I have had the extraordinary pleasure and privilege of presenting over the past three years to an amazing cohort of engineering students at Monash University in communication skills and change management. I have reminded them at times that our mindsets are closer than they might first imagine as I am a Gen X trapped in a baby boomer body! The … Read More
Prime Time Masterchef and Prime (Time) Ministers
Yes, I confess to watching both the Masterchef Finale and the Gillard/Abbott debate Sunday night a week ago. If I hadn’t I would have gone to bed feeling like a complete ignoramus with nothing to discuss with colleagues and clients the next day. Masterchef is truly an undeniable phenomenon and it has inspired one of my four children to share the … Read More
What do we make of two women in a week?
When he was still host, Eddie McGuire would walk on set at the beginning of Thursday night’s Footy Show, rub his hands together and pronounce that it had been a “big week in Football”. By all accounts, Nick Riewoldt’s hamstring is ahead of schedule but in other breaking news two Australian women, one junior marketer and the other a political … Read More
Coffee, conflict and coaching – any place any time!
There I was minding my own business in the Etihad Stadium coffee queue. Don’t know if Monday night football will ever be institutionalised but over 42,000 people decided to give it a try. The queue was quite long but my mum is worth it so there I waited towards the latter stages of half time (defeat almost a certainty by … Read More
Trainwrecks and Bingles – but Resilient Clarke Bats On
There is nothing I need or wish to do to contribute to the media circus surrounding the (former) relationship of Michael Clarke and Lara Bingle except to say that Michael Clarke is a fascinating case study in resilience or if you prefer the more colloquial, “mental toughness”. From what we can gather, he came to a conclusion that he needed … Read More
Look in the mirror – what do we see?
I attended a professional development function last week and found myself surrounded by fellow management consultants, training professionals, coaches and psychologists. There was an almost audible groan in the room as we were informed that each of us would have up to one minute to introduce ourselves to the others in the room. My quick mental calculation confirmed I would … Read More
Macquarie Dave – bad timing or bad behaving?
Except that we happened to see it and Macquarie was humiliated by it, Dave hurt no-one. So what is really so terrible you ask? Dave was in clear breach of company policy. It was not work related, it was clearly of a sexual nature, it had the capacity to offend, humiliate and intimidate. What were some of the arguments used … Read More
Monday-itis – all year long
In speaking with clients, friends and acquaintances toward the end of the holiday season, it became apparent just how many of them articulated feelings of misgiving about returning to work after the break. What was so interesting about this was that each of them has always appeared 100% committed to their work and clients and would never ordinarily strike me … Read More
Don’t Worry be Happy
Well I have decreed to myself that I don’t do jetlag. I’ve decided its mind over matter and I do mind any possibility of time zone fatigue limiting my ability to work effectively with us because the work we do together matters. The trip to the US was great at many levels. I enjoyed the gig with such amazingly intelligent … Read More
I have always felt it is a privilege to facilitate conversations with adults by cultivating a safe open learning space. While I studied long and hard to be a psychologist, I am also proud to be an educator/trainer. A participant on an interpersonal skills program this week approached me at the end of the course and thanked me for helping him see … Read More