No Bullsh!t Leadership

Episode #127 // We’ve had a lot of people recently asking us about the role of purpose in business. In this episode, we answer a great question from one of our Leadership Beyond the Theory alumni, David.What should we make of the push for organisations to be ‘purpose-driven’? Can we truly put people before profits? What are the pros and cons of setting up a purpose, and trying to use that to drive your organisation? And is there ever justification for putting people through the pain of restructures and redundancies?As a pragmatic former CEO, I unpick some of the pitfalls you’ll encounter if you decide to turn your organisation into a purpose-driven business.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #126 // At some point, every leader needs to present proposals to their boss in order to gain approval for deploying the organisation’s resources.After years of analyzing and approving investment proposals (many for hundreds of millions of dollars), I demystify the process, giving you the practical tips that will enable you to deliver a winning proposal, every time.Whether you’re asking for $50m to invest into a research and development project, $5m for a new software package, or $5,000 to upgrade an ailing piece of equipment in your office, the thought process is the same. Knowing what to present can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection. All leaders need to speak the language of finance, especially when it comes to making investment decisions.I've also put together a free downloadable cheat sheet for this episode, as there's quite a lot to remember! You can download the Ten Tips for Building a Winning Proposal at www.yourceomentor.com/episode126👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #125 // How do you develop a mindset to make decisions confidently, while removing any concerns about the implications it could have for your job - your promotability and future prospects?This can be a particularly vexed question when you work in a larger organisation, where the politics can sometimes be quite vicious.So how do you learn to take smart career risks, knowing that things will work out for the best? Is it at all possible to teach this to others?In this episode, I offer some practical suggestions that you can use to help build character. It may even help your people to develop it as well!👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #124 // There are very few people who are totally comfortable presenting in a public forum, whether it’s a submission to the board, a ‘town hall’ style meeting for people who work on your team, or a sales presentation.We released an episode over 12 months ago, called “Epic Presentation Fails”. This focused mainly on how to structure a presentation, and how to not bore your audience to death by simply delivering dry information without insight and context.This week, we’re going to go beyond the original episode to speak about the actual delivery of a presentation. Communication is a core skill for leaders at every level. If you can’t communicate clearly and confidently, you’ll struggle to lead!👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #123 // There was a lot to celebrate in 2020, despite the difficulties we all faced. And whereas much of the world was focused on leading through the pandemic, it still didn’t stop the run-of-the-mill failures that come from deceptive, negligent, and self-interested leadership.As a subscriber to the Australian Financial Review (our daily Wall St Journal equivalent), I just love their end-of-year wraps. The one I focus on in this episode is what the AFR considers to be the best examples of corporate failures in 2020.I deconstruct some of the cases mentioned in the article, then cap it off with my own prize for the most breathtaking leadership accountability failure that I witnessed last year.//Are you coming to No Bullsh!t Leadership: Live? To celebrate reaching 1,000,000 downloads of the No Bullsh!t Leadership podcast, we are throwing a completely free, not-to-be-missed half-day virtual leadership event!Places are limited so register here to save your spot (and get your friends and colleagues to do it as well)!👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #122 // As much as I think any day is a good day to rethink what we’re doing in our lives and careers, a milestone like the new year typically prompts us to reflect a bit more deeply.2020 was a pretty tough year for many of us. This time last year, when we released the Crush Your Career challenge, we had no idea what twists and turns the world was about to take!Having said that, if you did manage to complete the challenge last year, I’m sure it massively helped you to navigate through all the difficulties that were thrown up at you.So, just as we did last year, we’re re-releasing the Crush Your Career challenge to help you set up for whatever 2021 may bring… enjoy!Register for the FREE 5-day content series at www.yourceomentor.com/cyc👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #121 // As we traditionally do in December, Em and I thought we’d take a look back on the year of podcasts, and pick out our favourites for you to go back and listen to while you’re enjoying some downtime in the New Year.It’s been a helluva year and, as I look back, I feel an incredible sense of gratitude for what I’ve personally experienced, and feel especially humbled by both the business and personal success I’ve been fortunate enough to have this year.2020’s been a big one for Your CEO Mentor. Just a couple of weeks ago, we reached our 1 Million Download milestone for the podcast. I wrote the No Bullsh!t Leadership book while in lockdown, which is being published in the US next August. We’ve run two more wildly successful cohorts of Leadership Beyond the Theory and I continue to work with some incredible clients to help them cut through the clutter and improve the performance of their businesses.I hope you have got a huge amount of value out of the podcasts we’ve produced this year. 80% of episodes have come from listener and student questions, so keep them coming! If there’s something you want us to cover or do a deep dive on in 2021, send your question through to us at [email protected] or get in touch on any of our social media channels.For ease of access, here are our top 5 picks for 2020 to put on your holiday listening list: Episode #111 The Leadership Meeting Cadence: Bringing the concepts to life (download the free PDF here)Episode #85 Strategy Isn’t Hard: Don’t overcomplicate it (download the free PDF here)Episode #92 The Leadership Dance: A winning mindsetEpisode #107 Resilience, Faith and Optimism: The Stockdale ParadoxEpisode #82 Leading Through a Crisis: Calm, capable and confident (download the free PDF here)👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #120 // This week, I share a mentoring session with a senior leader from a large industrial business. Vahid ran an extremely successful transformation program in his own business unit, and asked me how he should go about expanding the initiative so that the broader organisation might benefit. Having seen some early resistance in other business units, I talked Vahid through some of the typical blockers that can make it difficult to gain acceptance when trying to influence one’s peers. The sailing isn’t smooth when politics comes into play, so working out how to navigate that is an essential skill for any senior leader.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #119 // A lot of leaders say that their organisation is suffering from “change fatigue". Although there are no doubt many impacts from the seemingly endless list of change initiatives that organisations roll out, is change fatigue really a thing?Maybe it’s simply an inevitable part of life in a fast-paced business environment. But the problem with using cliches like ‘change fatigue’ is that they can lead us to overlook the role that our own leadership behaviours play.What’s the difference between change fatigue, and change resistance? Has Covid changed all of this? And what could we do differently to bring some sense and order to our change initiatives, while protecting our people from the most damaging side-effects?We've also put together a really handy free PDF downloadable to summarise the key takeaways from the episode, which you can download from our website www.yourceomentor.com/episode119👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #118 // When we spend so much time dedicated to our work, it’s pretty common to feel as though we’re neglecting other important areas of our lives: our families, our health, our friends… we can even lose our basic zest for living. We forget that we’re supposed to be working to live, not living to work.In this episode, we focus on how to have a stellar career, and still be successful in the other critical areas of your life. Our first question from Jay asks specifically about the impact that a high-powered career can have on your children.We also explore how to get the hiring process right, and work at the right level so that you don’t get sucked into the vortex of a never-ending task list. Like anything in leadership, it takes discipline to create and maintain the right habits.//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020 and we're less than 20k listens away from that goal!To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats 👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #117 // Every organisation inherently has a number of natural tensions between different groups and functions - finance vs marketing; sales vs operations; operations vs asset management; IT and… virtually everyone!Rather than trying to eliminate these tensions, leaders should concentrate on using them to get better outcomes. It’s through nurturing and managing natural tensions that you’ll find a balance - this will improve your decision-making, and ultimately create the greatest value for your organisation.There are no black-and-white answers to this question, but there are some practical principles and philosophies you can employ. In this episode, I provide some useful tips for managing natural tensions in order to improve the value outcomes of your team. //We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats  👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #116 // We tend to talk a lot about how important it is for leaders to give their people feedback, but focus much less on how to receive feedback. In this episode, we turn the tables a little. All great leaders were first great followers, and had to experience how life felt on the other side of the table. Listening and learning should never stop, no matter how high up you go.We look at how human nature can get in the way of our ability to hear the feedback that’s given to us. We then examine the efficacy of formal feedback mechanisms, and I also give some practical tips for how to receive feedback graciously.We've put together a free PDF resource that pulls out the key takeaways from this episode, which you can easily download at https://www.yourceomentor.com/episode116//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats 👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #115 // Innovation has become a very overused term, which can be found in the bullsh!t bingo dictionary between agility, and strategic. The term has become so hackneyed that it can sometimes be almost meaningless. In this episode, I strip away some of the mystique around innovation, and offer some practical guidelines for managing the innovation process in your organisation.The value of major market disruption is obvious, albeit risky. But how do you create value from a continuous improvement culture, without jeopardising the core value outcomes of your formal work program?//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats 👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #114 // Starting a new role can be a little daunting, whether you’re being promoted to lead the team you used to be part of, or moving to a completely different organisation in a new industry.Every new role requires you to go through a deliberate process to set yourself up, and to establish the right expectations with your stakeholders - your boss, your peers, your team and, depending on the role, your customers and suppliers.As someone who transitioned through lots of roles during my corporate career, I want to lay out a bit of a roadmap for how to transition into any new role, play to your strengths, and stamp your own individual excellence on it.So in this episode I’ll cover three key areas: How to match your skills, capabilities, and experience to any new roleWhat you can do to establish yourself as a credible performer, under any circumstances and; Some tips for drawing a line in the sand and setting or resetting expectations for your team👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #113 // In the last couple of decades, we’ve seen an increasing focus on embracing diversity. The emphasis on this is often limited to gender diversity, as we look to achieve increased representation of women in senior leadership positions. But even though gender is clearly a priority area, diversity needs to go way further if we truly want to achieve better outcomes.There are two distinct steps to harnessing the power of diversity. The first is to select and retain the right people in your team, and the second is to tap into the diverse capability that you’ve assembled.In this episode, we look at what really constitutes diversity, and provide some tips and suggestions for unlocking it. There’s not much point in having a diverse team unless you can liberate people’s unique perspectives, experiences, and insights to improve organisational outcomes, and ultimately deliver greater value.//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats 👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #112 // We get an enormous number of questions on making better decisions, but we haven’t really addressed this subject directly in quite a while. Ultimately your ability to make better decisions, faster than your competitors provides the foundation for execution excellence.In this week’s episode, we go back to Q&A format, where Em and I pick up a couple of questions from our podcast listeners on the finer points of decision making. First, Olivia asks if there’s a place for ‘gut feel’ in the decision making process.Then we answer Tim’s question on how to manage a situation where a decision that’s already been made by one of your people needs to be reversed.//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #111 // If you took a poll of 100 leaders, you’d be hard-pressed to find one who’d say that they’d like more meetings in their lives, especially these days where 'Zoom fatigue' has become a factor.However, meetings can be a powerful construct for setting standards, making decisions, and lifting performance. If you're spending a lot of your time in meetings, you want to make them count!In this episode we talk about how to bring together all aspects of the individual AND group meetings that drive your execution tempo, as I let you in on my proven leadership meeting cadence.This is an incredibly detailed episode, so we've created a free PDF guide 'Practical Execution Tips: How to Get Your Meeting Cadence Right' which you can download from our website at https://www.yourceomentor.com/episode111. If this helps, make sure you share it with your team so that you're all working from the same playbook!Some other episodes that we reference:Episode #96 Performance ReviewsEpisode #6 The Psychology of FeedbackEpisode #57 Challenge, Coach, Confront//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #110 // We all get busy doing the things we do in life, and sometimes we don’t really think about what we’re actually achieving. Some people love to be in the thick of things, happy to risk success or failure. Others appear to be much more comfortable watching from the sidelines, at a safe distance.Unless you learn how to put yourself “in the arena”, you’ll struggle to find success and satisfaction in your career, whether you’re running a start-up business, or a major global multinational.The episode unpicks some of the natural impediments to getting in the arena, and offers a suggestion to help you overcome whatever is holding you back!👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #109 // The concept of “Servant Leadership” was first formulated by Robert Geenleaf 50 years ago, most likely as a reaction to the command-and-control leadership style of corporate America in the 1950s and 1960s.Servant Leadership has a lot going for it. Putting the focus on the growth and well-being of the individual, and using this as a means to achieve organisational outcomes is indeed compelling. And despite the fact that there is little empirical research to support the hypothesis, a number of successful companies swear by this approach.Join me as I unpick the key elements of servant leadership, explore the potential downside of adopting it as an overall style, and have a crack at cherry-picking the best features to help us improve and expand our existing leadership repertoire.Link reference: Episode #5 Using Power Wisely: Why how we get results actually matters//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #108 // This episode takes a look at the delicate issue of relationships at work. Why do we still see a revolving door of very senior executives exiting organisations at incredible personal, financial, and reputational cost?Cultural standards and policies vary wildly from organisation to organisation and, let’s face it, around 1 in 5 of you actually met your current partner at work.But we’ve seen a massive shift in societal awareness and expectations of relationships in the workplace, especially when these involve a power imbalance.This episode explores some of the nuances of the issues, and offers a simple guideline for leaders to follow.//We are on a mission to hit 1 million listens by the 31st December 2020.To help us to reach this goal, and impact even more leaders just like you who would benefit from the strategies and tools that Marty covers in the podcast, please share the podcast with your network. You can also subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast, that will help more leaders find us when they’re searching for a new leadership podcast to binge on.If we hit our goal, we will be running a completely free live virtual leadership event in February 2021, and we would love for you to be there!Keep up with the live listener number and see how close we are to our goal at www.yourceomentor.com/stats👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #107 // The amount of disruption, challenge, and uncertainty we’ve dealt with in the past six months has tested us all. Who is committed to coming out the other side better for the experience?This episode illuminates the road to true resilience, as we tap into the experiences of those who’ve come before us. How do we cope when everything appears hopeless, and the barriers seem insurmountable?The Stockdale Paradox is a roadmap to surviving even the most difficult and gruelling circumstances, and fits perfectly into our current paradigm as we look to an uncertain global future.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #106 // In this episode, we take a look at part of a mentoring session I did with a fantastic young leader named Kate.Kate is a leader in a financial services company that supports a major global manufacturer. We covered a lot of ground in the session, so I actually found it really difficult to select the most valuable piece.But the dialogue I liked best, is the part about enabling people. We go into some detail about what the 3 key things are to focus your leadership attention on each day, and of course, this invariably comes back to people’s performance.How do you enable people to perform, without over-functioning for them? It’s simple conceptually, but whenever we’re dealing with issues that affect people’s lives, they’re tough to execute on.A big thank you to Kate for allowing us to share this mentoring session with our leadership community!//If you would like to chat about working with Marty in a on on one mentoring capacity, email Emma at [email protected] and she will take you through availability and options.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #105 // Sometimes, you come into a new leadership role where the team you take over is broken. This happens with surprising regularity. Why? Because there’s a strong correlation between poor culture, poor performance, and poor leadership.We know that great leaders are in short supply, and the role models we look towards don’t necessarily show us how to improve.So how do you pick up the pieces after a poor leader has left? If you haven’t had to do this yet in your leadership career, just wait - you will. We’re going to help you to work out how to take stock of the situation and move your team forward.Don’t miss my seven tips for rebooting your team culture - download them in a free PDF resource, the '7 Ways to Reboot Team Culture'!👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #104 // Leaders often struggle with their workload, as they move to more senior levels in an organisation.Hard work is a given if you want to be successful in any field, and I certainly wouldn’t make a case for trying to avoid any of that hard work…it builds resilience and character. However, it’s sad to see people become myopically focused on work, to the exclusion and detriment of everything else in their lives.To have a sense of balance, you need to choose where to put your energy, focus, and attention.How do you maximize the return for the energy you invest into work, so that you can make room for the other things in your life that are arguably important?👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #103 // We’ve had lots of questions lately from listeners asking how to implement the learnings from the podcast into their organizations, and to get their leaders to pick up on the concepts and actually use them!Unfortunately there are no simple answers to this question.The podcast is designed for leaders like you, to expose you to different ways of thinking, and to give you some practical tips, from the leadership “front line”.But for most of us, including me, when we listen to a podcast, we do so without any commitment to actually changing. It’s a great way to shift our thinking, but I know hundreds of executives who, despite having the right leadership knowledge, are genuinely awful leaders, because they never develop the habits that would truly help them to lead better.In this episode, Em and I talk about what it takes to change. This is why we developed Leadership Beyond the Theory (LBT) - if you love the podcast, LBT is the next step - it’s there for you when you’re ready to commit to taking the No Bullsh!t Leadership concepts, and embedding them as repeatable habits and behavior.If you’re not ready to commit, that’s perfectly fine - everyone is at a different stage in their lives and careers, and only you know when you are ready to get serious. But this episode is still worth listening to so that you can understand the difference between involvement and commitment.In this episode we mention the below links:Learn more about Leadership Beyond the Theory https://www.yourceomentor.com/programThe case study interviews that we have done with past students https://www.yourceomentor.com/casestudiesEpisode #26 The Roadmap to Exceptional Leadership: The 7 Pillars of High Performance https://www.yourceomentor.com/episode26For our die hard fans, we've also put a very rare blooper at the end of the podcast for a laugh :)👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #102 // It’s no surprise that leaders increasingly fall into the trap of acting only for short-term results, not really considering what they leave behind in the longer term.This trend seems to have accelerated with the instant availability of information (both true and fabricated).Do leaders ever think of their legacy after their postings? Do most even care?The issues that drive leaders to act in the short term are complex: Why is there such a disproportionate focus on short term results? How much of a role does self-interest play, and what would a good, long-term legacy look like?👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #101 // What keeps your people engaged, motivated, and committed? This week, we explore the world of talent retention.Staff turnover is expensive, but it’s not always undesirable. How do you keep the people you want, and turn over the ones you don’t?Obviously, if you get the right people on the team in the first place, life’s a lot easier. And if you pay them enough, you can actually take money off the table as a retention issue.But how do you lead your people in a way that makes them want to stay? And what do you do with your ‘precocious’ talent?//The final 2020 cohort of Leadership Beyond the Theory starts on the 31st August - don't miss out on your spot! Join the waitlist now and learn more about the program at www.yourceomentor.com/program 👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #100 // Today, we’re going to take a quick breather from our normal content, and talk about all things Your CEO Mentor related to celebrate our 100th episode!In this episode, Em and I talk about our first two years of operation, and our bold plans for the future.Em will tell the story of how she actually convinced me to set up Your CEO Mentor with her in the first place, and we’re going to take a behind-the-scenes look at how I landed my book publishing deal in the US! We'll also chat about my plans to relocate to the US in 2021.If you love the podcast, I’m sure you’ll find this pretty interesting!To celebrate our 100th episode we’d love for you to go to your favourite episode, take a screenshot of it, post it onto whatever social media channel you use and tag us in it so that we can see what you’re loving and we can connect with you.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #99 // How would you know if you’ve reached your use-by date in a role?Great organisations rise and fall - very few stand the test of time. What’s the connection between the executives that run these exceptional businesses, and their eventual demise?In this episode, we look at some of the reasons for organisational failure and why, individually, we tend to lose our effectiveness over time.How do you avoid the pitfalls that successful leaders encounter, which can result in the eventual decline of even great organisations?👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #98 // There have been a couple of questions that we’ve seen appearing as common themes over the past few months, so Em and I thought we’d tackle them today in a Q&A!First, we answer a question from Dave, who asked about effective delegation:“How, why, and when should you delegate, and how do you ensure outcomes are achieved?”This is a common question that cuts across many of the themes we talk about and provide leadership tools for in No Bullsh!t Leadership, so it’s a good opportunity to bring some of these together.We then tackle Jenni’s question:“Do you have any strategies or tips for managing contractors and partnerships?”Just a few weeks ago, in Episode 95, we dealt with outsourcing, and this question flows on really well. What do you do with an agreement once it is struck?👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #97 // Many people suffer from addictions, and they don’t check them in at the door when they turn up to work each day - their choice is to either function through their dysfunction, or lose their job.How should we, as leaders, handle incidences of addiction in our people? What are the boundaries we should maintain, and how much slack should we cut people who suffer from these issues?We look at why no team is immune to the effects of addiction, the link between substance abuse and impairment, and the role of social culture in the workplace.This is an incredibly tricky topic, so if this brings up anything for you, please reach out to one of the many organisations who can help such as Lifeline.Some of our listeners have also reached out with their recommended resources:Hello Sunday MorningEmployee Assistance Program (EAP)👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #96 // As we’ve just hit the end of the Australian 2020 Financial Year, a lot of our local listeners are about to step into the performance review cycle, and go through the gruelling schedule of meetings, documentation, and feedback.Episode #96 // This episode examines the trend of major companies going away from the annual performance review process, and replacing it with regular, timely feedback from leaders to their people at all levels of the organization.What could possibly go wrong?In this episode I take a deep dive into the performance review cycle, looking at some of the pros and cons, and what you need to do to ensure it remains a valuable tool for your organization.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #95 // What should we outsource, when should we outsource, and how do we avoid the common pitfalls?In the 90’s, outsourcing became all the rage, particularly in the IT world. But the principles behind it go back to the economic theory of comparative advantage, first proposed by David Ricardo over 200 years ago, in the early 19th century.We explore some critical questions in this episode, like why you would want to outsource something, and what process you should go through to make a sensible decision. We also touch upon why a lot of outsourcing arrangements don’t turn out the way you had expected, and what the future of outsourcing looks like.To help you work out whether you should outsource something or not, we've created a FREE PDF checklist for you, the 7 Reasons To Outsource (And 4 Reasons Not To), which you can download (for free) at www.yourceomentor.com/episode95.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #94 // This episode is another value-packed live mentoring session with two of our past Leadership Beyond the Theory students, Leina Broughton and Fleur Richardson.Leina is an Australian fashion designer and entrepreneur who, with her business partner Fleur, has brought the Leina Broughton label to market.We’ve taken the two topics from this session that we think are most relevant to the current circumstances. They are applicable to everyone, regardless of your industry, the size of your business, or your position in the organization’s hierarchy.First up, we take a look at our discussion on how to make accountabilities crystal clear for your people, to ensure that gaps and overlaps don’t develop. Then we talk about how to communicate with your people in times of uncertainty so that they aren’t entirely consumed by their own fear and apprehension.Execution excellence is simple to understand, but not easy to achieve!Read the full transcript at www.yourceomentor.com/episode94👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #93 // Through the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen some stark examples of leadership in crisis, both good and bad, as countries have tried to come to terms with the pandemic, and the impacts on their people and economies.Some leaders have fared better than others. This episode looks at some of the misconceptions about what constitutes good leadership (hint: look at the results first), and identifies some of the poorer leadership behaviours and approaches that we’ve witnessed.As the world moves onto the next stage of the pandemic response, these leadership lessons will be worth bearing in mind. The principles of leading through a crisis are the same, but assume even greater importance than they have in a more benign context.Join our community at https://www.yourceomentor.com/joinourcommunity to stay up to date with the latest episodes as they go live each week!👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #92 // There’s a great documentary series currently streaming on Netflix called The Last Dance, which looks at The Chicago Bulls basketball team, one of the most successful sporting teams of all time.The Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, one of the greatest players to ever lace up a pair of Nikes, won six NBA championships in the span of eight years.We look at what made this team so special, and analyze some of the critical elements that unfold during the series. There are some great leadership lessons here, and we put them into the context of some of our No Bullsh!t Leadership philosophies, like excellence over perfection and creating a high performance culture.Did the ends justify the means, and what role did each of the team’s leaders play in the franchise's unrivalled success?If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your favourite podcast player so that we can impact even more leaders!👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #91 // We're constantly receiving questions from listeners about leading when there is a significant age difference. And this can flow in both directions.In this episode, we look at what to do with an older person in your team who reports to you, and is difficult to manage. We also consider the case of working for an older leader who uses bullying, intimidation, and control as their primary means of achieving outcomes.Either way, as a leader you are going to have to work out how to deal with these difficult scenarios: they are surprisingly common.Sometimes, what we perceive as an age issue is actually something else and if, as leaders, we can strip aside the stereotypes and deal with the behaviours that challenge our effectiveness, it gives us much more control than just believing it’s “an age thing”.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #90 // We had some fantastic feedback on the first live mentoring session that we released a few weeks ago, Episode #87, so we’ve decided to continue this theme and bring more of these in-depth conversations to you.This episode is an excerpt from a mentoring session I had a few weeks ago with Martin Bishop. Martin is the Chief Operating Officer for a transport company, based in Australia.For context in this fast-moving world, to give you an idea where we were up to in pandemic terms, we held this mentoring session in Australia in mid-April, a few weeks into the lockdown.Today we explore how to ensure you have the whole organisation, top to bottom, focused on the highest value work and we look at how to re-prioritise the work program as the landscape shifts.This episode was recorded over Zoom so it's not our usual studio quality, but if you have any issues understanding the questions or answers, you can head over to the website and read the transcript at www.yourceomentor.com/episode90.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #89 // Is it really inevitable that all projects will go overtime and over budget?I cut my leadership teeth as a project manager on large software development projects, and I’ve had executive accountability for mega-projects in construction, procurement, major asset overhaul, and capital efficiency.This episode takes a fly over the top of all things project-related. Why do they fail? What are some of the common misconceptions about projects? How do you improve the chances of success for any project?Although I don’t necessarily believe that all projects are doomed, in my experience it is quite rare to see one done really well.We’ve also created a free PDF resource, the “7 ways to nail your next project ”, which you can download at www.yourceomentor.com/episode89.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #88 // It’s difficult to lead properly or act at a more strategic level, if your boss expects you to have a very hands-on component to your role.Some larger organisations these days seem desperate to become more entrepreneurial, and to ‘transform’. To do this, they are trying to mimic start ups. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be tech unicorns?!What it means in practice, though, is that people in senior leadership positions are expected to roll their sleeves up and work alongside their teams, buried in the detail.We cover a lot of ground in this episode, from innovation theory, to micromanagement, to what it really means to lead from the front.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #87 // Some of the best things in life happen purely by accident. Remember that impromptu party that turned out to be one of the best nights of your life? Well that’s how this episode came about.I was conducting a mentoring session via Zoom with an incredible young leader, coincidentally named Emma. When we came to a discussion on decision making models and frameworks, I asked Emma to “press record” so that she could replay it later (I wanted to move through the concepts fairly quickly).What eventuated was a conversation about the things that make a real difference to the quality of your decisions (but the decision making models they teach in business school don’t cover). Emma has kindly allowed me to share this with the No Bullsh!t Leadership audience.If you want to get to the practical stuff that will really change the way you think about decision making, this episode is for you.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #86 // Although we are still in lockdown mode in many parts of the world to stem the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can start to look at the long term benefits that we are likely to see when we come through the other side.Indisputably, there is incredible pain for some, uncertainty for others, and for all of us, a change in how we view our world. But, eventually, we’ll emerge better for the experience (as humans have done over centuries).It’s now fast approaching the time when leaders should think about doing what they have signed up to do - to accept the cold hard facts for what they are, and work out how to take people beyond that, calmly and confidently, so that value emerges from this crisis.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #85 // The word “strategy” is much misused and misunderstood. A lot of people use it without really understanding what it means - ever had a well-meaning boss say; “You need to be more strategic”?Today, we take a step back and ask the question “What is strategy?”, and give you some practical tips for how to think about it (if you ever find yourself in the position where you need to).We cover the key concepts, looking at both the classical theory, and the contemporary application, leaving you with a practical guide to help you to think through how you might apply strategy to your specific circumstances.Head to our podcast page at www.yourceomentor.com/episode85 to download Marty's free PDF resource, '6 tips on crafting strategy'.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #84 // I have met some incredibly intelligent executives, who struggle to get the outcomes they should because they can't elicit the buy-in and commitment of those around them.Many senior leaders try to drive outcomes from a position of ‘the smartest person in the room’. Well, being smart is awesome, but you’ve got to be REALLY smart if you want to learn how to use your intellect to get the job done the best way possible.This means going way beyond your pure intellect into the nebulous world of emotional intelligence and human connection!In this episode, we explore the good and the bad of being right, the things that are even more important than this, and I talk you through how to use influence as the mainstay of your execution repertoire.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #83 // In October of last year we released Episode #60, and looked at leading remote teams. In that episode, we outlined a number of principles to ensure that a lack of proximity doesn’t translate into a lack of results or value.Life has changed quite a bit since then, and now companies that previously had their whole complement of people within arm’s reach, are having to deal with managing a workforce that is fragmented in dozens (or even hundreds) of individual, remote work locations.For leaders in industries that can still trade through a lockdown, you will need to develop new skills, perspectives, and approaches to lead your people successfully in what was (until recently) an unimaginable scenario.Today I’ve asked Em to join me so that we can talk through some of the issues that will present themselves, and some tools and techniques for leading people through these difficult times. It could become the new normal for some organisations, so sitting back and hoping it will pass is a poor strategy.Some of the tools and softwares we mention are below (please note, we have no affiliation with any of these products, they’re just things we love to use in our business!).SlackBombBombTogglZoomLivestorm👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #82 // Although the world is immersed in pandemic panic, today’s episode DOESN’T focus on the Coronavirus - there’s already an overload of information (and misinformation) in the public domain on this.However, it is timely for us to open our eyes to the wide world of crisis management, a core part of any senior leader's repertoire. Mastering the fundamentals of crisis management will enable you to lead your stakeholders through the uncertainties that invariably present when the sh!t hits the fan.But very few leaders do this well, as we have seen in recent weeks.This episode covers what constitutes a genuine crisis (with a multitude of examples), introduces you to business continuity planning, and gives you my seven tips for leading through a crisis.We've also created a free PDF resource, the '7 Tips for Calm, Capable and Confident Leadership in a Crisis', which you can download from our website at www.yourceomentor.com/episode82.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #81 // On 1st March 2020, we heard the news that Jack Welch had passed away at the age of 84 from renal failure. For over 20 years, he was the CEO and Chairman of General Electric, at the time one of America’s premier firms. Welch guided GE through the heady 1980s and 90s, at a time before the 2001 recession and the 2008 GFC curbed everyone’s enthusiasm.Welch is widely credited with transforming American capitalism. He was named the Manager of the Century by Fortune magazine in 1999, beating out some pretty stellar competition from earlier in the 20th Century.Since then a lot of what Welch did has been discredited, or at best questioned. In this episode, I look at the legacy that is Jack Welch, and explore the good, the bad, and the ugly.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #80 // Decision fatigue has been spoken about over the last several years as a serious problem, a by-product of our fast paced world.Overcoming his initial reaction (“what a crock of sh!t”), Marty explored the topic, with an open mind, to understand it a little better.The outcomes of this journey of discovery are intriguing - the brain is an incredible thing, and we don’t understand it enough, even now, to definitively unveil all of its miracles.This episode will challenge your thinking about the use of labels and, of course, provide some suggestions for how to manage your energy and performance!We’ve also included a free resource, the ‘6 Tips for Managing Your Mental State and Performance’, which you can download on our podcast page at www.yourceomentor.com/episode80.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #79 // This episode takes us into another Q&A, where we address three excellent listener questions - and to celebrate International Women’s Day, we have an all-female roster.Janine asks about driving leadership change in an organisation where the tenets of accountability and empowerment that we subscribe to are not supported by the organisation’s prevailing culture.Vicky, an HR professional, asks us how organisations can better recognise the value to be achieved from the HR function.And for Lily, we explore the question, “If you are a young leader, where do you start?”All great questions, which we tend to get quite often in one form or another. This episode sheds some light on these issues that will broaden your perspective, no matter what your experience or industry.The extra episodes we reference throughout are below:Episode #57 Challenge, Coach, ConfrontEpisode #1 Respect Before PopularityEpisode #7 Work at the Right Level👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode #78 // In our quest to build harmonious teams where everyone works together and collaborates for the common good of the organisation, we sometimes forget how important it is to foster the natural and constructive tensions that are ever present in business.Having said that, we don’t want the pendulum to swing too far the other way. So what is the right amount of constructive tension to build into your team?This episode examines how leaders can strike the balance between constructive tension and team alignment, and answers some important questions that leaders commonly have:How can tension between my team members and leaders be positive?How would I know if tensions go too far?How do I manage productive tension, and when do I step in?We’ve also created a helpful free downloadable for you, the ‘6 Rules of Thumb for Balancing Constructive Tension and Team Alignment’, which you can download from www.yourceomentor.com/episode78.👉 Doors are open for Leadership Beyond the Theory. Be the boss you wish you had.🔗 Enroll now at leadershipbeyondthetheory.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.