Team Management Blog Posts

I've been lucky to work under a number of successful management teams in the past… but I've also worked with teams that, frustratingly, didn't quite perform at their full potential. And I'm sure I'm not alone. But what is it that makes one management team successful, driven and effective, while another only mediocre? In my […]

All Posts, Team Management

I knew it was going to hurt as soon as the car pulled out across my path. The only questions in my mind were: how much would it hurt, and how expensive would it be to repair my beautiful, brand new Ducati motorcycle? The second question suddenly seemed less important as the situation I was […]

All Posts, Leadership, Stress, Team Management

Very few of us would admit it, but we are all biased. Research shows that all of us are naturally drawn toward people like ourselves and are more loyal to them, which inevitably makes us biased in their favor. This kind of in-group versus out-group dynamic is not just based on how we look. According […]

Career Skills, Empowerment, Expert Interview, Leadership, Team Management

I'm  a fully grown, professional man. I've worked hard and thrived in many high-pressure situations; I know my own mind and don't allow myself to get pushed around. But recently, I am getting pushed around! I find myself starting most days being assessed and judged by a stern-faced man whose weapons of intimidation are a […]

All Posts, Communication, Team Management

Since leaving my job as a news reporter for Thomson Reuters and going freelance some years ago, I've had to come to terms with failure like never before. Pitching articles to magazines and newspapers can be tough. Sometimes I get a great response but, other times, my emails are met with radio silence or a […]

All Posts, Creativity, Strategy, Team Management

I was looking after my eight-year-old nephew last weekend, and I’d love to say it was a pleasure but it wasn't! His parents had gone out for the night on their own, trusting me and my partner to look after him for the evening. As non-parents, this was a big deal for us and we’d […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Communication, Team Management

Authenticity is something I've become very interested in as my career has progressed. I loved being a news journalist for many years but towards the end of my last post, as a reporter on British politics, I began to realize my interest in that kind of work had waned. It no longer seemed in line […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Leadership, Strategy, Stress, Team Management

It's not often I find myself unable to put down a business book. But this was recently the case with "The Objective Leader," by Elizabeth Thornton, which starts with the gripping story of how the author raised and then lost a million dollars on a fruit-juice importing venture. That was 20 years ago, when Thornton […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Leadership, Strategy, Team Management

I've never been a leader of an organization and I've always shied away from management roles in my journalism career, preferring to stay "at the coal face." Nor have I ever been overly interested in management theory or the structure of organizations. But I am really interested in concepts like purpose and meaning, in the […]

All Posts, Career Skills, Leadership, Team Management, Time Management

Warning: You won't want to hear what I'm about to tell you. But hang with me, please. I'll make you feel much better about it and you'll be far more successful in your work. Ready? After publishing his book, "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us," Daniel Pink was curious and asked 7,000 workers […]

All Posts, Communication, Leadership, Problem Solving, Team Management