Most leaders don’t get into trouble because of the first decision. They get into trouble because of the second one. My daughter and her partner are both football mad. They…

There are lines I keep hearing in conversations with government, health and community service leaders. Each one sounds reasonable on its own. Together, they point to something more serious I…

Most leaders don’t wake up planning to betray their values. I finally finished watching The Man in the High Castle. It’s a dystopian alternate-history series: part espionage drama, part resistance…

We keep blaming AI for weakening critical thinking at work. I think that’s too convenient. AI is accelerating a problem leaders have been building for years: organisations full of people…

My husband is one of five boys. The whole family doesn’t gather the way it used to. Across the remaining brothers in Australia there are six cousins, ranging in age…

The boards that govern well don’t solve strategic questions on the fly — they notice when the conversation has shifted, and name it.

Disruption doesn’t just interrupt, it reshapes attention. In high-pressure moments, effective leaders know how to stay centred, protect focus, and keep the work moving forward.

When pressure rises, leaders are often rewarded for speed—but moving too quickly can narrow the frame and create unintended consequences. In complex systems, solving the first visible problem without considering the wider impact often leads to a second, bigger issue.

When a stakeholder says no to your proposal, they are not always saying no to the outcome — they may be protecting a different interest, managing a different risk, or working within a different set of constraints.

I keep seeing the same pattern in stakeholder conversations across the system. People work hard to resolve issues. Fixes are put in place. And the underlying friction continues because each group works on the part they can see most clearly.