earth quite like you. No one can “do you” like you can do you. You are unique. Show the world your personality, your colour, your idiosyncrasies. Have the courage to be yourself. It’s the springboard of all creativity, originality […]

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Persevere and Wait for Your Breakthrough

A note to young leaders. Persevere. Progress is almost never linear. It’s subject to the “law of breakthroughs”. Breakthroughs are a law of nature. We grow slowly and then in spurts. We age gradually and then suddenly. So too with business success. Inch by inch for a year – and then a mile in one […]

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Seize the Night and Engage Your Creativity

To young leaders. Carpe noctem. We’ve all heard of Carpe Diem (“seize the day”) – but here’s a story about the late, great John Caldon that urges us to “seize the night”. Once in late 1998, John called me into his office to express disappointment with a draft presentation he’d requested from a colleague. “What’s […]

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Ask the Right Questions to Ensure Success

To young professionals. When I’m interviewing a candidate, I’m always hoping they’ll ask me this killer question. “What are the 3-4 outcomes I need to deliver in the first 12 months for you to consider my recruitment a great success?” This question tells me three things about you. You’re confident, you’re ambitious and you’re not […]

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Always Remember, You Always Have a Choice

Note to self. I am lying to myself whenever I say: “I had to do so-and-so. I had no choice.” I always have a choice. Saying “I had to do this” is a way of avoiding moral responsibility for my actions or confronting my true motives for why I wanted to do it. […]

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The Power of Vulnerability in Leadership

A lesson from the late, great John R Caldon, former Deputy MD of Macquarie Group. John was always very open about his trials and failures. Vulnerability is a very endearing and disarming trait in a leader. Once, in 1996, John confided that he was experiencing marital problems. “Oh, are you arguing a lot?”, I asked. […]

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