A guide to the subconscious and how to rewire it. — Living on the edge of a cliff gives us great views of Wellington Harbour. When we first shifted into our house we noticed all of the comings and goings on the harbour. Over the years the inter-island ferries, ships, yachts and speed boats have all faded into the background of…

Thinking about how much worse a situation could be, surfaces gratefulness and leads to a growth in resilience. Early morning meetings along with early morning flights are some of my least favourite things. I am not a morning person. Recently, as I was leaving home to attend a breakfast meeting, my lovely husband handed me a coffee to help me on my way. …

Your effectiveness as a leader is directly proportional to the level of empathy you have for the people you are entrusted to lead. — The story is told of a police officer, who in the depths of a New York winter saw a man without any shoes on his feet. The police officer went into a nearby shoe store and bought the man a pair of new boots.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the difference between being nice and being kind. Are they the same thing or in our effort to be nice might we actually end up being unkind? Let me explain… Nice: pleasing; agreeable; delightful Kind: of a good or benevolent nature or disposition Deep down…

Transforming meetings so that everyone can participate. Don’t you just hate those times when you get caught in a meeting with people who are more interested in being heard than hearing what others have to say? I know I do. …

How do you figure out if a new idea really is worth pursuing? — Recently I was running a workshop with a group of people who all worked in collaborative spaces. One participant asked an interesting question. “How do you manage all the good ideas when working with others?” I asked her to tell me more and she explained that when 3 or 4…

What is the impression we leave in our wake as we finish a meeting or hit send on an email? — Our house is perched on the side of a hill in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It is a beautiful location, although to live here requires great faith that the rock anchors securing the house to the hill do their job during earthquakes. The view is the reason…

How thinking deeply and deliberately about the purpose of what we do, brings benefit to ourselves and those with whom we work. — Time is our most precious resource. Once spent, it cannot be refunded. Being deliberate and purposeful about how we spend our time is a powerful way to gain maximum value from the time we are given. For many years I led schools and anyone who is, or knows a principal…

Is it possible to innovate without turning the people you work with into lab rats? — This week I was talking to a leader about using design thinking to enable greater innovation around the learning that was happening at her school. She commented that what she liked about using a design thinking approach was that it gave them a model for developing new innovative approaches without…