CEO

Sir Alex Ferguson is one of soccer’s most highly regarded and successful managers. As Manchester United’s manager, his side dominated domestic and European soccer and won multiple trophies. In an interview with Sequoia Capital chairman Sir Michael Moritz on the Stanford Graduate School of Business YouTube channel, Ferguson explained how, before every game, he conducted

The gig economy is remarkably robust and growing faster than ever. In 2020 alone, there were 5.1 million contingent workers in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, 77% of executives surveyed by CXC said freelance and gig workers would replace a significant number of full-time employees in the next five years. Contrary to popular belief, hiring contingent workers isn’t relegated to choosing people

For too long, college students have been forced to make a false choice between a life-shaping liberal arts education or a pre-professional education that gives them valuable career skills. The reality is that schools need to provide students with both. This requires moving from an “either/or” approach to a “both/and” mindset. Denison Edge is one

Mentorships are good for the mentor, good for the mentee, good for the business, and a worthwhile investment. But cultivating high-functioning mentorship relationships — the ones that create really positive outcomes for both parties — takes time. If you are a leader and want to approach mentoring possibilities in the most effective way, here are a

Important conversations come with the territory of being a leader. But have you ever felt like an important conversation you needed to have with your leader wasn’t valued by them? How did it make you feel? If the answer was ‘not great’, that’s motivation to think more about this. You can make sure the person

Many business leaders feel the need to carry every responsibility on their shoulders, but eventually, even the strongest will tire with that approach. Instead, free up more time to do what you’re best at by thoughtfully delegating the right tasks to the right people. In return, you can carry less weight while increasing productivity throughout

I doubt that there are many CEOs or senior leaders who haven’t heard of the ‘Great Resignation’.  Reported widely in the media, a picture is being painted of a tsunami of post-covid resignations as employees re-evaluate their work lives.   Though its scope and impact is yet to play out in Australia, there’s no doubt in

Our contemporary culture gives us access to an abundance of choices.  Study. Don’t study. Work. Don’t work. Career choices: endless. Job opportunities: unlimited. At times, choice can be overwhelming.  What should you do?  Which opportunity should you pursue?  In the face of too much choice, you may find yourself avoiding a tough decision and making

The way businesses conduct meetings has certainly changed in the past 18 months and in years gone by they had typically been little more than a work-based social function on company time. While the thought of socialising with fellow staff has often been the driving force for employees to attend meetings there is an opportunity

About a decade ago, I decided to join a friend’s retreat. It was a planned weekend for people to take time out. At that time in my life, I needed to get to know new people and expand my circle of friends, so I decided to go. I left without an agenda, aiming to just

An important part of designing your investment and retirement strategy is deciding exactly what your wealth goals are. You’ll want to determine how you plan to spend the money that you save or earn through investing later in life. Some individuals may seek to set higher wealth goals as they will want to continue to

If I were to take a “blue widget” from each one of us, set them side by side, and ask typical customers to choose the best, they would probably have a difficult time. All of the widgets would be very good, and all very similar. We know there are differences between us, but the typical

There was once an advertisement that was trying to sell Australia to the world which finished with the catch cry from model Lara Bingle asking, “Where the bloody hell are you?” The advert, whilst heavily criticised, certainly did not hold back the careers of those involved, with Lara Bingle finding great fame and the heart

My favourite word has always been ‘why.’ Understand the ‘why’ before asking further questions. Why build a purpose-driven company culture? A purpose-driven company culture is clear about its direction and actively makes sure everyone in the company is working in the same direction. Every individual has a heartfelt sense of ownership for the purpose. A

Twenty-five years ago, in the feature film Contact, Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) responded to her former mentor and nemesis, Dr. David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), after having had a tough day testifying before Congress. Here’s a snippet of the dialogue:  David Drumlin: “I know you must think this is all very unfair. Maybe that’s an understatement.

Does the play-it-safe mentality run rampant in your organization?  Are the “innovative” ideas really just retreads of past decisions that led to lackluster results? While it’s easy to blame individual leaders for their un-inspired initiatives, maybe there’s another culprit.  Maybe your business lacks a risk-taking mindset. Too often in business, when leaders hear the word

The 6 thinking hats is one method used to enhance creative conversations. This method ensures that a wide variety of views and ways of thinking are represented. Using the 6 roles or else what hats represent, the framework allows teams to structure abstract thinking for productive results. But what does each hat represent?The blue hatThe

It might seem hard to believe in 2022, but for many years, business and personal elements mixed about as well as oil and water. As consumers and employees, people engaged with companies with little thought as to how their actions connected to a central, relevant purpose. But over the past few decades, we’ve seen the

As much as it pains some of us, we are all in the people business. Until the robots take over, we are always engaged with another person, be it a customer or a coworker, a loved one, or a stranger on the street.  Relationships are the core of leadership because leadership means influencing other people