Business – 33 Emeralds

The discipline of innovation

Are innovative cultures fun? Well, they’re a lot more than that.

Beautiful Questions

A bank of questions for building and supporting relationships and the way that we engage with one another

3 skills for leaders, from Anthropology

3 Skills for leaders, taken from the field of anthropology.

View Post For most people and companies, it’s been a rough year and a half. When it comes to experiences of pleasure, humans like some novelty. But regarding pain, we seek certainty. If we know what’s up ahead, we can prepare ourselves for it. While certain parts of our more recent existence feel within ourContinue reading “Psychological Flexibility”

Think Again

Are you interested in finding out what you don’t know? According to organisational psychologist and Wharton professor Adam Grant, you should be. When presented with someone else’s argument, we are very good at spotting weaknesses. But the positions we are blind about, are our own, says Grant. There is nothing like our inner dictatorContinue reading “Think Again”

Tech skills lay foundation. Social and emotional skills in high demand.

Through all the change and remoteness of recent times, we have all had to rethink how we model work out and engage employees. And a good year down the line, it has become more obvious to me. The companies faring better, from my direct experience, seem to be investing heavily in the ‘soft stuff’, and acknolwedlging that tech skills are just a base. As you will read below: “specialised capabilities need to be complimented by strong social, creative and collaboration skills.“

HYBRIDITY

Conversations for the liminal phase we are still in ‘The ability to effectively navigate in a hybrid environment is itself a skill and therefore a source of power.’ Collaborative work is making its way through a sticky and speedy evolution, catapulted up the agenda as remote working extended beyond what most had expected. Connection isContinue reading “HYBRIDITY”

Meta – lessons from an unknowable year

My big insights from the past 12 months or so. Comfort with ‘not knowing’ is a gift. It opens your awareness to all that is and could be. There is a human in every person. Be the human in each interaction. Investing in relationships produces compound interest. Get clear about the relationships that will matterContinue reading “Meta – lessons from an unknowable year”

Flying too close to the sun?

It’s easy to lose sight of the distinction between the truly important and the merely urgent. There is an age old two-by-two model called the Eisenhower Matrix. It helps sort out what matters from what does not. If used well, it can focus our time and energy in the right ways. A Google (or privacy-respectingContinue reading “Flying too close to the sun?”

Keep coming home

There are a many tools out there to help sort through what matters from what does not, and that can focus our time and energy in the right places. But what happens when we already know what is important, but the mind can’t settle to get to it? The Monkey Mind is a brilliant metaphorContinue reading “Keep coming home”

A new energy for 2021

Is there a buzz in your organisation? How would you describe energy levels as we move into 2021?

virtual communication SKILLS – A 2021 ESSENTIAL

Are you building your virtual communication skills for 2021? Here are a few easy pointers.

FORESIGHT

Running faster with old habits may seem to display true grit and resilience. In fact what may be most helpful is to step back from the race and activate contrarian thinking – adversity within this lens is a driver of new possibility.

how good are leaders at maintaining inner balance?

How good are leaders at maintaining inner balance?

Decompression Zone

Has 2020 been tough, manageable or has it presented new opportunity and growth? Are you processing the year that is passing and orientating towards the one ahead? Or is it a case of holding on in this lockdown state until we know more, so that we can do more? When will we convene with ourContinue reading “Decompression Zone”

Above the line

Are you operating above or below the line? Motivations drive our behaviour and our thinking. They impact our relationships and our results. So it makes sense for us to take a step back and ask, what is driving us? How does that impact our behaviour? What results are we getting? What is behind those interactionsContinue reading “Above the line”

Ready to invest in social capital yet?

The skills of highly successful groups that move through crisis in positive ways are not predestined, they can be built.

Covid-19 Responses: #CaretoAct 3

Post number 3 – already! More stories are emerging that tell of the power struggles over resources amassed and centralised for Covid-19 relief. Sometimes the help needed does not come. Shining a light on ‘non-centralised’ ways of providing tangible and effective relief seems super important right now. Thanks to Talent Talks, we have a channelContinue reading “Covid-19 Responses: #CaretoAct 3”

Care to Act? Post 2 in the Covid-19 response posts

This is the second post in the Care To Act series. Read the call to action in the first post for more background. Covid19 has shone a bright light upon the uglier parts of what we accepted as ‘normal’. With the country starting to move through the lockdown stages, the challenge for businesses will beContinue reading “Care to Act? Post 2 in the Covid-19 response posts”

Care to Act? A Covid-19 response

I first came across Patagonia the company around three or four years ago. A bright yellow book caught my eye in a bookshop. On the cover, in bold black and green writing, was the luminous title: ‘Conscious Capitalism – liberating the heroic spirit of business.’ Patagonia is a case study in the book (yes, the book cameContinue reading “Care to Act? A Covid-19 response”