No Bullsh!t Leadership

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.

Episode #77 // A lot of people spend a lot of time talking about resilience. Interestingly, real resilience can be difficult to acquire for an individual, and even harder for a leader to build it into a team.This episode focuses on creating the right culture in your team to build the resilience that will enable it to handle any eventuality.What is it that builds resilience for an individual, so that they can roll with the punches in both their careers and their lives?Why is avoidance the greatest enemy of resilience?How do you help your team to avoid burnout?And how, as a leader, can you build this into your team’s DNA?We’ve also designed an helpful free resource for you, called the ‘6 Steps to Building Your Team’s Resilience’, which you can download at www.yourceomentor.com/episode77. I encourage you to pass this on to your other leadership peers, to help build resilience across your organisation!As always, if you got any value from this episode whatsoever, please rate this podcast and leave us a review telling us what you think!👉 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 #76 // There are lots of different ownership structures that we come across in the world of business, and family owned businesses are extremely common. Some of these are relatively small, and some are massive enterprises.One of our listeners, Owen asked "Do you have any advice for a CEO going into a family-run company?"This episode touches on the different dynamics that can exist under the various ownership structures, and how they can affect the management team.If you, like Owen, are the person brought in to take over a family-run business when the founder either sells, retires, or realises that she no longer has the capability to lead the business through its next phase of growth, you may find these tips quite valuable.We’ve also created an incredibly handy free cheatsheet for you, the ‘6 Ways to Make Founder-led Businesses Work’, which you can download from www.yourceomentor.com/episode76. I encourage you to pass this on to anyone you know who is working in a founder-led business, you may give them the fresh perspective they need!👉 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 #75 // This episode shifts a little from the leadership, culture, and human performance elements of business, to a technique-based expose on negotiation.Negotiation is one of the elements of business (and life) that is fundamental to your ultimate success.After a barrage of listener requests, I’m finally relenting to uncover the core skills required to be a great negotiator!In this episode, we uncover the critical elements of negotiation, and recommend some sources to help you develop these skills to expert 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 #74 // Middle management roles are sometimes the toughest of any role in an organisation. However, if you have the right mindset and perspective, it is also the place where your leadership career is forged.If you have already passed through middle management ranks, this is an opportunity to once again put yourself in a middle managers’ shoes.If you are living the middle management dream right now, I have some tips that will hopefully help you to navigate the choppy waters ahead.In this episode, I get really specific about the divergences between senior management and the workforce, that tend to strand a middle manager in between (with some practical suggestions, of course, for how to handle it).You only have a few days left to enrol in the February cohort of Leadership Beyond the Theory, so head to https://courses.yourceomentor.com/courses/lbt and join us! Class starts virtually on Monday 3rd February.👉 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 #73 // How do you stop people from mindlessly carrying out non-value adding activity for its own sake? This problem is extremely common, and addressing it can be incredibly challenging.As a leader, you will most likely need to do more than just work with your people on an individual basis. You will actually need to cut through your organisation’s well established cultural norms.But busy work is hard to see, hard to challenge, and hard to replace with higher value work.In this episode, we take a look at how to start making fundamental shifts in how your teams get work done, and how you can exponentially improve their outcomes.👉 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 #72 // This week we take on one of the biggest, most complex topics in society and business today - climate change.With bushfires ravaging Australia on the back of one of the longest droughts in our history, the evidence for climate change is mounting. So too is the awareness and anger of the Australian people.This has driven media commentators, celebrities, and politicians alike to decry the sorry state of the planet. The vast majority of these are looking for someone to blame.However, many of our opinion leaders are ill-informed, simply regurgitating the populist view with little understanding of the complexities at play.Based on my experience as CEO of an electricity generation business, and my time serving on the board of the Australian energy industry’s peak representative body, I attempt to bring some balance to this difficult topic.Remember, like any wicked problem, if it was easy it would have already been solved!This episode isn’t just for leaders, so please share this episode with your network far and wide, and give them the opportunity to look at climate change through a different lens.👉 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 #71 // Thinking about how to transition to a new company or industry when you don’t have the technical expertise? For all our listeners who are changing roles (company, industry, or job function), this episode addresses some of the key challenges.We look at the role of diversity and inclusion, how to recognise and leverage your generic skillset, and why your technical expertise becomes less critical as you move up the ladder.I also give you a guided tour of my multiple successful career transitions, and outline the core capabilities and focus areas that will help you to master any transition.The free PDF resource for this episode absolute gold, the '9 Ways to Transition into a New Industry' so head to www.yourceomentor.com/episode71 to download it!👉 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 #70 // Happy New Year everyone!Today we take a step back to think about what we need to do to make 2020 our best year yet! Now is the time to press pause, and work out what you're actually going to do in the next 12 months.Since we started this podcast, I've had a lot of people ask me about my rituals and habits as a CEO. How did I set myself up for success at the start of each year? What are the exact tools and strategies that I use to stay on track?So to help you nail your goals this year (both personal and professional), Em and I have created a free 5-day video series, where I’ll teach you how I set my year up every January as a busy CEO, to reach both my long and short term goals!Join the Crush Your Career Challenge now, and start 2020 on the right foot!👉 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 #69 // As 2019 draws to a close, 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 are enjoying some downtime in the New Year.Leaders, don’t just stay inside and eat pies this Christmas (and you’ll need to listen to the episode to work out what I mean)… Take a little time to improve yourselves, and get into some of these episodes from our back catalogue that we think are the pick of the bunch.All the links to the episodes and free downloadables that we speak through can be found at www.yourceomentor.com/episode69👉 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 #68 // Strong leadership is rare, but incredibly valuable to people and organisations.Unfortunately, with the amount of superficial, feel-good leadership content being peddled these days, you could be forgiven for thinking quite the opposite. For many, leadership has deteriorated into a quest to ‘make people happy’.Many leaders then begin to believe their own bullish!t. They misinterpret superficial contentment as productivity, and limited achievement in an undemanding environment as high performance.This episode contrasts strong and weak leaders, exposing the high price of leadership weakness.To take your learnings on this topic even further, download the 'Strong V. Weak Leader Checklist' that I've put together at www.yourceomentor.com/episode68.Are you a strong leader, or a weak 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 #67 // The reality of life in modern organisations is that resource constraints are ever present. For this reason we have to make choices, but we typically aren’t good at this. We simply try to do way too much.And if we DO manage to get good at it, there is often a Nike boss above us who says “Just do it”. The type of boss who doesn’t want to listen to why something can’t be done.Excellence in performance is generally underpinned by a philosophy of simplicity and focus.Don’t try to do too much - keep it simple, do the things the REALLY count, and do them REALLY 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 #66 // It is almost expected that when you take on a new role, you are going to find ways to do things differently, and improve the team you have. Enter the “change program”.It is easy to get caught up in the hype… Consultants running around everywhere telling you what needs to be done, people drowning in PowerPoint decks that explain the change, and a whole facade of indicators to prove that what you are doing is working.But how do you know if you are really getting traction? Often we take silence as a sign that everything is going well, when actually it can be quite the opposite.In this episode we learn to interpret the noise and work out what to do with it to ensure our change initiatives actually work, rather than just believing our own bullsh!t.👉 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 #65 // As leaders, we often feel as though it is our obligation to ensure that everyone in our team is happy, motivated, and succeeding. Although that would be nice, it is also incredibly unrealistic.This episode explores the line between accountabilities for the leader and their people (many of whom may also be leaders, of course).How far does your obligation extend to help someone change? And how much rope should you give them if they are clearly not turning the corner? We get really practical here, so buckle up!Now this episode is pretty dense, there's a lot to take in and remember, so I've created a free PDF downloadable for you that will help you work out what a leader's obligations are, and what your people's obligations are. Download it at www.yourceomentor.com/episode65!👉 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 #64 // Restructures in large organisations are commonplace, and quite often imply that the organisation is seeking greater efficiency, which results in a number of roles being made redundant. These decisions, from the front line perspective, may seem to lack rationality and create a lot of angst, as sometimes very good people are moved on.How do you handle this emotionally and psychologically if you are caught in the firing line and, in your role as a leader, how can you help to make a redundancy and restructure process as painless as possible for your people, while giving your organisation the best chance of capturing value?This episode covers all the basics you need to manage redundancies, and provides guidance on handling the most difficult conversations.I've made a cracking free PDF downloadable for this episode, '9 Ways to Get Redundancies Right' which you can download from www.yourceomentor.com/episode64👉 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 #63 // Sometimes we focus so much on developing our own leadership style that we forget to read the play.One of the most useful leadership models that I have encountered is Situational Leadership Theory. It basically states that, since every individual is different, and they often find themselves in different situations, the style of the leader should vary according to this in order to optimise results.In this episode we look at when it is appropriate to push harder, when it is appropriate to work more closely with someone, and when it is appropriate to stand back and let them get on with it!Using practical scenarios, we bring the theory to life to help you navigate changes in style, depending on the needs of your followers.👉 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 #62 // In today's episode, Em and I are chatting through two really great listener questions!The first question we tackle is from Alison, who asked: “I’d be interested in a topic covering how to lead and influence people that are smarter than you! How do you keep them engaged and motivated without being permissive?"We all know that hiring people who are smarter than us is actually the object of the exercise, but being smart isn't everything, it’s just a really good start!The second question is from Jack who asked: “Holding people accountable is always difficult – I’m a “nice guy” and struggle being the “tough guy” and also struggle with how to hold people accountable without being threatening."This is something that hits us all at one point or another during our careers, so learning to step away from the need to be the "nice guy or girl" is critical to being able to drive the results you want.In this episode I recommend that you listen to:Episode 1 Respect Before Popularity: Letting go of the need to be likedEpisode 6 The Psychology of Feedback: Stop avoiding leadership workEpisode 57 Challenge, Coach, Confront: The leader's basic toolkitEpisode 41 You're Changing, So Now What?Episode 19 Execution For Results: Driving accountability in 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 #61 // As leaders, we are often cast in situations where we have to say “no” to people.In this episode I give you some practical techniques for having the confidence to say “no” to virtually anyone - your team, customers, suppliers, and peers.I’ll even touch on how to say “no” to your boss without risking the relationship, or making her or him feel as though you are being insubordinate.Understanding how to say “no” without feeling as though you have let the other person down, and without carrying guilt around afterwards, is the hallmark of a strong 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 #60 // Leading when you don’t have physical proximity to your people can be tricky. The good news is that doing this well is no different from leading any team well. However, any cracks in your leadership will be more obvious in this scenario.In this episode I explore the nuances of leading remote teams (or remote employees, as flexible working arrangements become more prevalent).I'll talk about why world leading safety organisation, DuPont, always put one of their own leaders into a newly acquired operation, and will cover how making your expectations clear can prevent little fiefdoms from springing up.As Ronald Reagan said: “Trust, but verify”.Download the free PDF cheatsheet for this episode '10 Way to Improve Outcomes with Remote Teams' at www.yourceomentor.com/episode60👉 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 #59 // Great leaders are great communicators - and for the most part, they are also excellent presenters.Although it has never been easier to put together a great presentation to win over and influence an audience, many leaders still miss the mark.You don’t want to be the presenter whose audience has only one thought: “How do I get out of this room?".In this episode, we explore why presentations are so often excruciatingly painful to sit through, and how to avoid the common pitfalls. Whether you’re speaking to your own team, the board of directors, or a stadium of 10,000 people, my five guiding principles will help you put together a winning presentation for every context!To download the free PDF 'Five Ways to Avoid an Epic Presentation Fail' (you might want to hand this out to your entire team and set a new standard for presenting!) head to www.yourceomentor.com/episode59👉 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 #58 // This week, Em and I take on a few great questions that appear to keep coming up regularly for our listeners!(0:55) The first question we tackle is from Stephanie, who is about to inherit a team member that is known company wide as an under performer (and quite frankly, pisses a lot of people off!), but her boss really likes this team member and doesn’t seem to see her faults. We help Stephanie work out what to do and how to manage both the under performer AND her boss.(6:35) Secondly, we answer Mike’s question which is an absolute cracker - how to deal with imposter syndrome. I get pretty deep in this one, and it’s a topic I haven’t spoken about very much, so I really hope it’s valuable.(12:50) We end with a great question from Pete, who asks us to address how to implement initiatives that have been agreed on in strategic planning sessions. So often great ideas come out of planning sessions, but then 6 months down the track no movement has been made because everyone is getting on with their standard day to day activities. If this resonates with you, you’ll get a lot of value out of my answer.If you’ve got a question that you’d like us to cover in the podcast, email it through to us at [email protected], we’d love to hear from you!We also mention the ‘Six Steps to Creating a Strong Accountability Culture’, which you can download at www.yourceomentor.com/episode58. We also mention Episode 7 Work at the Right Level: What got you to here won’t get you to there which you can listen to here and Episode 19 Execution for Results: Driving accountability in your team which you can listen to 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 #57 // I often talk about the hard work of leadership as being the process of challenging, coaching and confronting your people. I had quite a few questions from our last Leadership Beyond the Theory cohort asking to explore this in more depth, so this episode takes a closer look at how it works.If you want to learn how to set up each phase, and use this approach to get the best results possible from your people, you need to understand a few of the basic concepts in this framework.The ability to challenge, coach, and confront - confidently and competently - has a huge impact on individual and team performance.You’ll need to master this if you have any aspirations of being a great 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.