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Empowerment is easy when things are going well. It's when pressure mounts - priorities compete, resources struggle, customer escalations land, budgets are threatened - that our empowerment intentions are tested. And under pressure, our instincts quietly work against us. And dis-empowerment creeps in. The science is clear. When stress hits, our brain narrows. The thinking part that considers carefully options and trusts others quietens, the faster part which craves certaint

You worked hard to get here. You delivered results when it counted. You solved the problems others walked past. You built trust with your stakeholders and you earned your place at the table. And now you’re leading a team, maybe an entire organisation, and somewhere along the way, the rules quietly changed. The technical skills that made you stand out. The drive that earned you every promotion. The self-reliance that said I can figure this out alone. These qualities are still

I finished the New York Marathon on a torn calf muscle, slowly and in agony, because I didn't want my kids to watch their mother give up. That's not where my business journey starts. But it's where I understood what it was for. Recently I was invited to share my business journey, the highs, the lows, and what I've learnt along the way. So let me go back to the beginning. The person I was becoming started early My childhood, teens and twenties were rough. My father and two co

The context. When you operate in an extremely competitive sector - becoming more transactional by the minute - flexibility and adaptability were never optional. They were survival, and the only path to growth. You might assume that working for a large global brand would offer insulation from fierce competition and rapidly changing economic conditions, but that wasn’t always the case particularly if HQ views slow-growing geographies as a drain on resources, preferring to inves

Leaders are so focused on delivering and steering their divisions and teams that we may underestimate some of the less obvious impacts. I'd like to invite reflection on a few. Let’s start with silence . Do we truly understand the cost of silence? I know we don’t necessarily embrace whinging or complaining, and often in these scenarios our hands may be tied, or there isn't much that can be done due to regulations and governance, or we'd just prefer people bring possibilitie

I Chasing the Norther Lights, Norway January 2026. I've been quiet lately, intentionally. Not only did I limit social time in 2025, but for the first time in 7+ years we had a month long family holiday. It was designed as a bucket list trip as I knew it most likely would be the last family holiday given we now live with an 18 and 23 yro who we’ve encouraged to venture out into the world. So we did it all - White Christmas, Christmas markets, top of Europe, Matterhorn, NYE on

Have you found yourself feeling a bit... 🤔 flat, stressed, challenged, or possibly even burnt out? 🔥 If so, you’re not alone. We all...