Yesterday the Prime Minister of Canada (and sundry other dignitaries) paid a visit to a small town on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. The occasion? An announcement of a large federal investment in a local manufacturing facility – an investment that will have positive economic ripples affecting every nearby business and family for years to come (in an area that has historically had an over reliance on tourism). Over the course of the few hours the PM et al were there they made a point of patronizing several local businesses and taking time to chat and get photos with many local residents as wel ..read more

Connection. We collectively are starved for it (’cause guess what? Zoom isn’t enough…). And women executives – despite being surrounded by people much of the day most days – are more starved than most. Starved for the safe spaces to process, emote, solve, feel and reflect in community. Starved for the experience of feeling they can be themselves, and starved for the experience of being really seen. And starved for confirmation that they’re not alone in feeling exhausted, frustrated, burned out, gaslit and overwhelmed. Rumeet Billan, Ph.D. of Women of Influence summarized the current issue wit ..read more

  You’re an accomplished leader with a passion not only for delivering at the highest level but doing so in a way that allows you and your teams to flourish and thrive, as business leaders AND as humans with lives and interests beyond work. Here it is, December. If you’re like most of the leaders we are working with, you’re attempting to get a lot done in the next couple of weeks, and taking as much time as you’re able over the holidays in an effort to return in January with some degree of rejuvenation and renewed energy. Sadly, it might not work. The exhaustion, complexit ..read more

Here it is again – confirmation that women leaders are unhappy, unhealthy and unable to reconcile the demands of their work roles with the demands of their lives. Is anyone but me tired of hearing these stats, without solutions or at least commitment to change along with them? ICYMI – here’a link to the recent Lean In/McKinsey research saying that we now have “The Great Break-up” (as if creating a relationship parallel for a women’s issue was cute and funny, let alone helpful – NOT). It seems to be universally agreed that we have an issue, yet I’ve not heard solutions proposed other than the v ..read more

I’m not sure it’s hit Webster’s yet, although at the rate things are going I’m sure it will. So in the meantime, here’s my definition: Quiet quitting: A practice of doing what’s required at work, but not more, and ensuring that work effort is contained within what the employee believes are acceptable time and effort boundaries. In practical terms it means not staying late or taking on projects over and above what’s agreed as part of one’s responsibility. It’s been identified as a reaction to “hustle culture” and is believed to be on the rise as the mental health impacts of burnout are becoming ..read more

“When do we start the up-skilling?’ I was in front of a group of executive level leaders – a mastermind group that met monthly for the purpose of supporting the members to accelerate into C-level roles. This particular group was made up of “younger” VP’s – people in their 30’s, who hadn’t been in their roles more than a year or two. And they really wanted to “know more stuff” in order to do their jobs well. Given they had all up until fairly recently been in “manager” and “doer” roles, I could appreciate their frame on development. After all, they’d built their entire careers to this point on ..read more

I was going to write this post today anyways, and then Malcolm Gladwell came out and criticized the hard-working people desperately trying to figure out the new world of work. If you’re any kind of leader at any level, life is hard much of the time. It’s especially hard right now. Our CEO Coaching services offering have never been more in demand – and on one level I wish that weren’t the case (make no mistake, I’m happy we can help. It’s just hard to see so much pain in so many smart, caring, accomplished people). Leaders at all levels are being routinely vilified for almost every attempt at s ..read more

As a parent of two boys I learned a lot about how to encourage – yet put reasonable boundaries on – creativity and experimentation. No matter what form these activities took, we usually referred to them as “science projects.” Using the contents of the fridge and kitchen cupboards to see what makes what turn colour and – even better – erupt? Fantastic. Using all of mom’s skin and hair care products to see how full the toilet bowl can get? Not so much… Over time and conversation with other parents I came to understand that my openness to mess and experimentation was a little different than that ..read more

“I’ll have what she’s having.” No, I’m not referring to the diner scene from “When Harry Met Sally.” (This IS a business platform, after all…..). I’m paraphrasing a client’s explanation for why he wanted to hire me. Yes, he wanted to be a better leader. And yes, his organization was happy to invest in supporting his development. But there was something else behind his decision to choose me over the other coaches he had interviewed. During our conversation he had asked me about my coaching approach, sure, but he had also asked me why and how I’d gotten into the profession as well as a few (poli ..read more

Does your business have a “brother-in-law” problem? No, I don’t mean your ACTUAL brother-in-law – I’m sure he’s very nice. What I’m talking about is the employee who wouldn’t be there except that he’s the CEO’s brother-in-law. Or the VP Finance’s long time neighbour who’s fallen on hard times. Or your biggest-producing salesperson’s babysitter’s cousin’s dog walker. You get the idea. How many key roles are being occupied by people who didn’t get – and more importantly, couldn’t have gotten – them on their own? OR how much money is being spent creating ill-defined and mostly unnecessary roles f ..read more