Jack McCullough’s Post

Your worst is your worst! I hear many of my women leader clients saying things like: ❎ “I'm not looking forward to that difficult conversation tomorrow, but I know it could be worse.” ❎ "My boss doesn't value give me the feedback I need to grow, but it could be worse." And you’re right, it could be.... BUT that doesn’t make your sh*tty situation any less valid that anyone else’s. This is where the comparison trap works in the opposite way -- we compare our “worst” to someone else’s “worst” and… • Sometimes it makes us feel better or grateful for what we have • Most of the time, it invalidates our feelings & makes us feel shame for being upset about something that seems so “minimal” compared to others So here’s the truth... There’s no hierarchy to pain or problems! Only YOU know what you’ve experienced & it’s okay to feel however you want to feel about that! So if you’re looking for a safe space to be supported in whatever range of leadership challenges you’re dealing with, DM me about WLA! We're going to have a special discount running from Monday to Friday next week too 😉

It was privilege to join this all-star panel of Georgia Magno Lance Bartholomeusz and Jane Murray moderated by Daniel Franklin discussing ESG and responsible leadership and the role of the General Counsel at the Economist GC Summit earlier this week. We spoke under Chatham House rules, so I won't attribute comments to others, but I talked about the ABC of responsible lawyering: 🌳 Authority - General Counsels, Heads of Legal, Chief Legal Officers and of course senior lawyers in private practice all have great authority and people in their organisations will look up to them, and model their behaviours. Senior lawyers are visible to all and we play a major part in promoting responsible leadership within the organisations we work. 🐝 Bees - in nature bees go from flower to flower, taking pollen from one to another. Lawyers are like pollinators too - they go from the C-Suite to finance, to sales, to the shop floor, to compliance - sharing essential information and carrying critical messages. Everyone knows the legal department...they're at the heart of an organisation. 🧠 Conscience - lawyers are regarded as being fair, ethical, honest etc. Senior lawyers within an organisation have the ability to say "no" and people will listen. That puts us in a position of great power and responsibility - when we don't say "no", we implicitly endorse a behaviour or an action - what we tolerate becomes acceptable, and so we all aid responsible leadership by calling out nonsense. My colleagues Anna Fletcher and Vivienne Reeve expertly co-hosted an excellent lunchtime workshop on the role of General Counsel in avoiding social-washing - the potential for a business to wrongly inflate its social commitments or achievements. It was almost standing room only and highlighted the need for inhouse lawyers to think holistically about ESG and not simply focus on greenwashing and the climate. #ResponsibleLeadership #EconGC #GeneralCounsel #SocialWashing

It’s become a personal project to share methods for building self-belief, or self-confidence, with all publishing colleagues who need it - whatever the stage of their career. Through my coaching work I’ve discovered how common self-doubt is, and how overcoming it unlocks potential and improves well-being. I’d love to help others to do the same! So thank you to BookBrunch for inviting me to write this article. I am posting it here for all those who want a strategy to improve their self-confidence.

Been talking Leadership today with leaders from Regional Adoption Agencies. This quote on the wall speaks volumes for the work they do - but also provides a reminder of the importance of fairness, equity and inclusion in leading the grown ups too!

Been talking Leadership today with leaders from Regional Adoption Agencies. This quote on the wall speaks volumes for the work they do - but also provides a reminder of the importance of fairness, equity and inclusion in leading the grown ups too!

It’s been a month 🧡🤲🏽 I have the privilege of working with an amazing team. Period. I am also surrounded by an incredible network of leaders, mentors, and skilled professionals. This month has been full of efforts to launch a day, a week, and a month of learning, working, and reflecting on reconciliation. I’m beyond proud of our team, leaders and branches for pulling together to create meaningful internal reconciliation opportunities: ➡️ From an executive leadership video that reflects on our own journey and invites others to join the conversation… ➡️ To revamping our reconciliation share point resources, making knowledge and guidance more accessible to our employees… ➡️ To collaborating with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS) and the Orange Shirt Society, and hearing their truth shared with our executive team, openly and humbly… ➡️ To aligning powerful speaker opportunities, ensuring that reconciliation and decolonization remain ongoing priorities… ➡️ To one of my favorites—working with our team coordinator to bring an Indigenous beading opportunity to our Indigenous Employee Resource Group. I walk this path with colleagues, teams, allies, and a supportive network. Sometimes we strive to uphold humility, but there’s also a time to plant seeds of vision, offer encouragement, and celebrate our small and big successes. As an Indigenous person, some days the work is tiring, but it’s also an honor, a source of healing, and ultimately, a privilege. I do this work for my grandparents, who were Day School and Residential School survivors. I do it because not everyone chooses to walk this path. I do it because I can. ✊🏽🧡 #Reconciliation #IndigenousVoices #Leadership #Community Image credit: Relentless Indigenous Woman Co.

Advice for Aspiring Future Executives: Commitments to Diversity In 2017 my company sponsored tables at the Watermark Conference for Women, an effort to promote diversity in leadership. “Robert,” a VP on our division’s exec staff, recruited both leading women to attend and VPs to be the leader at each table. I was enthusiastic when asked to be a table exec. Robert also signed up a senior VP “Jack” and VP members of Jack’s staff to join. The Watermark Conference was amazing. Viola Davis gave a moving testimonial about her life and career. Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice formed a panel discussing global affairs. I chatted with the leaders at my table about their roles and experiences. However, something curious occurred just before the conference. Jack found he was too busy and decided not to attend. The members of Jack’s staff quickly found they were too busy also. There was no fallout towards the last-minute VP cancelers. Yet their lack of commitment was plainly evident. The takeaway: Stand by your own sense of decency. A few hours away from the office won’t harm your career, but canceling on a group of leaders will cement a poor opinion of you in their minds.

It's depressing but also refreshing to see this ⬇️ "This edition of Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine is a resounding no in the face of the travesty that Black women leaders, and other women of color leaders, have been contending with in the sector. As White-founded organizational leadership transitions out of what has more often than not been blatantly unexamined and relatively ungoverned roles in organizations, often on the brink of collapse, incoming Black women leaders are discovering that now there will be not only governance but obstructive, extreme oversight, micromanagement, unreasonable expectations, territorialism, mistrust, little to no support, lack of basic decency and humanity, and the list continues—sometimes from the board, sometimes from the staff, and sometimes from both…and that’s just internally. Externally, there is also misbehavior from funders and from other leaders. There is no place allowed, it seems, to breathe; to rest; to grow; to make mistakes, learn, and recalibrate; to be. The sector, as a number of leaders describe in this edition, is perpetrating death by a thousand cuts." LINK: https://lnkd.in/dZ7B84Bf

Survey research from Deloitte shows that organizations that go above and beyond to support women who are caregivers to children and family members can keep these professionals in the leadership pipeline -- to the benefit of the financial services industry. See why.

At Four, our work is driven by the difference we make. We also want to celebrate the power of individuals making a tangible impact in business and society. Our inaugural #DifferenceMakers report shines a spotlight on eighteen extraordinary 'Difference Makers.' These are people from diverse backgrounds who have set new benchmarks in their respective fields – whether they are conservationists, campaigners or business leaders. https://lnkd.in/eXZuY4E8