Analysts refer to LEGO as the Apple of Toys. And the system continues to thrive. LEGO’s steadfast belief in continuously learning, experimenting and reinventing, speaks to our research on the attributes that make businesses thrive and be resilient in the face of chaos and complexity.
As a Coach, as a Leader and as a Leader who is a Coach, perhaps the greatest gift to the self and others is a Beginner’s Mindset. It is the ability to be fully present, listen actively and not be thinking “I already know the answer to this”.
My coach once asked me: What is that one thing that holds you back from doing what you want? I said: Overthinking. The consequence is inaction. Analysis-paralysis – that’s my biggest challenge. I was reminded of this when my friend T, called me a couple of days ago, to give me the big news that …
The dread you feel of being ‘found out’. The anxiety and foreboding that the ‘fraud’ will be revealed one day. That you have been lucky in your career stints, the bosses and peers you have met. The new role will reveal not your hidden potential, but your actual incapacity. Like me, perhaps when you commit to an audacious …
As a mid-career professional there comes a time when you ask “Am I doing what really aligns with how I want to contribute?” “Should I change direction, and if so, where should I go?” After all, Herminia Ibarra’s seminal work on crafting career transitions does reveal that during our working lives most of us will …
Discover the unconventional career of Shweta Anand Arora, Founder and CEO of The Core Questin in conversation with Dr. Ramya Ranganathan.
As a Coach, I listen to clients describe the problem or issue they are trying to tackle. For ‘A’ the pandemic provided a big bang opportunity for her business, yet productivity is slipping because attrition rates are high. As CEO of the company, ‘D’ is struggling to address resistance and fear amongst her colleagues to …
For very long, leadership has been defined in a certain way. A charismatic yet distant presence that wields authority and power. However, in today’s world, leaders like Jacinda Ardern for example, point to the fact that a new model of leadership is emerging. One that is based on a very different set of principles.
Purpose can play a powerful performance-enhancing role for individuals, and for organisations. This is supported by neuroscience, and by research on company performance. Yet, there is distance to go.
(And Why That Wasn’t an Accident) You may have noticed we’ve been a little quiet over the last couple of weeks. No flurry of year-end posts.No reflective LinkedIn threads.No “here’s what’s coming in 2026” announcements. That pause was deliberate. Because December has a habit of doing something subtle but powerful to us. Even as calendars …
A simple truth we keep running into: every organisation wants to stretch, grow, and sometimes reshape—but none of that is easy if the middle is stuck. Unfortunately that’s where leadership capacity seems to run thin. Thriving organisations run on a leadership engine, leadership that’s visible across the organisation. Their real strength seems to lie in …
For decades, women in leadership have often been criticized for qualities like empathy, collaboration, and vulnerability—traits dismissed as “soft” or “unprofessional” in traditional corporate environments. Yet, as workplaces grapple with the complexities of today’s world, these very traits have emerged as critical to success. Consider Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, whose …
Everyone loves a reliable leader.The one who delivers, holds the line, and steps in before a problem becomes a crisis. The steady one. The go-to. But for many “star performers,” reliability slowly becomes a trap.The pressure, the solitude, the constant expectation, all add up. At first, you call it a phase. A busy quarter. A …
In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set off to cross Antarctica. The ship was called Endurance. Bold name. Didn’t quite live up to it. A few months in, the ice closed in. Slowly at first, then like a vice. The ship was trapped, then crushed. One moment they were explorers. The next? Castaways. Hundreds of miles from help, …
Leadership lessons from the hive. We’ve been thinking a lot about bees lately. Not in a garden-glancing way, but thanks to Thomas Seeley’s research on how honeybee colonies make decisions. Their process? Surprisingly relevant for corporate hives too. When a bee colony needs a new home, after a storm or when space runs out, they …
A senior leader I work with said something that rings true for most leaders: “Everyone expects clarity from me. But I’m figuring things out just like everyone else.” That sentence captures a quiet truth of leadership today. The world keeps shifting, technology, geopolitics, even what people want from work, and what work expects from its …
Picture a symphony. The strings rise, the percussion steadies the rhythm, the conductor lifts their baton. Then, quietly, a new instrument enters, one the orchestra hasn’t played with before. At first, the musicians glance sideways, unsure if this newcomer will drown them out. But as the performance unfolds, they discover it doesn’t erase their sound. …
When I first read Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, one phrase jumped off the page: fear of conflict. It triggered a memory from my early career, sitting in a leadership meeting where a young manager disagreed openly with the CEO. The room went still. You could almost hear people silently begging, please …
A few weeks ago, a Gen Z cousin and I were talking about career plans over coffee. When I asked if they were eyeing a leadership role, their response was disarmingly candid: “I don’t want to be the person stuck between unhappy employees and demanding bosses. I’d rather do meaningful work, learn, and live a …
