Australasian Leadership Institute Free Articles
I am a former Broker Sales Manager and an Operations Manager who is now working as a leadership coach, consultant and strategist across four key areas:
- Leadership of successful teams
- Optimisation of mental performance
- Leadership psychology
- High performing teams
Within these areas, I design, coach and facilitate bespoke leadership development programmes for individuals and teams including managers of all levels, directors, executives, professional athletes and aspiring leaders. My clients include the Delegates of the European Union, The Fred Hollows Foundation in Timor-Leste, the Fiji Sun newspaper, Lakes DHB, Kmart and Foodstuffs.
I am listed by Evan Carmichael as one of the top 100 leadership experts in the world to follow on Twitter.
When I design leadership programmes I draw from my twenty five years of managerial experience across a range of industries in the United Kingdom and here in New Zealand. I am accepted in the MBTI suite of tools and I am a professional member of NZAPT (New Zealand Association of Psychological Type) NZIM (New Zealand Institute of Management) and NZATD (New Zealand Association of Training & Development). I am a published author of two leadership books and I've had articles published in a range of magazines including Lifestyle for Men Magazine, M2, New Zealand Management Magazine as well as having a weekly business column with the Fiji Sun Newspaper. I am the current editor of Elite Leadership magazine.
If you want practical effective coaching and facilitation based on a foundation of modern leadership theories then get in touch via Twitter, the enquiry form below or call me direct on 021 354 831 (New Zealand)
-
Work can often feel like an endless cycle. The paperwork on your desk keeps piling up, your phone rings the moment you put it down, and your inbox is flooded with unread messages. To stay afloat, you work harder and longer, pushing yourself to meet your targets. But just when you think you’ve caught up, your boss thanks you by piling on even more work. Sound familiar?Posted: Wednesday 18 September 2024 -
No matter what business you are in, as long as people are involved, there will always be conflict. But here’s the thing – conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, when handled correctly, conflict can be a powerful catalyst for growth and positive change. Whether it’s between team members or between the business and a client, conflict presents an opportunity to address unresolved issues, strengthen relationships, and ensure that the decision-making process remains robust and effective.Posted: Tuesday 17 September 2024 -
As a Leadership coach, one of the most frequent concerns I hear from managers is about how to turn around an underperforming team. Whether it’s due to missed targets, low morale, or a lack of accountability, leaders are often left feeling frustrated and unsure of how to reverse the situation. Underperformance in a team is a challenge every leader will face at some point, and it can feel overwhelming when your team is not delivering as expected.Posted: Monday 16 September 2024 -
In my thirty years as a Manager, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing every leadership scenario you can imagine. From extraordinary triumphs to devastating failures, every moment has shaped me into the leader and Leadership Coach I am today. As I reflect on the moments when I fell short, I realise that my failures were rarely due to a lack of technical skills or leadership theory—they stemmed from a failure within myself. It’s not always about what you know; it’s about who you are.Posted: Friday 13 September 2024 -
Working for yourself as an entrepreneur is a dream shared by many who have toiled away in jobs that offer little personal satisfaction. It’s the dream of freedom—the freedom to shape your own destiny, to create something that is truly your own. I understand this dream because I was once in that same position. I worked in a windowless office in a dead-end job, feeling like just another cog in a machine that neither valued nor cared for me.Posted: Thursday 12 September 2024 -
As a Leadership coach, I often encounter leaders who struggle with difficult conversations. Whether it’s addressing a team member’s repeated tardiness or navigating a challenging moment in a personal relationship, these conversations are often avoided because of fear. Fear of confrontation, fear of worsening the situation, or simply fear of the unknown.Posted: Wednesday 11 September 2024 -
If you ask a group of people to describe an effective leader, you will hear a familiar set of qualities. Common responses will include: vision, good communication skills, honesty and integrity, the ability to relate to others, and the capacity to inspire people to believe in themselves. Regardless of the industry or field, the perception of what makes a good leader is remarkably consistent. So, why is it that in a recent survey, 25% of people reported that they believed their boss was a poor leader? If the characteristics of good leadership are so well understood, why are truly good leaders so rare?Posted: Tuesday 10 September 2024 -
Many people aspire to be leaders, while others find themselves thrust into leadership roles unexpectedly. But is leadership what we think it is? Throughout my career as a Leadership coach, I’ve encountered a wide array of misconceptions that hinder leaders from reaching their full potential. The truth is, leadership is often misunderstood. To be an effective leader, it’s critical to separate fact from fiction and confront the myths that cloud our understanding of what leadership truly entails.Posted: Monday 9 September 2024 -
To be successful, leaders must develop and learn how to perform tasks they may not be comfortable with—whether it’s dealing with a poorly performing colleague or delivering a presentation. This often requires adopting a persona that may not feel natural, raising the question of whether the leader is staying authentic. This is a challenge all leaders face, so to address it, I will introduce you to the thought experiment known as the Ship of Theseus.Posted: Wednesday 4 September 2024 -
In the world of leadership, many qualities are essential for success—strategic thinking, decision-making, vision, and the ability to inspire others. Yet, at the very core of effective leadership lies a trait that often doesn’t receive as much attention as it deserves: emotional intelligence, or EQ. Understanding and developing EQ is not just a nice-to-have; it’s the foundation upon which all other leadership skills are built.Posted: Monday 2 September 2024 -
The discussion about how much money you earn for the work you do is the most important conversation you will have at work, yet very few people actually prepare for it. Too often, people want or even desperately need more money, but their request fails because they are unaware of the techniques that can make the difference between their boss saying no and saying yes.Posted: Monday 26 August 2024 -
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a global icon who has left an indelible mark on multiple fields, from bodybuilding and acting to politics and philanthropy. His journey from a small Austrian village to international stardom is nothing short of extraordinary. Through his life and career, Schwarzenegger has demonstrated a unique combination of relentless determination, hard work, and a commitment to his goals. Here are ten inspirational lessons we can all learn from the life of Arnold Schwarzenegger.Posted: Thursday 15 August 2024 -
General Stanley McChrystal, a retired four-star general in the U.S. Army, is widely recognised for his leadership during some of the most challenging times in recent military history. Known for his strategic brilliance and unconventional leadership style, McChrystal’s approach has been studied by leaders across various fields. Below are ten leadership lessons we can learn from his career and teachings.Posted: Wednesday 14 August 2024 -
At one stage or another you will feel stressed at work and while a little bit of stress is good when that stress gets too much then it can have a detrimental effect not only on your work but also on your personal life. Instead of leaving work behind, you end up bringing it home with you, talking to your partner and friends about how stressful work is and before you know it your whole day is completely filled with thoughts about work, you find it difficult to sleep and you find yourself in the situation that you are living to work instead of working to live.Posted: Tuesday 13 August 2024 -
The best leaders are authentic leaders, people whose inner compass guides their daily actions and enables them to earn the trust of their team and their colleagues. Forbes magazine described authentic leaders as people who are self-aware of their strengths, their weaknesses and their emotions and they show their real selves when interacting with their followers. These are the type of Leaders that people want to follow and people strive to become but it’s not easy to be authentic.Posted: Monday 12 August 2024 -
One of my favourite quotes is by playwright George Bernard Shaw who once said “The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” I love this quote so much because It perfectly describes what happens in workplaces everywhere. I see people who believe they are communicating with each other but in reality everyone is talking and no one is listening, frustration starts to build which leads to people repeating what they said previously but this time louder expecting different results but the only result is more and more frustration.Posted: Wednesday 7 August 2024 -
Every Leader will eventually reach a stage in their career when they and find themselves in a crisis situation and are faced with the challenge of leading their team through it. The crisis may be as a result of a poor economic situation or it may be a natural crisis, it’s in these times that we look at our a leaders to guide us through the situation safely. In this week’s article I want to provide you with some practical tips on how to lead through a crisis.Posted: Tuesday 6 August 2024 -
An iceberg is one of natures great wonders, a large piece of freshwater ice floating freely in water. An iceberg is beautiful and dangerous in equal measure yet what you see of an iceberg is just a fraction of what is going on, with typically 91% of an iceberg being submerged underwater. As a Leader you need to think of your work as like an iceberg, there’s a lot of things that you see yet there are many more potential issues that you may well be not aware of.Posted: Monday 5 August 2024 -
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said “The only constant in life is change.” In business if you are not moving forward then you re moving behind. The business world is constantly changing with migration making retaining top employees more challenging, the current economic environment means that most of us have to achieve more with less resources and with each new generation that enters the workplace they bring a different set of , all of this requires evolution and a commitment to change which is difficult considering how busy everyone is, managing change in todays environment is like trying to make improvements to an airplane while it’s still in the air!Posted: Friday 2 August 2024 -
When you are in a managerial role, you typically have to perform the duties of both a Manager and a Leader. These are very different yet specific duties, and you need to be able to complete both if you want to be successful. Management is about the control and responsibility of resources and people in order to achieve your goals, while Leadership is the ability to influence people to achieve those goals. They may sound similar, but management and leadership are quite different. One is about control and responsibility, while the other is about influence.Posted: Thursday 1 August 2024