The temptation to get on with it
In high school, I had a biology teacher called Sister Kath. She was a lovely, loud nun with a knack for making it VERY CLEAR when something mattered. As we worked through our biology textbooks, Sister Kath would have us mark particular passages with a yellow highlighter, signalling the subject matter most likely to turn up in our exams. During practical classes, she would project her instructions from the front of the lab as we dissected rats and tried to persuade baby chicks to imprint themselves on us. When a room full of teenage girls became impatient and wanted to rush through whatever assignment or project was in front of us, Sister Kath would say: “Girls, if you want to do something quickly, do it slowly.”
Monkeys, circuses and caring too much
There’s a phrase I’ve come to appreciate more and more over the course of my career in communication.
If you’ve worked with me, you’ll have heard me say it many times, especially when you’re freaking out and the stress levels are rising about something so infinitesimal that I feel the urge to calm you down, tell you to breathe and gain some perspective.
“Not my monkey, not my circus.”It’s my reminder to keep some perspective about what really deserves my energy.
Holding up the mirror: Six questions I ask before helping leaders navigate change
Every experienced communicator knows the moment you're asking a leader to pause, reflect and look in the mirror long enough to see something they may be missing. The hard part of these situations is knowing when to hold up the mirror. Experience teaches you which issues deserve your energy and which don't. Over the years, I've found myself returning to six questions before deciding it's time to hold up the mirror.
You really don’t have to share an opinion about everything
When I was a kid, my dad would cross the road to the newsagent in his dressing gown to buy The Age and The Australian in the morning, and The Herald in the afternoon (before it became the Herald Sun!). He’d sit at the kitchen table with a highlighter, marking what stood out, cutting out stories and filing them away. If something really moved him, he’d write a letter to the editor — and many were published. I did think it was a little bit nutty and embarrassing at the time.
Make the link: It’s not as obvious as you think
Sometimes, in the push to prove we’re strategic, we overlook the slow and steady work that earns trust and builds influence and ultimately leads to having that seat. The discipline of reinforcing how work connects to strategy might feel dull, but it’s what helps people with short attention spans make sense of change and shows leaders the value of communication done well.
MAFS: A reality check on mindset
Married at First Sight is captivating reality TV, full of drama, fun, and surprises. What draws me in is how the ‘husbands’ and ‘wives’ navigate the challenges of the marriage experiment.
The power of cultivating a killer network beyond your workplace
While it’s essential to network within your organisation, spreading your wings and networking beyond your office walls can significantly amp up the benefits and opportunities available to you.
Crush it or be crushed. You can choose
Do you feel like you’re crushing it, or being crushed? At risk of burnout, it was executive coaching that changed everything for me.
Magic won’t bring your personal brand to life, but managing it will
It’s mystifying how we can be so organised in many parts of our life – exercising regularly, managing our workload, or researching the best whitegoods to buy – yet we expect our personal brand to develop magically without any effort.