It’s the blessing and the curse that comes with leadership.
The opportunity to pull the levers of power. But also the responsibility for how others feel about what is happening around them.
Whether you like it or not, in a whirlwind of volatility, you need to be Chief Optimism Officer.
I apologise right from the get-go for putting a downer on any positive vibe you might be going for, but this issue of fundamental fears has been raising its ugly head a lot recently, and it’s time to share some thinking about it.
I want to explore some ideas about the deeply restricting concerns that impact us all, individually, as teams, and as communities.
These fears are so entrenched in our psyche that we might not even be fully aware of their impact; we have “normalised” their consequences to the point of background noise.
It’s a familiar refrain in pretty much every business: teams must adapt to survive.
The challenges we face may not resemble shipwrecks or plane crashes, but the human dynamics are strikingly similar.
Leaders and teams find themselves in places where the map no longer fits the terrain, and where the difference between resilience and collapse depends not on resources alone but on behaviour.
When uncertainty overwhelms, what allows a team to hold together, rather than splinter and stall?
Many teams we see aren’t really failing – they’re just stuck.
Trapped in a cycle of volatility, tension, and reorganisation, they are struggling for high performance.
In this follow-up to “The Tuckman Frustration: why teams are getting stuck”, we explore what leaders can actually do to break the Forming/Storming loop and build momentum despite constant change.
Tuckman’s classic team development model assumes stability and time – two precious commodities that modern teams rarely have.
Today, teams find themselves looping between Forming and Storming, struggling to reach sustained high performance.
This article introduces The Tuckman Frustration and why it’s important for leaders to recognise.
In fast-moving teams, leaders don’t fail from lack of information. They fail because no one calls out the uncomfortable truth.
And they mistake silence for alignment, and their perception for reality.
So this article is about why truth in teams is so hard to surface – and why it matters now more than ever.
From wilful blindness and feedback psychology to attachment, perception and power, I want to explore the uncomfortable (but valuable) truths behind what your team isn’t saying.
For the last twenty years, I have been on a mission of sorts, working with leaders and teams around the world to help them reassess their understanding of what it means to create dynamic, engaged organisations…
Private Equity value creation is no longer being driven solely by the usual strategies of financial restructuring and cost optimisation.
Focus is shifting towards powerful but less obvious levers for value creation: leadership and culture.
Successful acquisitions now depend on more than a sound financial strategy and process improvements.
Cultural alignment and leadership adaptability have become essential.
And this is why…
For businesses acquired by private equity, the transformation process can be both an exciting opportunity and a source of deep turbulence.
Clear leadership at all levels is critical in shaping a confident, high-performing culture.