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I was talking with a CEO about their challenge around keeping staff engaged.  The questions we were discussing was “What do they want?” He had been focusing on the multiple surveys as well as the salary benchmarking for their industry.  I remember asking him “Have you asked them?” The CEO just looked at me (possibly a little frustrated, but also curious). This is something that I encounter quite often.  Leaders of an organisation wanting to

This week on my way to the US for work I received a pleasant surprise from Qantas when I checked in for my flight – they had upgraded me to Business Class. For anyone that’s done the long 14-hour flight from Sydney to LA, having a seat in Business Class is a wonderful way to travel. I guess the question is why did Qantas upgrade me? Simply – loyalty. They know that I spend a very

It is incredible how quickly an organisational culture can change from leading edge and attracting talented people to one that is in chaos and shedding staff. I was talking to a middle manager about the recent shifts within their business. Given anticipated competitive headwinds the Senior Leadership decided to change the way they operated. The field staff across the country noticed that something had changed but were not sure what it was.  Then people started leaving. It is common

Our family has a number of rituals that we follow based on the seasons. We just returned from our yearly Easter camping trip at The Basin – a wonderful outdoor spot on the water North of Sydney that enables us to reconnect as a family. We spent plenty of time unplugged as we kayaked, paddle boarded and played heaps of card and board games, not to mention having time for deep conversations about life and the world

It seems that everywhere you turn political debates are raging.  Wherever you look whether it’s television ads, door knocking or flyer dropping it’s in full swing. I had a very interesting conversation with my kids about what they noticed.  The common theme that they said was that all of the ads look to be about pointing out all the negative things about the opposing candidate. This has me thinking about leadership not just in politics,