Good Morning Reader Last week I told you that clarity comes before purpose. This week I want to tell you what clarity actually costs. Nobody wants what comes next. "You have had the insight. You have had the conversation. You have felt the shift. And then you went back to exactly what you were doing before." In my executive coaching contracts, I have a rule. It is written clearly and it is written in bold. If we meet three times and you have not taken action on what we have talked about, I...
12 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader Purpose Is a Privilege I Cannot Afford That was the opening line of a conversation I had with a client. Twenty-nine years in corporate. An extraordinary career. The kind of leader who quietly held organisations together while others took the credit. He had navigated roles, managed politics, delivered results, and built a reputation that most people spend entire careers chasing. And then the question came. What next? He had started reading. The books, the articles, the LinkedIn...
19 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader Is what you are currently building, personally or professionally, what you actually intended it to be? That's a loaded question. I know. But it's the one I keep coming back to. Because far too often, we build lives, create teams, and step into opportunities with absolute confidence. We tell ourselves these are conscious, deliberate choices. But are they? Because a lot of what we build is shaped by the subconscious. By assumptions we haven't examined. By a misalignment we haven't...
26 days ago • 4 min read
In August last year, I was coaching Matthew (name changed for privacy). He came to me and said: “I know what to do. I just don’t know if I can keep being this version of myself.” From the outside, things looked great - his team respected him, his stakeholders trusted him and his results were strong. But on the inside? He was running on empty. Because the leader he was performing and the leader he actually wanted to be were miles apart. And the gap was getting wider day by day. I realised...
30 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader "Authentic" was named the 2023 Word of the Year by Merriam-Webster. A search for "authentic leadership" on Google produces over 1.7 million results. Amazon features over 40,000 books on the topic. Academic interest has exploded over the last decade. Everyone's talking about authenticity. No one's talking about how terrifying it actually is. Authenticity is the fourth dimension on The Intention Gap Scorecard. And it asks a question most leaders avoid: Can you be yourself, or have you...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader It's ironic that this week's dimension is about energy and sustainability. Because I've spent the last week learning this lesson the hard way. There's been this super flu going around. Feels like COVID but apparently it's an "enhanced version" of the flu virus. I couldn't breathe properly. My throat was on fire. My bones felt weak. Everything hurt. And like most high performers I work with, I tried to push through. Friday I started feeling bad. Saturday I rested & then Sunday,...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
The Gap Nobody Talks About You're leading from reaction. And you probably don't know it. Not because you lack values. You could recite them right now. Not because you lack capability. Your track record proves otherwise. But when the decision is yours to make, when the pressure is highest, when it actually counts, something else takes over. This episode is for the leader who is high-performing and quietly exhausted. The founder who keeps adding more instead of looking at what needs to go. The...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Reader I walked into a boardroom full of executives in suits. I was wearing Jordans. Jeans. T-shirt. Relaxed. Comfortable. Me. I've had people ask me about it. "Why do you feel like you can do that and get away with it?" Here's my answer. I like Jordans. They're a reflection of who I am. A reflection of my comfort with myself. But there's more to it than that. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'm here to partner with you. To teach. To learn. To grow together. What I wear shouldn't have...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Reader Decision-making is the first dimension on The Intention Gap Scorecard. Not strategy. Not communication. Not resilience. Decision-making. Because after years of coaching senior leaders, I've seen it again and again. When pressure hits, this is the first thing to fall into the gap. You stop choosing from clarity. You start choosing from fear. You react instead of respond. But here's what surprised me. The place where decision-making falls apart most visibly isn't the boardroom. It's at...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read