Monthly articles on career success, leadership and productivity
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Ageism: Are older candidates really discriminated against?
A fed-up 50-something Finance Director wrote to me recently, saying that she keeps getting turned down for new roles 'because of her age'. I asked her what evidence she had that her age is the reason for the rejection and if the problem possibly lay elsewhere....with...
Smack the phoney: how to beat imposter syndrome
I still doubt myself every single day. What people believe is my self-confidence is actually my reaction to fear.”—Will Smith All of us are susceptible to negative thoughts like this at some point in our careers. They are like giant banana skins waiting to trip us up....
How to retain your millennials
I listen to employers moan about their youngest workers, but what’s their side of the story? We talk a lot about leadership in organisations, but we’ve forgotten how to manage. Millennials leave organisations because (unlike their older colleagues) they don’t...
Personal Effectiveness Workshop – How to get more done in a day than you do now in a week
I’m an Executive Coach and help my clients to understand exactly what their career goals are and the steps they need to take in order to achieve them. The next stage of the process is to ensure that their most precious asset, their time, is used effectively in...
Interview Skills: Take a tip from the Movies
Interview skills: take a tip from the movies to make a powerful lasting impression The impact you make at the end of the interview is just as important as the one you make at the start. Here’s some advice on how to get it right. Savvy candidates prepare their opening...
Delegation: 4 Stages to Skill and Empower your Team
“My team would be great, if it wasn’t for the people in it’ said a frazzled manager recently, ‘why can’t they just get on with the job, like I did when I joined the business?’ Getting people's performance on track can be a huge headache. You can manage projects, but...
How to handle interviews after redundancy
Losing a job through redundancy (or a general election) is rarely a pleasant experience, no matter how welcome the pay-off. We tend to take it personally, regardless of the logic or the number of other people involved. How can they do this to ME? After all I have...
Do we all need to Man Up a bit?
Is it time to toughen up, see how far you can push your career and get the projects or promotion you really want?
Good! Here is some tough talk, aimed at women but useful to everyone trying to get ahead, whether you have two XX chromosomes or not. It is based on my own experience coaching female leaders, combined with feedback I get from head hunters trying valiantly to find women for their shortlists. The advice is deliberately black and white so I look forward to your comments.
Do you Walk on Eggshells around your Boss?
You joined an organisation to work for an amazingly charismatic, high achieving and powerful Boss. They made you feel special, making great efforts to get you on board and sharing their ambitious vision for the future with you. You were flattered, even a little...
What would you do if success was guaranteed?
If you knew that you were at the top of your game and would succeed at whatever you set your mind to, what would you aim for this year? Now that most of us are back in the swing of things after the holidays, I thought it would be useful to take a moment to pause and...
Seasonal Networking Tactics
It’s peak networking time. Some people are natural networkers, but as recent research has found that up to 45% of us claim to feel shy some of the time, the chances are that many of us avoid networking if we can get away with it. Business networking is a...
How to get more done in a day than your colleagues do in a week
In a ten-year study conducted by McKinsey, executives reported that they were five times more productive when they worked in a state of optimal concentration called flow. As author Steven Kotler points out, that means they could get as much done by the end of Monday...