Leadership
“Leadership assessment often measures who’s ready to be seen as a leader, not who’s already leading.”
This was a comment a reader recently made on one of my articles, ‘Why we overlook capable leaders’:
The comment stood out because it captures something I have observed repeatedly over the years.
Read more “Talent Hidden in Plain Sight”
Leadership
Some time ago, I worked with a leader who was told she had “no leadership potential.”
The verdict came after a leadership assessment centre where more than 100 leaders at a similar level were assessed for future leadership potential. Over the course of one day, participants completed activities such as presentations, group discussions and other observed exercises.
At the end, she was assessed as having little leadership potential.
The problem?
Read more “Why We Overlook Capable Leaders”
Leadership
“You need more executive presence.”
I’ve heard versions of this phrase throughout my career.
And I have heard from clients that lack of executive presence was the reason someone was not being promoted.
Sometimes it meant:
Leadership
As a leader of a team, have you ever wished your team would contribute more of their talents?
That:
Leadership
How often do you tell people to “speak up more”?
In any case, you have a sense that you are missing out on useful, sometimes critical information when people do not speak to you or don’t speak up in meetings.
Read more “Stop telling people to ‘speak up more’ if you want them to speak up”
Leadership
In boardrooms and executive teams, risk management is a standing agenda item. Leaders invest in policies, audits, insurance, and compliance systems. But often, one critical ingredient does not get enough attention — and it’s not a policy or a framework. It’s listening.
Read more “Listening – the underrated tool for risk management”
Diversity and Inclusion
When we talk about inclusion, we often focus on individual backgrounds and characteristics —such as culture and race, gender, religion, sexual orientation etc. — and creating spaces where everyone feels a sense of belonging. These are critical components of inclusion, but they are just the beginning. A deeper, often overlooked layer of inclusion is how we engage with people whose ideas, values, or perspectives differ from our own.
Read more “Are you inclusive if you don’t listen to people you disagree with?”
Conversation
The concepts of meritocracy and diversity are sometimes perceived as being at odds with one another. Some people believe that a focus on merit is not inclusive, nor does it achieve diversity, while others feel that D&I initiatives dilute merit-based decisions. This thinking has created divisions between those who have supported D&I efforts and those who question it.
Read more “Spot and develop your hidden talent to advance Meritocracy AND Diversity and Inclusion”
Diversity and Inclusion
Did you know that what you listen to or reject depends on who is speaking much more than the actual content of what is shared?
For example, you might:
Diversity and Inclusion
There is a multiplying cost to organisations, when they undervalue Quietly Powerful leadership.
I continue to hear from people in organisations that there is a bias towards more outspoken, confident appearing styles as what’s needed to be promoted into leadership.
The obvious cost of this bias is that quieter professionals are overlooked for leadership positions, even if they have the potential for leadership. This is the gap between leadership emergence and leadership effectiveness (to read more, read this article).
Read more “There are multiplying costs to undervaluing Quietly Powerful leadership”