“Here’s to strong wo/men.

May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”

P 2/3 May we be them.

“Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone, and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- Marianne Williamson

It takes courage, grit and determination to pop our heads up above the parapet. To be strong. To put ourselves in a place where we risk getting shot at.

I know my biggest regrets in life are when I neglected to act. When I didn’t do what I said I would. When I let someone down. When I wasn’t brave enough to trust I could cope with a new challenge, and so I turned away or turned it down. Got too busy doing something safe so I could avoid the opportunity to be strong. To face the challenge. To grow.

Not good. I don’t want any more of those regrets.

Strength as knowing self

“Seek first to understand yourself, then to be understood” Stephen Covey

In understanding the barriers (and accelerators) to being strong, I wonder if this is one of the biggest. It is harder to be strong if we don’t first understand our own strengths and weaknesses.

We need to understand ourselves to know what we actually stand for.

We can then stand firm in our beliefs.

We can then act in alignment with our values.

Choosing who and what we will engage with.

As we know ourselves, we can recognise when we need time out to recharge, and we can have the strength to take it.

Strength as resilience

“When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had” A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

We talk about the importance of resilience, so to gain resilience we need to know what falling and failing feels like.

Nothing rivals pain as a teacher. Being told no. Having doors closed in your hopeful face. Falling short of where you hoped to be.

It doesn’t feel that great. We don’t want to repeat that.

And so we learn and we regroup and we get back up. We reflect, adjust and try again. We grow in resilience, in determination, so we gain strength.

Strength as courage

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but our response to it.” Diane Dreher

We show strength as courage by stepping up to do what’s right.

Sometimes our home, our workplace, our world needs our courage; our little courage or big courage. Each time we stick our necks out involves courage. When we think of those we deeply admire, they have often gained our admiration through their acts of courage.

This can be as simple as

offering our honesty when someone asks our opinionsaying something that deflates an escalating situationspeaking up when we disagree

As psychologist Jerry Lynch says: “Know that a full, enjoyable, exciting life, one where you push the limits of your personal, physical and inner potential will always include opportunities for thousands of risks which require you to be courageous. Great performers have the fear of failing like everyone else yet go ahead anyway because they have the courage to follow their heart”.

Strength as failure

“Embrace error: create an atmosphere in which prudent risk taking is strongly encouraged.” Warren G. Bennis

It may seem counter intuitive, but we can gain strength by risking failure. And by showing that there is life after failure.

As parents, we want the best for our children. And as tough as it is, we need to let them experience failure. They need to know they can survive failure.

In business, it is heartening to see more evidence of organisations with strong work cultures providing the platform for their team to make mistakes, nurturing their employees to fail safely, taking learning from these ‘errors’ in order to iterate and be better than before. To gain strength through failure.

Strength as humility

“We do not need to be heroes to save the world; all we need is a little humility…”

John Burnside

Modelling strength can be showing the humility to admit we were wrong, to admit we don’t know the answer, to seek help from others. Demonstrating we are still willing to learn.

Doing so is a key part of growth. Both personal growth and organisational growth.

Our world is increasingly complex and complicated. Some of the top CEO’s recognise the wisdom in acknowledging their comparative ‘limitations’.

There is little to be gained from employing your best candidates then in consistently acting alone and ignoring or deriding those on the team. It’s down-right ignorant and counter-productive to not tap into their expertise. Guess what these potential filled talents will do if they’re not being challenged and utilised? They’ll leave, potentially to strengthen your competition.

Strength as humility can be standing back and deflecting the glory to others who were involved in the win.

Strength as humility can be seeking and taking on board feedback from people we trust.

Strength as discipline

“Champions do extra” Brad Thorne

Disciplined execution is taking the deliberate, incremental steps to improve. Doing the hard yards. We all stuff up, make mistakes, show our weaknesses. This can be fodder for a self-fulfilling failure mentality (I’m not good enough so I may as well just quit) or a painful powerful lesson in what we never want to repeat.

It is working through the hard times. Doing the extra.

Strength as discipline is honouring the commitment made, and seeing it through to completion.

Strength as kindness

“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution” Kahlil Gabran

Strength as kindness can be deliberately putting others before ourselves. Holding in our own pain for someone who needs us more. Holding our tongue. Choosing kind words. Consciously using that time between action and reaction to respond with kindness.

It can make all the difference to someone’s day (including our own) when we respond with kindness.

Strength as kindness can be going out of our way to explain something patiently, to notice a workmate needs a hand, to welcome the newcomer.

Strength as kindness can be giving permission to forgive both others and ourselves, and to move on.

Strength as support

“The only time you should look down at someone is when you are helping them up” Jesse Jackson

I figure we are pretty blessed to live in this beautiful flawed world. We are in the enviable position of being able to share our strength with others. To be strong for someone else, especially for those whose strength is compromised. To lend a hand, offer our listening ears because we can.

There is wonderful security in the knowledge that someone has our back. We can offer that for others. We can offer our strength as support.

Strength to face the fear

One of my favourite quotes comes from Sheryl Sandberg (love her ‘Lean In’ book) when she challenges me with “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

That quote absolutely spoke to me.

As a natural introvert, writing my first blog took literally weeks, I procrastinated something wicked. Putting off the day when I had to push the ‘publish’ button. Terrifying. But, hey, the sky hasn’t fallen and people have been very kind with their comments.

As it turns out, unsurprisingly, you’re all pretty busy with your own lives. Since that first time, every time I put my thoughts out into the universe it really is just a little bit less scary.

Is there something you’ve been putting off that you know needs addressing? That you’re afraid to do?

Is it holding you back?

Is it time to get it over with so you can move on?

Strength – whether it is little steps, big steps, kindness in the face of oppression, small acts, big acts, courage to be the change. To be someone somebody looks up to, to be somebody who gives another a chance. To stand up and be counted. To get back up, to keep moving, to keep trusting, to keep learning, to keep growing.

Here's to strong wo/men

May we be them.

Let's get stronger.

Thank you for your time

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If you'd like help with any of the above; leadership strengthening, strategy, transformation, culture improvement, any positive change initiative give me a call. I'd love to hear from you.

Leigh 027 669 1243

With thanks to:

All the strong who continually inspire

Diane Dreher – The Tao of Personal Leadership

Jerry Lynch - http://www.wayofchampions.com/articles-by-jerry-lynch/the-art-of-being-courageous.html

Alarm bells rang recently when a client shared that their owner-to-be was already making noises they’d be ‘telling the staff that this is how it’s going to be’ in the early days of the new ownership.

There are key differences in two of the leadership styles evident in the world today.

The more traditional model is transactional leadership – commonly characterised with the old carrot and stick analogy. As its name suggests, it is based on transactions - you do this work for me and I’ll pay you accordingly. It is more of a ‘This is what you’ll do’ model, with the ‘or else’ implied or explicit. This leadership style can be appropriate in certain workplaces, e.g. when situations call for strict compliance to safety rules.

It is more suited to the ‘same old same old’ style of industry where change isn’t tapping on your door. Hmm know many of those these days?

A problem with this style is it doesn’t necessarily encourage collaboration, a learning environment, problem-solving, teamwork. And this can be a definite disadvantage when our world is changing so rapidly. The transactional style of leadership can render businesses vulnerable, by leaving them open to being left behind when their competitors respond more quickly to change.

Transformational leadership on the other hand encourages learning, collaboration. It is a vision led, values driven style of operating.

Transformational leaders promote cross – hierarchy level communication, encouraging solutions focused dialogue and processes.

As its name suggests, it is better suited to changing, turbulent times.

This style also has the benefit of tapping into employee’s sense of purpose, which we know is good for productivity, staff retention and staff morale. (Regardless of which generation we fall into).

It can be challenging to new leaders who have only known and worked with the transactional style of ‘leading’ to realise that there are potentially more effective ways.

If you or your team has been operating along the transactional model and are now facing industry change, or just recognise that a more inclusive culture has its benefits, it may well be prudent to do an honest stock take of how your leadership team operates, and purposefully address this potential risk.

You can:

Develop your vision and mission statements to articulate where you want to be, your values, your core purposeOpen the doors to the wealth of your team’s experience and knowledgePractice management by walking around – checking in on what is working well for your team, and what issues or barriers they are dealing withShare the changes and challenges that you are facing with your team andEncourage them to be part of the solution

Changing times call for changing leadership. Tapping into the considerable skill and knowledge in your team is one way to be proactive for change.

If you'd like help with any of the above suggestions, leadership upskilling, strategy, transformation, culture improvement, or any positive change initiative give me a call

Leigh 027 669 1243

Thank you for your time

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At the end of 2011 I resigned a full time permanent position. I was burnt out and bruised.

I retrained (Business Transformation and Change- perfect!), and fate conspired in offering me my first client, which then led to starting my consultancy.

It’s been just over two years since FUSE Strategy became part of the cyber space, web site, facebook page, linked in profile, clients gained and clients ‘yeah, yeah, nahhed’. Networking and pipelines, learning and upskilling ongoing.

However, enough of the history.

I’m writing this to give a shout out to the burnt out and bruised, to all of you who have gone through redundancy, who are working through job applications, who are building new businesses, who are putting your hopes and dreams on the line to find work and fulfillment.

What I have learned through the process of growing my business is that it is tough. It is really tough. I know why the failure rate of start-ups is so high. My stores of self – belief, positivity and resilience have at times been severely depleted.

I now know that I need purpose to be truly happy. That when not working I struggled with my self-worth. Stone the crows.

So this is a shout out to everyone who has been there and tried that.

You have my absolute admiration for keeping on trying, applying, and believing.

I wish you every success.

XO

I work with start ups, established businesses and people just like you.

Phone me if you'd like a hand reaching your goals.

Leigh 027 669 1243

Thank you for your time

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I love this.

One simple way to add a drop of imaginative richness and fun to life. Permission to feel the outstanding joy a little bit of crazy allows.

Unsurprisingly, when I was teaching, the children who had the rich, tactile, real life experiences were often the ones who were able to write rich, imaginative narratives.

Let’s embrace our inner child. Let’s keep making memories with something as simple as an old gumboot and a broom, and bring on a bit of laughter and crazy.

Keep the spark of your inner child alive and well.

Unsurprisingly, the adults who deliberately seek rich real life experiences are often those who continue to add richness and inspiration to our world.

With thanks to all of you who share your spark!

Click the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=434404533599417&id=100547466985127&notif_t=like&notif_id=1497304838114177

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“Here’s to strong wo/men.

May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.” P. 1 /3

Do you know them?

Knowing strong people feels good.

They help show us the way to move forward, inspire us to be better versions of ourselves, encourage us to grow.

Stretch people

Stretch people are those who challenge us to live more meaningful lives. They are the friends who truly wish us the best. They are the supportive mentors who fill in the gaps in our imperfect skill set. They are the strong people who inspire us, who have our back and who we want to be more like.

Five people

One recent read which gave me pause suggested we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Jeepers, I thought. That’s interesting. Who would my five be? And what would that look like?

Who do you spend most of your time with?

Can you picture what an imaginary average of them would look like, be like – what would their strengths, weaknesses, habits, lifestyle choices look like? And, is that imaginary ‘average’ where you want to sit?

If so, great!

If not – we can be conscious of where our gaps lie and pro-actively seek to fill them out.

We can be honest about our short comings, seeking help from others to fill these gaps and helping lift us up to reach our goals, our potential.

Support people

I know I struggle with the discipline of sticking to my exercise goals. I am much more disciplined when I’ve set up meeting a friend to exercise. She gets me out the door and on my way to the pool.

I know also that being really honest and risking a little vulnerability in sharing my goals can both take my friendships to a newer deeper level, and be mutually beneficial.

When I share my goals, my friends are then more likely to reciprocate and share their goals with me. I can act to support them as well. It's a win-win.

Lift people

I am absolutely blessed with friends and family – they are wise, funny, bright, creative, wonderful, loving people. I want the absolute world for them. So I figure, if I’m one of their five, then it’s a two –way street. I certainly want to do my bit and keep growing, learning, improving. I want to lift their five person average!

Connect people

One upside of our super interconnected world is how few the degrees of separation between us and those we wish to emulate now is. We can find them, read about them, follow them, subscribe to their blogs. We can be connected, learn and grow.

Inspire people

One of my favourite things is feeling the buzz of challenging and inspirational interactions. Being exposed to new ideas and opinions. Being challenged to stretch my thinking. Experiencing those ‘Aha’ moments. Finding the magic of like-minded people who invariably communicate their ideas way more effectively than I can. Guiding me, nudging me or sometimes giving me the shove I need to make the next step on my journey. Being inspired by the inspiring.

“You become what you focus on and like the people you spend the most time with”

John Spence.

Here’s to strong wo/men.

May we know them.

With thanks to:

John Spence

If you’re interested in listening to John, who is one of the thought leaders I follow, the link below has him speaking to a University student body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSFFGh4_hB0

And motivational speaker, Jim Rohn

www.businessinsider.com.au/jim-rohn-youre-the-average-of-the-five-people-you-spend-the-most-time-with-2012-7?r=US&IR=T

Thank you for your time.

Feel free to share.

FUSE Strategy – Light it up!

If you'd like help with any of the above; leadership strengthening, strategy, transformation, culture improvement, any positive change initiative give me a call. I'd love to hear from you.

Leigh 027 669 1243

That ‘why’ word – we’ve been using it ever since we were tottering two year old's learning

to talk … “why, mummy?” It is a seemingly innate question with the potential to reveal to us the world. At times the answer gives us satisfaction and other times it sparks further interest, “but why, daddy?”

Yes, I’ve seen Simon Sinek’s TED Talk “Start with why”. That ‘why’ word is becoming a hot topic, with advertising campaigns also piggybacking on its emotive power.

I know that my ‘why’ is because I love seeing great people succeed. I want the world to be a better place. I believe it can be. I know there are incredible people everywhere, doing incredible things. Everyday. I love being part of positive change.

Clarifying my ‘why’ was the motivation behind retraining in Business Transformation and Change. I love working with great clients and future focussed businesses. I feel truly privileged working alongside clients when helping them discover their ‘why’. To put words to their passions and to put plans in place to ensure they are on track to achieving their goals. I have a vested interest in their success.

I get the idea of why finding your ‘why’ is so incredibly powerful. It acts to declutter all that ‘noise’, revealing and clarifying our innate belief, our sense of something bigger than ourselves, something wonderful we can aspire to. It acts as a motivator, binding us from all walks / beliefs / backgrounds to a common goal.

In business and in life, understanding your ‘why’ can help ensure alignment between your goals, your strategies and your results. It can act to simplify overly complex issues. It can re-calibrate your direction. It can be an effective filter for decision making - clarifying both the yes decisions and equally importantly, the ones to which you need to say no.

Dr. Martin Luther King gained fame and engendered transformative change when he stood and ever so bravely stated, “I have a dream.” This inner urge to serve humanity, his ‘why’, continues to resonate more than 50 years on as a powerful legacy for change.

In this crazy busy life, we can be searching for ways to simplify its demands and confusion. To give our lives more meaning. I think one effective way to do so, is to allow yourself real time to ruminate, to question yourself deeply. This may be through meditation, talking with friends who really 'get' you, walking in a quiet space, writing, hard physical exercise. Whatever works for you, dedicating precious time so you have the head space to clarify your ‘why’.

If you'd like a hand clarifying your why, setting and achieving your goals - personally, or in your place of work, leadership strengthening, strategy, transformation, culture improvement, any positive change initiative give me a call. I'd love to hear from you.

Leigh 027 669 1243

Thanks to the inspirational Dr. Martin Luther King http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1951-/martin-luther-kings-i-have-a-dream-speech-august-28-1963.php

And to Simon Sinek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYeCltXpxw

Art work author's own. And yes, it may be upside down!

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Tantrumps, Distrumption and A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Tantrump = Hissy fit thrown by fake-tanned creature when not getting its own way

Distrumption = The resulting chaos unleashed as Mr Donald Trump meets world politics

Crazy Little Thing Called Love = The most effective positive agent of change known to the universe

Donald Trump. The President of the US of A. This man is an autocrat. Many would add hints of narcissism, psychopathic tendencies, and a touch of compulsive lying to his unique mix.

Not so good.

Examples of this distasteful cocktail include:

He seeks to dominate all others, e.g. his employees, his subordinates and his fellow leadersHe creates his own reality (AKA alternative facts, freaky it is such a ‘thing’ there is actually a name for it)He is insensitive to and or disinterested in the feelings and wishes of others (multiple denied acts of assault)He has a strong will power, overriding other’s opinions, considering his opinions superior (e.g. overriding experts’ climate change facts)He likes to be the centre of attention (publicity driven, tweet-aholic)

Mr Trump’s well practiced pattern of autocratic behaviour has historically been rewarded with material wealth and recognition thus reinforcing his style of ‘leadership’.

It is one we in the modern Western world are unfamiliar with. We’ve been caught short.

The normal rules do not apply. As we have evidenced, those brave enough to voice resistance run the very real risk of being removed from the picture, or fired as per the high profile axing of Acting Attorney Sally Yates. This is not normal.

We continue to be horrified by his outrageous behaviour. However, just as when we are dealing with tantrums in children, we need to adjust our thinking. This is how he operates. And he is not alone.

I’ve had the memorable displeasure of working with someone who displayed similar characteristics to Mr Trump. Their behaviour is not normal. I wish I had been forewarned and prepared for their kind of crazy. It certainly would have helped when being personally attacked and lied to.

But hey, if we don’t live in the states and if we don’t have a boss who is this kind of crazy, does any of this really matter? Hell yes – if you care about living in a democracy, if you care about truth and equality.

If you need convincing (and even if you don’t!), I recommend you read David Frum’s excellent ‘The Atlantic’ March 2017 piece “How to Build An Autocracy”. A small extract is quoted below.

“The United States may be a nation of laws, but the proper functioning of the law depends upon the competence and integrity of those charged with executing it. A president determined to thwart the law in order to protect himself and those in his circle has many means to do so”

Trump is a man who has repeatedly demonstrated his lack of integrity. The future of the world’s democratic process is now threatened.

I believe:

We must uphold ethical leadership.

We must be vocal. We must empower our leaders to be strong and clear in their messages of condemnation against executive orders which hurtle us backwards and away from equality.

We must encourage our ethical leaders to create alliances with other ethical leaders. Just as we are stronger together, so too our world leaders are stronger together.

When faced with temper tantrums, although tempting, sarcasm, ridicule and mockery aren’t particularly productive. Modelling the desired behaviour, and clearly communicating and reinforcing what is acceptable, are far more effective techniques. Advocating a win-win works too.

We must act with grace and intelligence – think Streep, Gandhi and Luther King.

Anything less could be used as fodder to fuel the rhetoric around racism, sexism, xenophobia.

We have wonderful leaders in education, business, both world-wide, and local who are showing the way with transformational leadership, empowering their staff, making positive change happen. Leaders who look beyond the profit margins to honour those working with them. Who are honest and inspirational. Who act with integrity. Who seek out and recognise the magic within us all. Who make us feel proud to be working and give our work meaning. Who actively promote diversity and acceptance in the workplace and beyond. As the wonderful Gandhi is oft quoted “Let’s be the change we wish to see in the world”.

I am so invigorated and heartened by the power that is now being seen and is building. Companies, individuals, communities… examples are everywhere of great acts of love and courage. It is sensational!! Yes, these are scary times but my goodness, they are quite wonderful. This is a sea change and it comes from a place of love.

I would love to see New Zealand a noisy world leader advocating equality. Purposefully and relentlessly being the change we wish to see in this beautiful flawed world. Speaking up for those without a voice. Because I believe advocating equal rights for all is the responsibility of all. So what can we do? We can make some noise and we can lead with a crazy little thing called love.

Thanks to Steve Mueller http://www.planetofsuccess.com/blog/T2010/how-to-deal-with-autocratic-leadership/

And to David Frum

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/

And to Freddie Mercury for writing ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ RIP

Thank you for your time.

Feel free to share.

FUSE Strategy - Light it up!

If you'd like help with any of the above; leadership strengthening, strategy, transformation, culture improvement, any positive change initiative give me a call. I'd love to hear from you.

Leigh 027 669 1243