GUEST POST by Gina Hayden: An Interview with Tom Chi

Tom Chi is a business leader and innovator who started out doing astrophysical research at 15, and whose business pedigree includes executive roles at Yahoo, being a key influencer in the design of Microsoft Outlook, and shaping Google X and Google Glass. When working at Google on the self-driving car, he started asking himself questions about why he was creating things that only the few percent could afford. “Who’s going to do anything for the two billion people living on less than $2 a day?” he wondered. Tom thinks big, universally big, and his latest ventures deal in how we

MOVING BEYOND GOALS: A Sustaining Alternative

A Master of Opportunity & Challenge— that’s what my wife dubbed me in my late twenties and early thirties. A former elite athlete, a championship winning coach, and the Managing Director of a successful consulting business, goals were my spinach. They fuelled my strength, made light work of obstacles or obstructions, and drove me to achieve whatever I set my sights on. Goals made anything possible, or so it seemed. Their promise was certainly enticing, and their power seductively addictive.

YOU’RE A STAR— SO SHINE, SHINE, SHINE!

The lights were dimmed, and we (myself and thirteen colleagues on a professional development retreat) were well into watching a video, The Overview Effect, when it happened. When a seed was planted. A fact that at first seemed rather innocuous, even questionable…until it wasn’t. Until I did some research, and began to contemplate the vastness, mystery and wonder of it.

SNEAKY SABOTEURS: The Subtle Power of Expectations

My shopping list was meticulously organised—rewritten twice to ensure that every ingredient I needed was listed in the sequence I’d find them within the grocery store. Our annual Thanksgiving celebration was only two days away, and the list was large and filled with many special items. Failing to purchase any one of these had the potential to throw long standing family recipes into a tail spin, so I was being extra careful. Mentally checking and rechecking the contents of my trolley against the list several times as I progressed through the store. But somehow I made a mistake.

When You’ve Been Trumped – Mindfulness Can Help

In my role as an executive coach and mindfulness teacher, I’m often asked: ‘How does mindfulness work and why’s it so important?’ It’s a question I typically answer by highlighting research based evidence on how mindfulness positively changes the brain and impacts neurophysiology, as well as how it can lead to changes in awareness and behaviour that enhance leadership effectiveness and impact. After last week’s US presidential election, however, the answer became much more personal.

GUEST POST by Alain Hunkins: Why Do Leaders Lack Empathy?

Last Wednesday was a sunny, crisp, beautiful Fall New England morning. That’s when it all went terribly wrong. It was already 8:10 am, and I was hurrying to get Miranda, my nine-year old daughter to school on time.

Leadership: WHAT’S LOVE GOT to DO WITH IT?

As business leaders, we know that results matter. We’re driven to get things done, be productive, add value, and deliver strong bottom line results. Clear headed, hardnosed decisions often need to be made, and in such circumstances love appears a strange bedfellow.

THE SPACES IN BETWEEN: Where Life, Love, and Leadership Happen

Atfirstthissentencemightseemhardtoreadinfactitwasevennchallengingtotypebuthopefullyitwillbeeffectiveindemonstratinganimportantpoint. In case you’re thinking the sentence above is the result of a software glitch on your device, relax. It isn’t. If you weren’t able to decipher it on your first attempt, consider giving it another go.

HOW to CURE (and avoid) LEADERSHIP VERTIGO: The 4 C’s of Leadership

The start of 2016 sent me into a spin. Literally. I woke in the early hours of the morning to find my bedroom whirling around me like an out of control merry go round. It was disconcerting to say the least. Unsure what was happening, and uncertain what I could do to ‘stop the ride’, I closed my eyes and did my best to ignore the extreme nausea, hoping that when I woke again, everything would be back to normal.

3 Reasons Why Getting Nowhere Might Be Just What You Need

I’ve always been a high achiever—a success in the classroom, on the basketball court, in the business world, and in the community. I had short and long range plans, set ‘SMART’ goals, broke them down into manageable tasks, and executed them with zeal. I worked hard, inspired others (so I’m told), and did my utmost to give 100 percent. Simply put, I got things done, got ahead, and was seen as ‘going places’…I didn’t know any other way. Yet at age 43, I was diagnosed with severe depression.