Executives often know what matters most, yet still find their calendars consumed by meetings, approvals and urgent requests. This article introduces a simple way to take back control of your time by identifying your biggest priorities, protecting space for them and making practical choices about what to delegate, delay or simplify.

When decisions drag, strong people leave, or senior leaders spend too much time chasing work that should already be moving, the problem is not always strategy.

Sometimes the problem is the gap between how leaders want work to happen and how people have learned it actually happens.

Every organization develops an unwritten operating manual. People learn who can really make a decision, which issues are safe to raise, how much initiative is welcome, and whether “collaboration” means working together or attending three more meetings about working together.

Those lessons shape behaviour, and behaviour shapes results. What are your structures and leadership behaviours actually teaching people to do?

When every issue feels urgent, executives can lose sight of the work that matters most. This article explores how senior leaders can protect strategic priorities, make clearer trade-offs and focus their attention where it will have the greatest organizational impact.

Highly capable leaders can unintentionally become bottlenecks when too many decisions, approvals and difficult issues depend on their involvement. This article explores how senior leaders in complex organizations can recognize the pattern, strengthen decision-making across their teams and build greater organizational capacity without losing accountability or lowering standards.

Universities invest significant time in selecting new Deans, but the transition that follows deserves equal attention. This article explores the challenges new Deans face and the support that can help them gain traction, build relationships, and succeed in increasingly complex roles.

Culture isn’t just a poster, a values statement, or something HR is expected to quietly carry around in a tote bag.

Culture is shaped every day through what people notice, what leaders reinforce, what teams tolerate, what gets celebrated, and what quietly becomes “how things work around here.”

For leaders and HR teams in universities, energy, public sector, and other complex organizations, I hope this short talk gives you a practical way into a bigger conversation.

Hiring a senior executive is only the first step. A strong onboarding plan helps a new leader understand the role, build trust, clarify expectations, and take meaningful ownership in the first 90 days. This article explores how executive sponsors and HR partners can help senior hires land well through better context, relationship-building, feedback, early wins, and a thoughtful handoff plan.

Even one good question can create enough space to respond differently.

And for leaders, sometimes that small pause is the difference between reacting from the pressure, or leading through it.

For leaders, of the most practical things about Tuckman’s model is that it gives us a calmer way to interpret what is happening.

When we do not have a framework, we often personalize team tension.

We think: This should be easier. Maybe I’m not handling this well. Maybe people are not committed. Maybe this team is dysfunctional.

Sometimes those concerns are worth exploring. But sometimes the team is simply in a predictable developmental stage. That does not make the stress disappear, but it can make it feel less alarming.

Instead of thinking, “Why is this happening?” you can ask, “What stage might we be in, and what would help us move through it?”

That is a much more useful question.

Executives should treat uncertainty as an indicator that new information is emerging, rather than as a problem. You’ll create stronger conversations, more resilient strategies, and better long-term outcomes. Leadership in complex environments is less about eliminating uncertainty and more about helping organizations navigate it with steadiness and shared understanding.

Leaders do not need to remove their humanity to be effective. In fact, clarity often emerges when leaders allow themselves to acknowledge uncertainty privately and reflect before acting publicly. Leadership becomes more sustainable when self and role are held in balance rather than forced into alignment. The goal is not to eliminate tension. It is to navigate it consciously.

If coaching improves a leader’s effectiveness by even 10–20%, the impact shows up quickly: faster decisions, stronger execution, and less wasted effort. These are the kinds of gains senior leaders notice right away.

Being let go or deciding to resign unexpectedly can be deeply unsettling for leaders. This article explores what often shows up emotionally and practically after an abrupt exit—and offers grounded, compassionate guidance for getting your bearings and deciding what’s next, including when executive coaching can be a helpful investment.

Organizational growth is exciting… and leadership often gets harder.
Decisions slow down. Accountability gets less clear. Senior leaders find themselves spending more time coordinating and escalating than actually moving the work forward.
These aren’t leadership failures. They’re signs that the systems supporting leadership haven’t yet caught up with a new level of complexity.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, uncertain, or emotionally tapped out right now, that doesn’t mean you’re failing.It means you’re paying attention.

And you don’t have to be certain to be a strong leader. You have to be honest, grounded, and supported.

When the ground keeps shifting, leaders need more than plans — they need to articulate a clear purpose. This article outlines how executive teams can anchor decisions and culture in a shared sense of purpose, with specific actions to strengthen clarity, reframe resistance, and deepen connection across the organization

As an executive in the tech and public sectors, a recurring problem bothered me: we’d invest in a leadership team workshop or retreat, trusting that it would lead to improvements in individual and team effectiveness. We’d enjoy an interesting development day or retreat, but it was left up to us to figure out how to put our learning into practice. This pattern left me feeling we were leaving value on the table.

When I became a consultant and executive coach, I didn’t want to leave my clients feeling this way. Over the past few years, I’ve been excited to develop a service approach that solves this problem with remarkable impact for my clients.

.As you make decisions about leadership development planning, I’m excited to share a successful trend I’ve led with my clients: combining workshops with group coaching to help leaders put key insights into everyday practice.

Steven R. Covey made some insightful contributions to executive leadership. Here’s a summary of one of his most powerful ideas, adapted from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

In fast-paced executive environments, leaders are often expected to respond quickly, offer guidance, and drive outcomes. Yet one of the most underutilized and powerful leadership tools is also the most basic: listening. More specifically, empathic listening—listening with the intent to truly understand another person’s perspective—can dramatically improve how we lead, communicate, and influence.

As an executive leader, you face significant challenges. Moving your organization forward isn't just about individual talent; it's about creating a strong, unified executive team capable of tackling the evolving business landscape together. Sometimes, executive teams may feel “stuck in the woods” and can’t find their way out of habits, structures and team dynamics that hold them back. The answer is to choose a path out of these woods so that your team can reach your strategic goals.