Our experience in working with teams, both locally and across the world, tells us that the most effective and successful teams are those in which members understand their reason for being. They  have no difficulty explaining why they are working together and can identify their joint measures of success. And they know what the outcome will be when they have succeeded. Many of the ‘teams’ we meet are simply groups of people who are collected together in a particular area. They are teams in name only, created based on a similarity of skills and/or capabilities, as opposed to having a common ..read more

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” This is a line often attributed to Martin Luther-King, though its origins stretch back to the early 19th century. Regardless, the quote expresses a sentiment that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Our world, I think many of us would agree, is not in a good place. We are living through a time when, to use our own language, below-the-line thinking – characterised by blame, defensiveness, denial and/or justification – is dominant. This can be disheartening for those of us who believe in the powe ..read more

This month we want to welcome and introduce our newest Fellow, Vicky Lee. Based in Shanghai, China, Vicky’s work focuses on organisational and leadership development and professional coaching. Vicky Lee used to be what she describes as a ‘corporate high flyer’. Her first degree, with which she graduated in 1997, was in marketing. She initially thrived in busy corporate environments. About a decade later, during a period where Vicky was dealing with a difficult boss and some personal challenges, a friend suggested she attend an Enneagram workshop in Hong Kong. At first she was sceptical. S ..read more

As you may know, Global Leadership Foundation collaborates with a worldwide network of Fellows with significant expertise in leadership development, strategy, executive coaching and culture change (to name a few of their talents). We are all focussed on raising the emotional health levels of people on the planet and do this in a variety of ways. Our Fellows are passionate about making a positive difference through the work they do. They are recognised by their clients and peers for the contributions they make to individuals, organisations and communities worldwide. You can read about each memb ..read more

For many years now, Global Leadership Foundation has provided leaders with unique opportunities to visit remote locations in order to explore, reflect on and gain new insight and perspectives about themselves, others and their impact on the world around them. During these leadership experiences, participants have time to critically and thoughtfully look at themselves and uncover ways in which they can evolve their leadership practice and make a difference to others. This is achieved through completing a personal leadership challenge or by connecting with other leaders through environmental and ..read more

This month we welcome a guest post from our friend and colleague Dayle O’Brien. Dayle is an organisational ecologist whose specific interest is in working with organisations to help create living systems in which both people and the overall business get to thrive. Dayle’s contribution here is timely in B Corp Month 2024 as she has supported two B Corps in truly aligning with ‘profit for purpose’ and using their businesses as a force for good through the focus she has brought. The twenty-first century has been an enormously exciting time in the world of business. It’s been the era of the start ..read more

A real highlight of this last month was the ‘A Good Day on the Farm‘ workshop we ran for dairy farmers in Gippsland, alongside Mark Humphris of The Milk Road. The focus of this workshop was emotional health in the specific context of dairy farming and the unique challenges that dairy farmers often face. In preparation for this workshop we interviewed a number of dairy farmers about their lives in and outside their work, and what strategies they use to keep themselves above the line even when times get tough. Their insightful responses were then used to create a special version of our Emotional ..read more

Assembly 2024 is a gathering of B Corps from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, the first such gathering for five years. The three-day event will be held at Cape Schanck in Victoria from February 26 to 28. Malcolm will be presenting at this year’s conference, on the topic ‘Head, heart, and gut: Where we make decisions’. From the program: “As leaders, there is often no playbook or guide for the hardest decisions we need to make. Malcolm from Global Leadership Foundation will take you through an exploration of the three centres — head, heart, and body — to understand what normally drives ..read more

In their ground-breaking book The Extraordinary Leader*, John Zenger and Joe Folkman demonstrate the enormous difference in effectiveness between extraordinary leaders and their ‘average’ counterparts. Translated into our language of emotional health, they show that emotionally healthy leaders at level 3 or higher – those making up the top 20 per cent of leaders – provide over 2000 times better returns on investment. Zenger and Folkman also show just how difficult it is to pin down what differentiates extraordinary leaders from the rest. ‘There are a significant number of unknowns,’ they write ..read more

Our world is full of things that could be better. On that I think we are generally in agreement. Unfortunately, there is also a tendency for some people to sit and wait for others to ‘fix’ it, coming up with many reasons to justify why they can’t do it themselves. In our world of emotionally healthy leaders, we are very aware of a small(er) group of people who continue to have the drive and determination to do something meaningful instead of being bystanders. These are the people in our community who are ultimately responsible for making the world a better place. Karleen Plunkett is one such p ..read more