Global Leadership Foundation

Have you ever had the experience of buying, or looking to buy, a particular brand of car and then start to notice examples of that car all over the road? Or perhaps you bought a new pair of shoes you were sure would be unique to you … only to discover those same shoes seem to be on the feet of every other person on the street? This ability of our minds to bring into ‘view’ aspects of our surroundings that we have never noticed before is incredibly powerful. When we understand it and learn to tap into it, it can become an important step on our journey towards raising our level of emotional health. In the world of QuantumThink®, this phenomenon is recognised as the Distinction of ‘Observer Created Reality’. Read more...

In my last blog post, I introduced the concept of the ‘silent question’ that each of us holds at the back of our minds when confronted with change. ‘The way we perceive the answer to that question will determine our response to the change, and this becomes a subconscious test of our readiness to cope.’ In our work we identify nine of these silent questions, each of which responds to the basic fears associated with one of the nine Enneagram types. The questions can also be affiliated with the three centres of intelligence. Each of us tends to engage with at least one of these. In this post I list all nine silent questions, grouped by the centres, to provide you with an easy reference. My hope is that by accessing these questions one after the other, you might be able to identify the one that most rings true for you.

I was inspired by and made proud by the recent Women's Environmental Leadership Australia Women Leaders Retreat at Hepburn Springs in Victoria, It was wonderful to play a facilitating role in partnership with WELA and to work with such a powerful group of women. This reel posted on Instagram captures the essence of our three days together. https://lnkd.in/gZ5tinSw

Navigating change and overcoming resistance to change are two of the most popular topics that come up in leadership discussions. Humans, like most living beings, tend to like stability and can have a deep-seated distrust of change. Change is nearly always accompanied by a level of uncertainty, and uncertainty often feels uncomfortable. Each of us has a basic fear which (at average emotional health levels) drives a coping strategy that ‘jumps into action’ whenever we perceive this fear is about to be realised. Change immediately puts us on high alert as we try to assess the extent to which it might realise our basic fear. On the other hand, change is part of life. It always has been, and always will be. For leaders, it’s only through change that we can make improvements, so we need to find effective ways of motivating and encouraging it. As individuals, if we can grow to understand our instinctive reactions to change, we have an opportunity to choose alternative, more emotionally healthy and productive responses. https://buff.ly/3TSFkMe

This month, Malcolm and I have been contributors to Small Giants’ ‘Governing for Purpose: Foundations for Directors’ program. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the numerous lessons we have learnt over years of working with company boards, municipal councils, committees of management and other governing bodies that oversee the governance and leadership of organisations in all their forms. Governing bodies are inherently complex groups. They are usually made up of a diverse range of people from different personal and professional backgrounds. Their experience in governance and ways of engaging with others also varies. One thing that many members of governing bodies have in common is minimal training in the art of sitting on a board, council or committee. Some may have been trained in the technicalities and legalities of governance. However, many will be drawing on their life experience when it comes to working with a group of others, chairing meetings, how to work through disagreements and so on. Read more...

When thinking about this month’s blog post, I took some time to look over the posts of the last few months. Two themes that run through many of them are change and transformation. Whenever we talk about improving ourselves as individuals and/or leaders, about building a more purposeful team or about using our organisations to support and sustain the planet, the need for change isn’t far away. Most of us acknowledge that change is an essential part of life. Without change, we cannot grow, either as individuals, leaders, teams, organisations or even nations. Becoming a better person, increasing our level of emotional health or improving our physical health – each of these involve change at some level. However, we also know that attempts to change don’t always ‘stick’... Read more >

Our experience in working with teams, both locally and across the world, tells us that the most effective and successful teams are those in which members understand their reason for being. They have no difficulty explaining why they are working together and can identify their joint measures of success. And they know what the outcome will be when they have succeeded. Many of the ‘teams’ we meet are simply groups of people who are collected together in a particular area. They are teams in name only, created based on a similarity of skills and/or capabilities, as opposed to having a common purpose. In these instances, ‘team’ is simply the name that is given to this collective of individuals rather than being a reflection of a different way of working together. When we reveal a situation like this back to an organisation we’re working with, the question that often comes back to us is, ‘Well, what does it really mean to be a team?’ Read on:

We are thrilled that Global Fellow and Founder of Global Leadership Foundation Italy Marina Mele was recently invited to speak at TEDxBellinzona. Her talk is now available to watch online. Marina's talk was on the topic 'Mind, Heart and Body: Searching for Reliable Balances'. "In a world dominated by frenzy and stress, Marina Mele invites us to explore the search for balance through an integrated perspective of mind, heart and body. In his powerful TEDx Bellinzona speech, Mele guides us on an inner journey to discover reliable practices for cultivating harmony and serenity in everyday life..." Read more and watch the speech in full on the TEDx YouTube channel. (Subtitles for the talk are available by clicking the 'Subtitles' button and then the 'Settings' button, then choosing your language).

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” This is a line often attributed to Martin Luther-King, though its origins stretch back to the early 19th century. Regardless, the quote expresses a sentiment that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Our world, I think many of us would agree, is not in a good place. We are living through a time when, to use our own language, below-the-line thinking – characterised by blame, defensiveness, denial and/or justification – is dominant. This can be disheartening for those of us who believe in the power of peace, hope and compassion. For those of us who believe that an emotional healthy planet is possible. Nevertheless, if we adopt a long view, the reality is that there is hope. We can and will do better if those of us who believe in peace, hope and compassion can hold our ground and stay above the line. Read more:

In our blog post this month, we welcome and introduce our newest Fellow, Vicky Lee. Based in Shanghai, China, Vicky’s work focuses on organisational and leadership development and professional coaching. She had over 16 years experience in management, product development and business development in IT&T, insurance and healthcare management industries before going out on her own in 2014 as an organisational and leadership development consultant and professional coach. Vicky is an organisational psychologist graduate from LSE with a wide range of coaching accreditations. Her coaching expertise is in life, executive and team coaching for individuals’ vertical development and team transformation, as well as mentoring ICF coaches’ coach mindset and coaching presence. She has worked with clients across many industries including global/national banking, insurance, public utilities, FMCG, luxury, IT&T, education, manufacturing, transportation, state-enterprise and government Greater China and South-east Asia. Read about Vicky's journey, including how she came to be working along side us in the full blog post: