Personal Development Archives - Strategic Leadership

13 Apr

3 Equations for a Happy Life, Even During a Pandemic

In Personal Development

It seems strange to launch a column on happiness during a pandemic. The timing is, well, awkward, isn’t it? Maybe not. We’re stuck at home; our lives on COVID time have slowed to a near halt. This creates all sorts of obvious inconveniences, of course. But in the involuntary quiet,...

03 Feb

Leader’s Identity Mind Trap: Personal growth for the C-suite

In Business, Personal Development

The Leader’s Identity Mind Trap: Personal Growth for the C-suite - Millions of years of evolution have shaped our brains, with nature selecting for many adaptive and energy-saving, if imperfect, shortcuts. Some are easy to spot—for example, how we systematically fall for optical illusions and how our loss-aversion reflex...

21 Oct

Getting Uncomfortable on Purpose

In Leadership, Personal Development

Getting Uncomfortable on Purpose Thinking about purpose in business was once a provocative and urgent activity. A seminal HBR article from 1994 states, “In most corporations today, people no longer know—or even care—what or why their companies are,” and argues that “strategies can engender strong, enduring emotional attachments only when they are...

09 Sep

How To Have A Successful Career Without Selling Your Soul

In Personal Development

How To Have A Successful Career Without Selling Your Soul - Career dissatisfaction is a malaise that affects a majority of the U.S. workforce. Less than half of American workers are satisfied with their jobs, and only 32% of employees are engaged. Even worse, 16% of millennials are actively disengaged,...

03 Jun

4 Important Reasons Why People Refuse to Learn And Grow

In Leadership Development, Personal Development

Why People Refuse to Learn And Grow: As a leadership coach, I have learned that you cannot teach someone who doesn’t want to learn or grow. Without that desire, there is no use in advising or coaching, because it just won’t work. I have never been a big believer in...

08 Apr

How to Bounce Back From Rejection

In Personal Development

How to Bounce Back From Rejection - We all get rejected at work, whether it’s having our suggestions shot down, being denied for a promotion or getting fired from a job. It hurts — and it’s not just a metaphor. Neuroscientists have scanned the brains of people who have...

25 Feb

Former Facebook HR Exec Says Many Bosses Too Uncomfortable To Ask Hugely Important Question

In Leadership, Personal Development, Training

Former Facebook HR Exec Says Many Bosses Too Uncomfortable To Ask Hugely Important Question - When she works with employees itching to take the next step in their careers, Sarah Wagener likes to ask a simple question: "Do you believe you've mastered your current role?"Typically, the answer is no.

12 Nov

The Compound Effect – Book Review

In Kerry Bellamy, Personal Development

The Compound Effect: Jump start Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy is, not only a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller, it is a straight-talking practical guide to setting clear goals and doing the “stuff” that needs to get done in order to...

05 Nov

9 Types of People Who Never Succeed at Work

In Personal Development

9 Types of People Who Never Succeed at Work - Social skills are becoming more critical than experience and knowledge for success in the workplace. Harvard economist David Deming studied workplace tasks from 1980 to the present day and found tasks that emphasise social skills grew by a whopping...

10 Sep

Are You Killing Your Career By Avoiding Conflict?

In Conflict, Leadership, Personal Development

How Your Brain Handles Conflict - Many of us have been socialised or learned as adults that conflict is “bad” and in order to succeed, we should appear optimistic and positive at all times. Yet while this avoidance of conflict leads to superficial harmony, it denies what is really...