Thinking
The thinking behind the practice
Six cornerstone essays on leading and coaching senior leaders, written from carrying commercial accountability rather than observing it. Each one stands alone.
The essays
- 01
Why Executive Coaching Fails Without Business Context
A coach who cannot follow the commercial substance of your world asks questions that land in the wrong place, and the leader stops bringing the real thing.
8 minute read · 1:21 watch
- 02
The First Hundred Days Nobody Supports
Promotion is treated as continuity when it is a change of job, and the support arrives for the wrong problem.
7 minute read
- 03
What Cannot Be Delegated
When a leader delegates the reason rather than the mechanics, the absence becomes the message.
7 minute read · 1:41 watch · Leading Multinational Businesses in APAC
- 04
Personality Predicts Behaviour. Culture Predicts Interpretation.
Personality gives a leader something to work with because it is not fixed. Culture, however accurate, hands you nothing you can use with an individual.
9 minute read · Leading Multinational Businesses in APAC
- 05
A Member of Two Teams
Headquarters granted authority and believed it had conferred membership. Membership is not granted, and both translations are the country leader's job.
10 minute read · Leading Multinational Businesses in APAC
- 06
AI Solved the Tasks We Gave It. It Exposed the Decisions We Had Not Made.
Every problem the technology solved turned out to be concealing an organisational decision only a leader could make.
12 minute read · 1:40 watch
In conversation
Leadership interviews
Why leadership is not for everyone
A long-form conversation on what leadership actually asks of people: why the expectations on leaders in this market changed, what empowerment gets wrong, and why personality tells you more than culture does.
46 minute interview · full transcript · Interview with David Archibald, Unlock Potential
Also here
Practical notes
Shorter pieces for a specific decision rather than a line of argument.
- For leaders and organisations
Executive, team or group coaching: choosing the right intervention
The three main coaching formats solve different problems. A practical guide for HR and business leaders deciding which one fits.
- For leaders and organisations
What team coaching is, and what it is not
Team coaching is routinely confused with team building, facilitation and training. The differences decide whether anything actually changes.
- For leaders and organisations
Choosing an executive coach in Vietnam
Selection criteria for leaders and HR buyers in Vietnam: credentials that mean something, questions worth asking, and warning signs.
- For coaches
How to review your own coaching recordings
A disciplined practice for coaches: what to listen for in your recorded sessions, why self-review misleads, and how to make it honest.
Where this applies
The work these essays come from
If this describes something you are carrying
The essays set out how I think. A conversation is where we find out whether it applies to your situation. Confidential, no obligation, and I will say so if coaching is not what you need.