I have heard many people around me talk about feeling emotional, tired, unfocused, unbalanced, ungrounded. Some are even skirting burn out. I don’t know where you are at. But I wanted to address that. Within this period lies a gift. But we need to know how to invite it in.

Make Time For Process

The last few months with Covid have been challenging to say the least. At best stressful. At worst traumatic. We have been dealing with its physical and economic effects. Now it’s time to address its psychological effects.

Our body waits until an extreme stress or traumatic event is over to process it. So you might think that the mental impact would have come during lockdown. But actually our system will wait until the end of lockdown to process it properly. So it is important to watch out for the signs of that.

Signs can take different forms. Feeling emotional and not really knowing why. Feeling intensely angry or sad. Feeling exhausted and having no motivation. Difficulty...

I was asked recently what a next generation leader was. So here goes...

I believe that we are at a pivotal moment in human history. That we are being called to upgrade our operating system on the planet. My big vision is that we finally find the courage to make the shift to a sustainable world where we all flourish.

Next Generation Leaders are the ones who will lead us there.  

Voicing The Gap

How this idea started is that I realised how ill equipped traditional leaders are for this.

My background is in leadership and career development. A few years back I toyed with the idea of abandoning leadership development. I could feel the gap between my version of leadership and what companies were wanting. In parallel, I was experiencing this intense frustration (ok let’s call it what it was... a mixture of anger and powerlessness) at how leaders were showing up and what they were creating out in the world.

I was then luckily asked to support a department of change makers...

We have known for a while that our operating model on the planet is not fit for purpose. Deep down we knew that a system upgrade would come. What if this is the reset point we have been waiting for?

The work that I do centers around pivotal moments. Those times when you question your life and how you have been living it. When you feel called to review the blueprint of what you have created. When you yearn for a profound shift to something more fulfilling, meaningful and impactful.

At a pivotal moment you realise that you have got off track. That you have lost yourself in the chase for external success. It is a bit like a faulty software gone mad. You think it is serving you, and then you suddenly realise it isn’t getting you what you need at all.

The antidote is realigning to your potential, purpose and leadership. To your original operating blueprint. A bit like pressing reset on your computer.

I have been wondering recently ... What if this is a pivotal moment for...

Einstein said that we can’t solve a problem by using the same level of consciousness that created it. I hear people ask: ’Are we just going to go back to normal. I am not sure I want to. So what do we do now?’

For a new level of consciousness to emerge in the world now, we need leaders who will inspire to new possibilities. To change the ways we treat ourselves, each other and the planet, we need leaders to create a new operating model. To build a more caring and sustainable world, we need leaders who will show us what that looks like.

So Where Are These New Leaders?

These new potential leaders exist but they aren’t showing up. Often they don’t see themselves as leaders. They wait for the cavalry made up of other people to come. Forgetting what is for them to do. Lulled into the false sense of security of the comfort zone, they lose the sense of urgency of our times. One day they think...

Or as we were discussing in one of our Academy calls recently,...

How are you doing? Like really...

Here, and talking to clients, there are good days and bad days...

Today the clouds are just hanging out on the mountains - like fluffy cotton hugs cajoling the peaks. The misty cover comes and goes. One minute you see clearly, the next all is invisible.

As I watch, I am pondering what comes next?

This sentence keeps playing in my mind: ‘The future is not what is going to happen, but what we make it.’

At the beginning of the year it all seemed so clear. I started the year with a real high - being invited to speak at the House of Switzerland during Davos 2020. I talked about what it really takes to become a next generation leader - the Visionary, the Disruptor, the Change Maker who will create the sustainable world of tomorrow where we all flourish.  And the steps that all of us can take to become that kind of leader.   

Emerging Into New Vision

Now it’s a bit like those peaks and those clouds. Vision was hidden...

I am loosing the count of days... 10, 20 ...I think it is 20 days since I have been self-isolating. I still remember my last ski run.

So much has changed in that time. I wake up every morning, smile thinking I am waking up to my old life. I used to love my old life - I had spent years optimising both life and work. And then I remember that I am doing something else right now. That we are all doing something else right now.

So how are you all doing? Where are you all at? How are your loved ones? How are you all adapting to all of this?

Recently someone ended their email to me by saying ‘rest well during this period’. I was puzzled at the different experiences we must be having(!) I haven’t quite got to the rest point...  It's been long days... none of it paid work... simply following what I know I must do...

I have spent the last two weeks on the phone, from 8.00am until 1.00am - on any of helping people pivot their business, supporting some to get their...

• What have the main themes been for you this year?  

• What were the pivotal moments that...