Ataraxy Friday Messages
LATEST
What the good teams have in common (it’s a shorter list than you’d think)
Last week’s Ataraxy Friday was about the Anna Karenina Principle: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” There are endless ways for things to go wrong and only a few ways for them to go right. Chasing down every way it could go wrong is exhausting, while building the few things that go right is simpler. This week I want to follow that thread more fully into leadership teams, because my industry has a habit of doing it the hard way. There are thousands of profiling tools, diagnostics and leadership models out there. Some are blunt and some are forensic. Many of them
LATEST
What the good teams have in common (it’s a shorter list than you’d think)
Last week’s Ataraxy Friday was about the Anna Karenina Principle: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” There are endless ways for things to go wrong and only a few ways for them to go right. Chasing down every way it could go wrong is exhausting, while building the few things that go right is simpler. This week I want to follow that thread more fully into leadership teams, because my industry has a habit of doing it the hard way. There are thousands of profiling tools, diagnostics and leadership models out there. Some are blunt and some are forensic. Many of them
Recent Articles
Be Interesting Without Saying Anything
We get the urge to fill conversational gaps with something—anything—and often resort to asking for, or worse, offering our own facts. Facts usually kill conversations. Feelings, enquiries, and stories sustain them. The fix? Shift from facts to their experience. You
Get It Done
We’ve all got important projects that drift. The exercise program that starts “next week.” The business strategy that needs “just a bit more thinking.” The difficult conversation we’ll have “when the time is right.” Your brain isn’t sabotaging you—it’s doing
Once Is Enough
Want less stress? Try these on for size. Two related concepts that work together to help improve your days – even the bad ones. Both attributed to Seneca and the Stoic tradition. The First: “We suffer more often in imagination
The workplace strategy hiding in plain sight
The best leaders, colleagues, and most trusted friends tend to share one trait: they’re genuinely happy in themselves. When people are emotionally self-aware, coherent, and resilient, everything improves. Workplace engagement rises. Psychosocial safety risks drop. Leadership divisions heal. Teams solve
Voice Matters
Courage requires fear. One of the activities I get my one-one coaching clients to do is to nudge them just a little out of their comfort zone. For example, what could happen “If I bring five percent more awareness to
Stoic Weekends
I’m feeling a little brain dead after a big couple of weeks. I’m busy with my clients and having fun – just hectic. As a result, this week I’m keeping it simple and brining you a couple of my favourite
“Why Should I?” Part 2
The Biology of “Us vs. Them” or “How to become a lonely cynic.” This is part 2 of exploring the “Why should I?” mentality. [Read part 1 here.] What happens in your brain when someone frustrates you? More than you
“Why Should I?” Part 1
The Hidden Trap in “Why Should I?” This is part 1 of exploring the “Why should I?” mentality. [Read part 2 here.] “Why should I be the one to reach out? Why should I carry their workload? Why should I
Just Show Up FFS
Many leaders I work with share the same frustration: “Just show up and get on with it!” They’re working long hours under intense pressure, hitting difficult targets and solving complex problems. They simply cannot afford to have people not showing
Insights To Your Inbox
New articles on leadership and neuroscience, weekly.