Most of us prepare for difficult conversations emotionally — rehearsing them over and over in our heads. But the conversation you keep having in your head can't change the one you're avoiding in real life. Preparing practically is simpler: get clear on the outcome, get clear on what needs to be said, think about the other person, then say it out loud. The committee meeting in your head My son's basketball club recently sent its young players an email about confidence and pres

Leadership happens in real time and rarely offers a second chance. Supervised Peer Coaching gives leaders something they almost never get: a safe space to work on a real challenge, practise how they lead, and learn what they could do differently — with a qualified Coaching Supervisor helping them notice what they can't see themselves. Leadership happens in real time — and rarely gets a second chance Leadership happens in the difficult conversations you need to have. When you

When your role suddenly expands — a bigger team, more reporting lines, accountability across functions, often after others have left — you can't lead 15 or 20 people the way you led six or eight. Not because they need less leadership, but because you can no longer be the source of all of it. The shift is from leading everyone to building more leadership around you. Your remit grew, but your time and pay didn't Has your leadership remit expanded in the last 12 months? A larger

If you want to lead differently, your calendar has to make it possible. Treated well, your calendar isn't just a record of what needs to get done — it's a design for how you want to lead, with protected space to think, prepare and set direction. Have we changed how we lead, but not our calendars? I've been doing a lot of work with leaders navigating change lately: new structures, new teams, new expectations, new ways of working. We spend a lot of time talking about how we nee

Leadership doesn't stop when life gets hard — but your expectations of yourself may need to change. Leading when life needs more of you isn't about fitting everything in. It's about being deliberate about what you hold onto, what you let go of, and what you let others carry for a while. The 'sandwich generation' is changing how leaders work In conversations with leaders lately, I've noticed how many are juggling work around ageing parents. A parent has become seriously unwell

Complexity might be unavoidable, but confusion isn't. A big part of leadership is learning to make the complex simple — not by passing on everything you know, but by making sense of it first, so the people around you can actually act on it. The eight-year-old who explained my job I've spent years trying to explain to my mother what I do. Then recently, someone asked my eight-year-old son what I do for work. His answer: "My mum's a leader, who works with leaders, to be better