Photo credit: Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

I’ve got failure on my mind. The word is circling in the air around me, encouraging me to lean in and listen deeply while it whispers sweet nothings. I’m working on a conference program committee and we identified “failure makes us better” as a theme for conference submissions. I’ve got a colleague who is leading a webinar this month about failure. I’ve spent the last few...

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The word LOVE keeps coming up in my workshops, trainings and sessions. People use the word with exuberance, commitment and also with hesitation, uncertainty and discomfort.

It seems to me that we’ve been socialized to think that talking about love in a work setting or situation is inappropriate or taboo. We have been taught that love is a thing to be kept hidden, in private, just between you and me. Our norms tell us that love doesn’t exist at...

A Socratic Circle: creating space to talk about what matters most

I’ve been leading lots of sessions the last few months — and in so many of them there is this magical moment where it seems suddenly the conversation shifts from individual needs to collective possibility. I’ve stepped back to reflect on what might be happening to enable the depth of collaboration that is created and come up with a couple of ingredients that need to be present to go into the recipe. (Note: The...

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Recently I turned on the television and came across a documentary entitled “You are Here: A Come From Away Story”. I spent an hour on the couch both laughing with joy and crying tears from being moved deeply. The documentary tells the story of planes being diverted to Gander, Newfoundland as a result of terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. Almost 7,000 people ended up hosted in small, rural communities, full of people who opened...

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What differentiates a great leader from a bad one? What character traits or behaviours inspire followers and create lasting change? What kind of leadership builds a world that improves people’s lives?

I often say that the world needs a new kind of leader who shows up, takes a stand and changes the world for the better. I always say that it starts with you. But what does that leader actually look like? How do they behave? What do they believe? What...

A “burning” question from a workshop participant.

Can you be yourself at work? Can you authentically interact with others in the public arena? Do you need to stay in character to have tough conversations with stakeholders?

I am asked a variation on these questions regularly in my work in brave, honest conversations. More than anything I think it speaks to how disconnected people have become from their emotions, and how we have normalized systems and processes where the...