Are you the kind of person who recoils at the thought of having to do a presentation to your C-Suite Colleagues?

When CEOs refer their CTOs to me, one of their big reasons is that they feel the CTO isn’t stepping up in the role.

What to do when you feel like you are in over your head in your new role? 57 days in, and you are not feeling this role.

I was recording some videos recently for my impact Accelerator Programme and the subject of feedback loomed in the air.

When it comes to being a leader, we know our main purpose is to create a productive team that works towards a common goal.

This week we're looking at what you bring to the party. Or, how you need to show the ROI of you in their business

This week, we're looking at 'Texperts' No, I didn’t spell it incorrectly, it’s a real thing!

One of the most common complaints I hear from my clients is, “Why won’t my team step up and just do the stuff that I would do if I was that was me?”

Whether it be resistance to your programme, your idea, or way of doing something, or it be a full conflict between people in your team (or even with you), then you have a problem.

Clever, knowledgeable, and full of ideas on how to move the technology of a business forward? But sometimes it just doesn’t seem to work?

You know that feeling - you have a new role, and you are really excited and looking forward to it.

Making changes is hard, isn’t it? It’s bad enough if it’s a personal change like deciding not to have sugar in your team anymore.

As a CTO, and especially if this is a new appointment for you, you need to be the agent of change for your company. You are the one who predicts the future and makes the company future proof.

Have you ever sat there, at a family Christmas, birthday, or some other gathering, where everyone’s chatting, getting along, and then that one uncle commandeers the floor?

You see, there is a difference between being nice and ‘too nice’, and he was definitely the latter.

This week we're talking about something that I get asked all the time: How should we be using behavioural assessments with my team?

Picture the scene, Bob tells you he is going to get you out running because you could do with getting fit.

In many industries people put up with bullying, and working long hours, staying on at the drop of a hat.

I love my mates! They laugh with me, like similar things and we feel comfortable with each other.

If you put your head in the sand because it is in the “too difficult” box then you are guaranteed to have more pain, more conflict and worse results than ever before.

Recently I was talking to an amazing CEO of a number of businesses. I asked him what he thought was the most important thing that his CTOs needed to work on.

Maybe you started a business which became successful, and you’ve had to take people on.

That good old phrase – “I’m not a people person” is banded around so often that I am almost believing it myself. But it’s just not true.

As a leader, there is a sure-fire way to burnout, frustration, lack of results and total overwhelm.

Often what happens, is that we start opening the floodgates of ALL the information we have to give, which is making them even less likely to hear what you have to say.

It doesn’t matter how much detail you give someone, if they don’t see the need to listen to the subject in the first place, then you are on a losing streak.

I felt the need to get on my soap box over something I am very passionate about – and that is that leadership is not a label, or a qualification.

Getting things wrong is an inevitable part of life and business, and in many situations getting something wrong can be a positive and lead to a better outcome.

If you are a leader and you want your team to be confident, capable in the business and take (calculated) risks, read on! So, where are you now?

At Think Be Do Leadership the belief is that Leadership is not just a qualification! It is a product of the behaviours we display that either help or hinder our teams to help us achieve our goals.

What do you do when your team is really NOT a team? If you have a group of people who are supposed to be clever, capable and on point, but they just don’t seem to get on, then it’s a NOT team!

So maybe you prefer computers to people? Or maybe you are a busy, busy person who hasn’t got the time for the niceties of a chat around the water cooler/zoom room.

When it comes to being a valuable asset to your company, leaders often make one very big mistake: That is that they think that being good at what they do is enough to keep them in their job.

We’ve all heard the moans and groans about meetings! A comment we often hear is that they are boring. Maybe there are times when we should rename Board Meetings as 'bored meetings'.

Do you ever find yourself incredibly annoyed or at least irritated by the characteristics of your colleagues?

Every company gets them – rogue employees. These are the people who seem to do their own thing, despite that not being the way everyone else does things.

When it comes to business performance, your team is the one thing that means everything! If they perform, you do, and the business does too.

In the age of working from home and Zoom meetings, it is easy to forget that there are actual people behind LinkedIn profiles and online meetings.

When it comes to leadership, you can’t do everything, nor should you be expected to.

If people don't believe in what you believe in, they won't do it the way you want them to, if at all.

Most people want to be liked. It’s an indomitable human trait, which keeps us safe as part of a group, a team, or a family.

It’s that Monday morning feeling again ☹. That drained, “I’ll do it later” feeling. That general “ugh” feeling.

Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things, they never thought they could.

Imagine if every time you went to work, you had someone over your shoulder, watching, telling you what to do at every turn. I don’t know about you but that sounds way to claustrophobic!

Change! It’s a scary thought for most people. And that’s perfectly natural. Your body and Psyche is pre programmed to avoid change. Think about it...

Have you ever had to spend endless days with someone that you just cannot stand?

I meet a lot of leaders in my line of work (leadership training lol). And many of them either had no plans to become a leader – it just kind of took them unawares...

Do you ever find yourself incredibly annoyed or at least irritated by the characteristics of your colleagues?

Which comes first the chicken or the egg? In terms of the age-old context, I’m not sure anyone can say for sure. But in terms of leadership – the answer is sometimes the chicken and sometimes the egg.

In business, your team is just like a band. Unless everyone comes together, works together, then you will always struggle to produce anything of value.

Have you ever sat there, at a family gathering, where everyone’s chatting, getting along, and then that one uncle commandeers the floor? We all know what happens next...

As a leader it is easy to feel like, as everything your team does ultimately falls back on you, it is best done yourself, isn’t it?

There is a tendency – when facing something we don’t want to deal with – to figuratively stick our head in the ground, like an ostrich and not deal with whatever that is.

Just as I am talking to you now, we are constantly communicating every day. Of course, some people more than others! But the importance of communication, in business as in life cannot be overlooked!

I work with a lot of businesses turning over £1 - £5 million pounds who are trying to grow and finding it a struggle. Maybe you might also be experiencing the same - your business can’t grow!

Is Your Team On Fire? You better hope they are – because it is the only way you can succeed at growing your business.

Being a Manager is hard! You are always getting in your own way. You see, being a business owner who wants to grow means being not only a manager but also a leader.