Do I actually need a coach, and what even is coaching?
I did not understand what coaching was the first time I had it. Here is what I wish I had known: what coaching is and is not, why fit and accreditation matter, and how to tell whether you need a coach.
Why does it feel so lonely at the top?
As a senior leader you are rarely alone, and yet there are times you feel completely on your own with the things that weigh most. Here is why loneliness is built into the role, what the evidence says, and one small thing that helps.
Why am I so exhausted, even when I'm doing well?
For a long time, I was all smiles and quietly not ok. Promoted to director, working alongside senior execs, thriving on paper and exhausted underneath. I did not call it burnout. I did not call it anything. Here is what I learned about why capable leaders run themselves into the ground, why it is usually the system and not a personal weakness, and what actually helped.
How do I make better decisions under pressure?
How do you make better decisions under pressure?
Decision fatigue is real, and more input rarely helps. Why the answer is protected space to think, not more data.
Welcome - the leadership conversation I want to start
For twenty-one years in HR, much of it in senior NHS leadership, I was performing leadership rather than doing it, watching myself, wondering if my instincts were right. Here's what I've come to believe: the leaders with the most impact aren't the ones who've perfected the performance. They're the ones who've stopped performing altogether.