No Bullsh!t Leadership
No Bullsh!t Leadership is a podcast for leaders who want to become truly exceptional. Each week, host Martin G Moore shares the secrets of high performance leadership that you can't learn in business school. He offers practical advice from his experience as a successful CEO, moving beyond theoretical leadership concepts.
Episodes
Meetings: When to speak, when to listen
Meetings can be a political minefield, and most leaders rely purely on their instinct to get by: which means they get it wrong more often than they realise.This episode cuts through the noise on one of the most deceptively complex leadership skills: knowing when to talk and when to shut up. It sounds simple, but It isn't: and The Economist's "Babble Hypothesis" proves why getting the balance wrong
Moment 179. Why You Keep Avoiding the Hard Thing
Leadership might be hard, but there’s nothing you can’t master with application and discipline. This is why the toughest challenge is often just convincing yourself to start.In this Moment, I show you exactly how to overcome the comfort of inaction, and push yourself to do the things that will ultimately pay off.I don’t care if you’re an introvert, or if you get anxiety… this is about realising yo
The Real Reason Your Team Moves So Slowly
When we think about high-performing teams, we assume they have superior strategies and top-class talent. But one characteristic we often overlook is pace. And pace doesn’t happen organically: it takes a leader to build momentum into the culture.The best teams have a relentless drive to get things done; a bias for action that cuts through everything they do. A team that has momentum feels entirely
Moment 178. Team Building Exercises Are Useless!
Team building exercises don’t build teams. Only leadership does.If you’re thinking about investing in time away from the office, think again. These days don’t move the needle on team dynamics, trust, or performance. If you dislike someone before the paintball game, you'll still dislike them after it.So by all means, take your team out for some fun. Just don't mistake it for culture change.For prac
AI for Leaders in 2026: Promoted or Replaced?
Have you ever sat in a meeting about AI, nodded along, then thought, "I've got no idea what they're talking about, and I'm meant to be leading this"? If so, you're in good company.In this episode, I chat with Em and AI expert James Killick to answer the question every leader is quietly asking. In 2026, does AI get you promoted, or replaced?Here's the truth. AI isn't coming for leaders. It's coming
Moment 177. Stop Disempowering Your People!
Virtually every leader likes to talk about empowering their team. But if you were to ask 10 of them what empowerment actually means, you’d get 11 different answers. Over the years, the concept of empowerment has been dumbed down to make it vague and aspirational. True empowerment is neither of those things. It's a core driver of performance, and in this Moment, I give you my number one t
Dealing With an Employee You “Can't” Fire: 2 questions every leader needs to ask
Talented jerks and people who game the system just need to go. The value they bring through their technical skill is massively outweighed by the damage they do to the rest of the team.You can't motivate them. You can't inspire them. You can't lift them. So stop trying!Because while you hold onto the person destroying your culture, your good people are quietly working out that there'
Moment 176. Don't Lose Your Most Talented People!
Your best people know they have plenty of options, so if they don’t feel the work they’re doing is valuable, challenging, and impactful, it doesn't matter how much you pay them. In this Moment, I give you 5 things you need to do to keep them.For practical tips on how to hold onto your talent, have a listen to Ep.101: Keeping the Ones You’ve Got————————Is your team performing at the standard i
Nailing Your Formal Performance Review
Most leaders DREAD the formal performance review; because they don’t prepare and they don’t know what to expect. Today I go deep on how to control the dialogue, so that your review becomes a career accelerator, rather than a spirited defense of your failings.Let’s face it: you know your performance hasn’t been perfect, so it’s easy to agonise over how your boss might evaluate you.This makes it tem
Moment 175. Don’t Let Weakness Ruin Your Empathy
Empathy is a critical leadership capability: without it, you’ll never get the best out of your people. But if you’re not strong enough to hold the standard, that empathy will blow up in your face. Empathy builds trust; sympathy destroys performance.For practical tips on how to stay out of the sympathy zone, have a listen to Ep.135: When Empathy Becomes Sympathy————————Have you taken our free
8 Surprising Ways to Reduce Unwanted Turnover
Most leaders think high turnover is a retention problem. But it’s not; it's a leadership problem. And the fix is the exact opposite of what most leaders do.Staff turnover is still widely misunderstood. And most leaders operate from a place of fear, responding to it defensively.They tiptoe around their people, lower the standards, and tolerate poor performance so they don't rock the boat. But, iron
Moment 174. Want to Lift Performance? Manage Better!
If you think great leaders don't need to be great managers, you've probably got a blindspot…and it's costing you more than you know.To lift performance, you have to put desirable leadership attributes aside, and learn to manage better.To access my 6 key levers of execution excellence, have a listen to Ep.371: How I learned to Produce Exceptional Results————————Have you taken our free Leadership Bl
Don't Be Sucked In By Player-Coach Leadership!
When CEOs cut management layers, they often kid themselves that they're building leaner, faster companies. But what they're actually doing is destroying accountability and weakening performance. Hiding behind fads like player-coach leadership can’t change that fact.The tech sector loves a management fad and over the years, they’ve tried them all. But the unquestioning adoption (and eventual d
Moment 173. Why the Participation Trophy is Killing Your Team
In business, it’s an indisputable fact that stronger competition results in better outcomes for everyone. Why are we so reluctant, then, to increase competitive pressure within our teams?One of the most critical performance levers of leadership is differentiation between people; and creating a merit-based, competitive environment within your team benefits every stakeholder… especially your people.
Can You Learn Charisma?
Charisma is sold to us as a divine gift that you’re either born with… or not. We bandy the word around quite a bit… and even though charisma comes with some negative connotations, most of us wish we had more of it.Describing the things that make up charisma can be difficult: It’s quite an intangible concept, which is why it’s so easy to fall back on observable, physical attributes, like heigh
Moment 172. Too Much Compliance Will Kill Your Culture
When there’s a failure to comply with the rules, everyone’s first instinct is to look at their compliance regime. They create more rules… more controls… more safeguards…A highly motivated person driven by self-interest will find a way around even the tightest procedure. History has proven that, repeatedly.The key to achieving better performance is strong leadership, clear accountability, and a dis
Consistent Leaders Get Superior Results
Your people aren't struggling because the work is hard. They're struggling because they can't predict you. Inconsistent leadership doesn't just frustrate teams; it debilitates them.We all think we’re pretty consistent. And any time we aren’t, we’re expert at rationalising any inconsistencies.The fundamental problem is that we judge ourselves by our intentions, whereas our people judge us by our ac
Moment 171. Busywork Will Kill Your Performance
What if you stopped rewarding people for being busy, and instead focused only on the value they produced?Your team would be night-and-day different.Busy is the enemy of productive. As long as you give your team a free pass for being busy, performance will elude you.If you want to go deeper on how to eliminate busywork, have a listen to Ep.366: Replacing Busywork With Real Results————————Have you t
8 Years, 400 Episodes, and the Lessons We Learned the Hard Way
What does it actually take to build a top-ranked leadership podcast from scratch, and keep it going for 400 weeks in a row?8 years ago, Em convinced me to walk away from my role as CEO of a multi-billion dollar business to build a micro-startup with a simple premise: give away your very best insights for free on the podcast, and trust that the impact will follow. Our purpose became: to improve the
Moment 170. 4 Ways to Prevent a Crisis Before It Starts
Companies that are really good in a crisis are often poorly managed: their people get addicted to the adrenaline rush that comes with constantly being in firefighting mode.The best way to manage a crisis, by far, is to avoid it altogether… which takes a lot of boring, proactive work. But well-run businesses are proactive.If you want to go deeper on how to lead when the crisis does hit, have a
5 Rules for Multiplying Value Through Alliances
What if the single biggest lever for creating value in your business wasn't actually in your business at all? What if it was an alliance forged with another company?The inspiration for this topic came from an episode of the Acquired podcast, which took a deep dive into the Formula One motor racing business.F1 isn’t just a sport: it's a compelling case study in how to create value through alliances
Moment 169. Why Family Culture Destroys Performance
I’ve advised many CEO / Founders over the last 5 years. My first job is often to convince them that the family culture they treasure so fondly is the biggest impediment to performance improvement.In this Moment, I explore the four biggest drawbacks to family culture. But they are by no means the exclusive domain of family businesses: they’ll sound familiar to those of you who work in large listed
Champions Do Extra: 6 Leadership Habits That Separate Top Performers
Most leaders do enough to get by. A select few do extra. And that gap is almost the entire difference between a career that stagnates and one that accelerates. If you want to reach the pinnacle of your personal potential, it starts with your decision to do more than the next person. In this episode, I give you 6 ways to focus your extra effort so that it pays you back in multiples.A friend of mine
Moment 168. The Accountability Gap That Kills Performance
If you want to improve your team’s performance, single-point accountability is the biggest, most impactful lever you can pull.The culture is difficult to create, but once your people experience the virtuous circle of empowerment and accountability, that’s when they find true motivation, self-esteem, and job satisfaction.If you want to get better outcomes from your team, have a listen to Ep.365: Wh
The Leadership Trade-Offs That Make or Break Teams
Most decisions you make as a leader look reasonable on the whiteboard. But in the real world, you're rarely deciding between black and white options. You're choosing between two things that both matter: and something has to give. That's the dilemma. And how you handle it speaks volumes about the kind of leader you really are.The ability to make trade-offs confidently, separates average leader
Moment 167. Don’t Let These 3 Mistakes Derail Your Career
With the benefit of hindsight, I’ve been able to isolate the 3 biggest mistakes that I made in my career as a corporate executive: they really slowed me down!I either underestimated their impact, or didn’t pay sufficient attention to them…and I paid the price.Improving one or all of these will save you years of frustration, and accelerate your career.If you want to fast-track your leadership caree
How Many Direct Reports Is Too Many?
Why your direct reports are underperforming and how to turn it around. What happens when you give one manager 50 direct reports and call it innovation? Chaos.In this episode, I cut through the corporate delusion that flatter structures are better, and I give you the insights to help you confidently build a structure that actually delivers results.I start with the fundamentals: why organisatio
Moment 166. Success 101: Put Yourself Out There
Some people love to be in the thick of the action, making a difference. But the much larger majority are more comfortable watching from the sidelines.If you’re wondering what ingredients create the recipe for success, you need to know that putting yourself out there is a non-negotiable. And all it takes is a simple choice… a choice you can make today.If you want to learn how to position yourself f
What Do You Do When the Results Don't Come?
Not getting the results you expected? Don’t blame luck, because in leadership, results are rarely random, and the causes are rarely a mystery.You may feel as though you’ve done everything necessary to guarantee a decent level of performance from your team:You’ve hired some good people;You’ve resourced them appropriately; You’ve put together a work program that’s ambitious but achievable; 
Moment 165. How To Avoid Expensive Tech Project Failures
Virtually every organisation is racing to adopt AI. And, although AI offers the promise of groundbreaking productivity, the projects required to deliver it will suffer from exactly the same problems as every other IT project I’ve seen in the last 40 years.Big projects are hard, whether they’re in construction, infrastructure, or procurement. Tech is no different. But there seems to be a certain… m
The Biggest Lie in Business: Strategy Happens at the Top
Strategy starts at the top, but competitive advantage is built in the middle. Has your boss ever told you that you need to be more strategic? If you want to demonstrate your strategic ability, you need to understand the role you play in building your company’s competitive advantage.Competition isn’t won or lost based on the strategy that the board sets. It depends much more on how the strateg
Moment 164. Don't Be Conned By These Leadership Myths!
A lot of contemporary leadership wisdom on the internet could just as easily be found in a fortune cookie 🥠The reason the sayings become so popular is that there’s always at least some grain of truth to them. They sound like they should be true.In this Moment, I give you an insight into why you should question everything.If you want to take a deeper dive into how to tell the difference between gen
Stop Blaming HR and Start Using It
Leaders love blaming HR for bureaucracy, red tape, and generally slowing things down. But these same leaders have no idea how to use HR properly. If you get this wrong in the age of AI, you’ll risk destroying one of the most valuable sources of insight in your company.As we sit here in early 2026, AI is about to wipe out around half of what HR does. The leaders who figure how to manage t
Moment 163. How to Find Every Person's Sweet Spot
Some people simply refuse to rise to the standard you’re setting for the team.Before you decide they need to go, though, it’s important to try different techniques that might ignite their intrinsic motivation.Not everyone rises to the occasion but, if you’re a good leader, you’ll give everyone the opportunity to lift.If you want to take a deeper dive into how you can tap into your people’s discret
When Your Boss Has No Backbone: The 4 Behaviours That Kill Performance
Working for a weak leader is both exhausting and suffocating. You put in the effort;
you care about the outcome; you try to lift the standard…and still, everything feels harder than it should.In this episode, I break down the four unmistakable symptoms of the spineless boss and, more importantly, exactly what you can do about each one.Because while you can’t control their backbone, you CAN co
Moment 162. Small Steps Build Big Confidence
You can’t deal with a gap or a weak spot in your performance by ignoring it. Doubling down on your arrogance, as many leaders do, doesn’t help anyone…least of all you.If you don’t face your blind spots, they’ll dent your confidence, eventually becoming a source of fear and paranoia!This Moment will help you commit to taking that first step towards greater confidence, whatever that is for you.If yo
Do Hands-On Leaders Get Better Results?
Think hands-on leadership is a strength? You might just be the problem on your team. What's the one leadership behaviour that makes your team's heart sink when your name pops up in their inbox?The one that kills discretionary effort, drains initiative, and keeps you buried in low-value work?That would be…micromanagement!In this episode, I go deep into the difficult trade-off between getting the jo
Moment 161. Onboarding New Hires the RIGHT Way
Onboarding isn't admin. It's where standards, trust, and performance begin. When someone new joins the team, it’s easy to take it for granted that they’ll know what to do. But, no matter who they are, they need a comprehensive onboarding process.The onboarding process consists of two distinct parts: the administrative elements (most of which apply only to external hires); and the leadership elemen
What Do Senior Leadership Teams Actually Do?
Every executive wears two hats. Most only know how to wear one! Are you currently part of your organisation’s senior leadership team (SLT)? Or are you just watching from below, wondering what the hell they’re doing? In this episode, I look at how SLTs actually work, as opposed to how they should work.I cover off on the things that make the most difference to SLT culture, and I take a deep div
Moment 160. What Can We Learn From the Best of the Best?
If you have ambitions to achieve excellence in anything, it’s important to tap into the wisdom of people who’ve been there before you…to stand on the shoulders of giants! Leaders are learners, and in this moment I give you key three lessons from some of the world’s most accomplished CEOs.If you want to take a deeper dive into what you can learn from those who’ve already walked the path, have
Stop Being the Bottleneck: Reset Your Leadership System
BONUS 🔥 You can't get promoted out of a team that can't function without you. This is the final bonus episode of our Leadership Reset Workshop, and if you've made it to Day Three, you've already done more honest reflection than most leaders do in a year!Over the last two days, you reset your standards and closed the accountability loop.But here's what happens next for a lot of leaders: everything
One Head to Pat, One Ass to Kick: Reset Your Accountability
BONUS EPISODE 🔥 Here's the truth: you can reset your standards, communicate them clearly, and feel great walking out of that conversation. But the moment someone misses the mark, that's where leadership actually starts.In this episode, Marty and Em cover:Why most leaders don't fail because they lack vision, they fail in the split-second moments when standards get testedThe difference between empow
7 Ways to Reset Your Leadership Standard
When your team gets comfortable and performance slides, that's leadership drift. Here's your reset.In this episode, Em and I give you 7 Ways to Reset your leadership standards, and get your team back on track.Leadership drift doesn't announce itself. It creeps in slowly and quietly until one day you realise your team isn't performing the way it used to, and the uncomfortable truth is that they wer
Moment 159. Want to Outperform? Then Keep It Simple!
You’re constantly being asked to do more with less. But that only increases your likelihood of burnout!Instead, your goal should be to reduce your load by eliminating low-value work entirely, and concentrate solely on delivering value.A culture of Simplicity and Focus will enable your team to deliver the things that matter most, and ignore the noise of low-level distractions.If you want to take a
The Invisible Gaps That Stall Leadership Growth
Most leaders don't struggle because they're bad at leadership. They struggle because leadership is the only critical job on Earth that people are expected to just figure out (well, that and parenting!).No training. No playbook. No feedback loop.If you've ever thought, "I don't know what I don't know", that's not self-doubt. That's the system working exactly as designed.Most leaders learn by copyin
Moment 158. How Do You Get Good at the Numbers?
Smart leaders fail when they can’t read the numbers, so don’t let data illiteracy hold you back!Is your inability to understand and analyse the numbers holding you back? If you can’t make sound decisions using complex data, you may have already built your own glass ceiling.But, if you’re a non-finance leader, how do you get good at the numbers?In this Moment, I reveal the best way to quickly climb
5 Leadership Essentials For Resilient Teams: Build A Team That Can Handle Anything
Tired of being the glue holding everything together? Learn how to build a team that can handle the pressure, even when you're not there!You might be resilient, but that won’t stop your team from crumbling at the first real sign of pressure. When you’re a leader, building your personal resilience is a given… but do you know what it takes to build resilience into your team? How do you get
Moment 157. Don't Be Intimidated By Legacy Employees
Are you struggling to lead older workers? Learn how strong leaders bring out the best in legacy employees. It’s not uncommon to have more experienced workers, who’ve become part of the organisational furniture, reporting to you… and that can be quite intimidating.Even though you may feel like you have to treat older workers differently, you shouldn’t. Just like anyone else on your team, you have t
Truth Doesn't Travel Up: Trust but verify
Management by Walking Around has often been touted as a critical activity to motivate your people and give them greater clarity. But we don’t often talk about how valuable it can be in helping you to get a handle on what’s happening below you. The concept of Management By Walking Around was pioneered almost a century ago, but it’s still as relevant today as it ever was. Your people need
Moment 156. How to Improve Results Without Working Harder
The fastest way to lift performance isn’t more effort. It’s ruthless focus on value. Cost and value are different. Knowing how to separate the two is essential.In this Moment, I identify the 6 biggest barriers to value capture, so that you can attack the problem at its core.Creating a sharper focus on the things that create value will equip your team to effortlessly deliver a massive performance u
Paying the Price of Leadership: 4 Hard Truths Every Leader Must Accept
It’s easy to talk about the benefits of leadership, but very few people talk about the cost of leadership. There’s a price to pay, and unless you’re willing to pay it, you’ll never be truly comfortable in a leadership role:You will have to make hard decisions that negatively affect people you care aboutYou will be disliked, despite your best attempts to do the best for the mostYou will be misunder
Moment 155. 5 Steps to Reverse a Performance Slump
If your confidence has slipped lately, this 5-step reset could save your performance. Occasionally, for some unknown reason, you may experience a slump in performance: and it can seriously affect your confidence.How does something like this happen? And, more importantly, how do you dig yourself out of the hole?If you want to take a deeper dive into how you can quickly recognise a performance hiccu
10 Ways To Make Your Success Inevitable
Success isn’t accidental; it follows principles that most people prefer to ignore.In this episode, I show you how to focus on the things that really matter: the timeless principles that will make your success inevitable.Traditionally around this time, we produce an episode focused on the outlook for the year ahead but, heading into 2026, we decided to do something a little different.I'm going to f
Moment 154. Layoffs Done Right (Without Losing Your Best People)
How to execute layoffs decisively without damaging trust, morale, or talent. Termination for cause? Termination for convenience? Role redundancy?As a leader, you’ll sometimes have to face the difficult task of terminating someone’s employment. How can you do it without spooking your best people, and forcing an exodus of top talent?If you want to take a deeper dive into how you can pull out costs,
The 5 Leadership Episodes from 2025 That Actually Moved the Needle
Most leadership content is consumed. Very little of it is used.In this end-of-year episode, we count down the 5 episodes from 2025 that genuinely changed how leaders think and act - not because they were popular, but because they were applied.This isn’t a highlight reel. It’s a practical breakdown of why these episodes resonated, what made them work, and how you can use the ideas immedia
Moment 153. What REALLY Makes You More Resilient?
Resilient leadership isn’t about toughing it out, it’s about staying calm under pressure. Every leader likes to think they’re highly resilient. But many lack composure in high-stress situations (and also the self-awareness to admit it).Resilience is about regulating your own behaviour. But if you’re a leader, the real acid test is whether you have the mental, emotional, and psychological strength
The Career Strategy Most Leaders Don’t Have (2026 Edition)
Your career already has a direction…the question is, did you choose it?In 2026, relying on hard work, loyalty, or good intentions isn’t enough. AI is reshaping roles, career paths are less protected, and the system you’re operating in has plans for you...whether you like them or not.In this annual Crush Your Career episode, we unpack why deliberate career strategy now matters more t
Moment 152. Are Leaders Better Than Managers?
Leadership vs management: why great leaders must also manage to make better decisions. While the debates about leadership and management continue to rage, the truth is that they’re intrinsically linked: they live on a continuum, in a spectrum of subtle gradients.You can’t be a great leader unless you’re a good manager. And the converse is also true: you can’t be a great manager unless you’re a goo
Your 2025 Leadership Review + How to Set Up a No Bullsh!t 2026
You worked hard in 2025. The real question is whether any of it actually mattered.Most leaders roll straight into a new year without ever stopping to review the last one properly. They plan harder, set bigger goals, and hope things improve. That’s how you end up repeating the same mistakes with a fresh calendar.In this episode, I walk you through a clear, no BS review of your leadership in 2025. N
Moment 151. Is Leadership Grinding You Down?
If leadership feels heavier than it should, this might explain why. To be a successful leader in the longer term, and at the most senior levels, you first have to learn how to manage yourself. Strong leaders are strong people…strong enough to maintain their energy and positivity through years of stress and pressure…strong enough to shoulder the duty of care that comes with any impactful leade
Don't Leave Your Leadership Identity to Chance in 2026: 1 Hour to Build Your Brand
You already have a leadership brand…the question is, does it serve you?Every leader shows up with a reputation. It might be clear and consistent…or vague, confusing, and accidental. Either way, your people have formed an opinion about who you are, what you value, and how you lead.This bumper episode covers the three practical building blocks of a strong leadership identity: clarity on your persona
Moment 150. The 10-Second Rule for Stepping Up in Big Moments
Discover the 10-Second Rule that turns pressure into decisive action for real leaders. In situations that feel overwhelming, many people freeze, consumed by their fear.Their ability to make decisions, which might be OK in non-stressful situations, becomes virtually inoperative. The only thing they can do is wait for someone else to step in and take control.This is where you see real leaders emerge
5 Interview Questions That Expose the Bullsh!tters
Avoid costly hiring mistakes! Use these 5 interview questions to expose bullsh!t and find real talent. We spend a lot of time thinking about how to attract and retain the best people.But we all know how fickle the hiring process can be… recruiting talent is an imprecise science, which is why you have to get really good at interviewing.This is where you get the opportunity to meet your potential em
Moment 149. Leading Confidently When You’re Buried in Uncertainty
When nothing feels black and white, these principles keep your leadership unshakable! A lot of the principles I espouse in No Bullsh!t Leadership are quite categorical… in order to convey the principles clearly and concisely, I explain them in a rather singular manner: “Do this! Don’t do that!” But nothing is that black and white, and the complexity and uncertainty of the environment can erod
Stop Treating These 3 Underperformers Like Protected Species
How to spot (and stop) the koalas sabotaging your culture: nepotists, jerks, and ass-kissers. In Australia, koalas are a protected species. When one of the leaders in our No Bullsh!t Leaders Club started talking about the “koalas” in his company, I knew exactly what he meant.Working with koalas can be infuriating. They don’t play by the same rules, or observe the same cultural standards as everyon
Moment 148. How To Get Your Higher Ups To Trust You
Leaders who earn trust fast get freedom to execute! Whether you’re trying to build trust with the people in your team or the leaders above you, there are certain behaviours you have to demonstrate in every single interaction.Using the CEO / Board relationship as a model, in this Moment I reveal the 6 things you can do to build trust with the leaders above you.If you want to have a deeper dive into
AI Won’t Replace You, But Leaders Who Master it Will! with James Killick
AI is coming for your job…or is it?Right now, boards and CEOs are being sold the dream that AI will replace thousands of people, slash costs, and magically boost profit. Meanwhile, leaders like you are stuck in the middle, trying to keep customers happy and deliver real results with tools that are still hallucinating and half-baked.So how do you cut through the hype and work out what is actua
Moment 147. Is Your Team Bullying You?
Is your team pushing back? Uncover upward bullying and take control as stronger leader.We hear a lot these days about work-related anxiety, which can easily lead to claims of bullying and harassment. But we rarely hear about the impact this has on leaders like you, who bear the brunt of people’s personal problems in the workplace.For many companies, the explosion in stress-related claims has
SOLVED! 9 Leadership Problems You’ll Face This Year
Every leader faces recurring challenges, the kinds of problems that don’t go away, they just evolve as you grow!In this rapid-fire Q&A, Marty and Em tackle 9 of the most common leadership issues that came in from our listeners across Instagram, LinkedIn, and email. From surviving a toxic boss and getting out of the weeds as your business scales, to knowing when “checking for standards” becomes
Moment 146. You Can't Manage Up Unless You Know Who You're Managing
If you’re struggling to work out how to manage your boss, it’s probably because you’ve never truly assessed the situation. You have to know who you’re dealing with, and what makes them tick.In this Moment, I reveal the questions you can ask yourself to work out exactly what type of boss you have. Only then, can you understand how to manage up effectively.If you want to go deeper on how to bui
Should Your People Have a Say in Big Change?
Get buy-in fast, and learn how to consult without slowing change or losing momentum. I’ve spoken quite a bit over the years about organisational change, particularly as it relates to leading people through major disruption.Humans aren’t particularly adaptable, which is why a whole industry of organisational change management theory arose in the mid-1990s.In this episode, I take a slightly differen
Moment 145. When Leaders Should (and Shouldn’t) Say Sorry
We all get things wrong, sometimes… but if we apologised every time we made a mistake, we’d be forever grovelling to someone. If you never apologise, you’ll seem arrogant, disconnected, and out of touch… but if you apologise too much, you’ll appear weak, indecisive, and ineffective. When should you drive forward confidently, and when should you take a step back and show remorse for the i
The Biggest Killer of Empowerment (and 3 Ways to Fix It)
Are your people truly empowered, or just waiting for permission? Find out here. “Empowerment” is a word that seems to be used in an increasingly offhanded, throw-away fashion. When that happens, it loses both its meaning and its power.But, despite the dumbing down of empowerment, it’s still one of the most critical ingredients of execution.If you can’t empower your people effectively, you’ll stymi
Moment 144. The Real Cost of Overprotecting Your People
Protecting your people feels kind…until it destroys their resilience and results.As the older generation vacates the workforce, companies are making way for fresh talent, new ideas, and different ways of working.This brings with it a number of challenges, as we transition from a workforce that has historically been compliant and robust, to one that has an elevated sense of entitlement, and a worry
Learn From the Lifers, Don’t Repeat Their Mistakes
Are your long-tenured employees blocking performance? Here’s how real leaders respond. Every organisation has them…long-standing employees (“lifers”) who have built their personal reputation and perceived value on a deep knowledge of the business.They’ve also built a power base using this knowledge that they’re reluctant to surrender… and they won't do that without a fight.If you're brought into a
Moment 143. It’s Not Cruel to Expect Excellence
What if expecting more isn’t harsh, but the most caring thing a leader can do? If you want to produce outstanding results, there is no easy path… for you or your people. Are you the type of leader who sets people up to achieve difficult things? Or do they dictate the terms?If you don’t set an expectation of excellence, there are devastating implications for both team performance and ind
Has AI Already Made Consultants Redundant?
If AI can do a $440k job better than Deloitte, what does that mean for consultants?Of all the industries that are on the chalkboard for major disruption by AI, the consulting sector must be high up in the batting order.You’d think that, right now, consulting firms would be keener than ever to demonstrate their value, and extend their longevity: anything to prolong the mystique that surrounds what
Moment 142. Are Behaviours REALLY that important?
I’ve heard leaders at all levels say something like, “Marty, I have a staff member who’s a high performer, but their behaviour is just awful!”If you relate to this, then in all likelihood you’re not actually dealing with a high performer: what you have, is a talented jerk!If that talented jerk is in a leadership role, you should err on the side of intolerance, rather than allowing their bad attitu
How I Learned to Consistently Produce Phenomenal Results
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Moment 141. The Truth About “Honest” Feedback
Learn why your boss might not be telling you the truth, and how to spot real feedback. Feedback is a gift… but, can you believe what you’re told?It’s rare to find a leader who gives consistent, high-quality feedback. It’s even rarer to find a company where feedback is part and parcel of the culture.This is why it’s so important to know how to read the play – the context is all-important. If y
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