I'm week one back and catching up on the emails and well wishes for the new year. In one message, I had this great response from one client that a team of them are channelling "plain sailing 2022". In light of the recent tsunami, I pondered that perhaps a better metaphor might be needed! After a few calls to people Monday, where the mood was completely despondent over current circumstances, I could feel the sense of dread and cynicism rise in me too.

Another year of this. It feels worse this time. I'm so over it....yadda yadda, you get the picture.

With the pressures of lockdown impacting organisations, one trend I'm seeing in my work, is the accelerated path to burnout for leaders wanting to "be there" for their teams. There is a genuine intent of care, yet the boundaries between supporting your team and 'rescuing' them can become blurred quickly. A sure path to burnout.The question to ask yourself is, are you supporting your team or rescuing them? Are you clear on the distinction between the two?

Last week, I had the honour to host a conversation with Ruchi Yadav, Head of Strategy and Programs for The Hunger Project in India. Ruchi is one of my favourite leaders, who despite the trauma of Covid-19 in India, remains focused on confronting new realities with a solution mindset and work geared to sustainable futures. (you can see a great summary here)

This is a milestone week for me. It’s the 9th year of being in business post corporate life, and also the week my apartment finally settles after an extended period of juggling banks, solicitors, removalists and agents. Yesterday, as I did the final farewell to my amazing building manager in Newstead, the emotions knocked me unexpectedly as I said goodbye.

It was this time three years ago that I had the great privilege to co-facilitate a Leadership Immersion program for The Hunger Project and Business Chicks to Senegal, Africa with Karen James. When my Facebook memory popped up this week of Coumba below, her message took on a different meaning as I reflected on the work I have been doing with Executives over the past few weeks.

Right now, I’m in ‘the messy middle’, where life runs on two speeds. In a holding pattern on some fronts, and going full speed ahead on others. A lot is happening and on top, I’m halfway through writing my second book ‘Recalibrate’ with my apartment building being repainted and resealed. Equipment left on my balcony by tradies last week sparked chaos, with my dog Sunny having regular ‘stoushes’ during the night with a ladder and two paint bags that he is convinced WILL kill us.

Platitudes in times of uncertainty, seem to come thick and fast in our digitised world. Memes about courage often feel out of our reach and impractical. They feel like the domain of the exceptional icons of our time like Nelson Mandela. People who are inspirational, yet leave us wondering how we can put courage in action ourselves when everything feels like it is constantly shifting?

Last Thursday I ran the webinar "Better in Chaos: Leading through uncertain times" for the PCO Association members. When polling the group attending, I asked how they might describe their emotions today:

• Fatigued

• Fuelled (preferably energised from positive sources other than alcohol!)

• Fluctuating (up and down daily)

• Frozen (not sure which way to go - I feel stuck)

• Other

My first role out of university was as a marketing strategist for The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail. Any advertising and marketing professional during that era would be able to rattle off the importance of advertising ‘frequency’ for ensuring your message was absorbed and remembered by your target audience. And whilst the industry has well and truly evolved since the 90’s, and measurements far more sophisticated, some of the base principles still apply today to leaders of people through change and uncertainty.

I was called into an organisation last year where two of the senior leaders had a huge blow up with one another. Tensions were high. When I spoke to one of the leaders involved in the blow up, she stated very emphatically, “I’d had enough and just told them what I thought

As an executive coach I have worked with countless leaders who have scaled to senior levels, only to feel like something was missing. They can’t quite pinpoint what they really want (what they really, really want – sorry, had to throw in Spice Girls there!).

In late March I had the great privilege to facilitate a leadership immersion trip with Millie Allbon for The Hunger Project Australia and Human Kind Project to Malawi. Whilst many people think I must be over there building huts or similar popularised views of what westerners do in Africa, the leadership immersion programs are quite the opposite. We are there to learn leadership lessons from the poorest of the poor who have transformed their own lives through opportunity, rather than aid to defeat chronic hunger.

I was speaking yesterday to a group of CEOs when I was asked the question, “what about affinity bias and cultural fit? If we want to recruit or promote people who match our cultural fit then isn’t it more likely that they will be like us? Doesn’t that make diversity redundant?”

After years of reading Brené’s work and watching her speak I knew that she would not disappoint at this mornings Business Chicks breakfast in Sydney. Even more exciting though was having the opportunity to hear about her latest research into Brave Leaders and Courageous Cultures.