Episode #281 // “ If you focus on trying to make your people happy instead of providing the opportunity for them to develop their self-esteem, you're missing the point. ” Team morale is built through proactive commitment and focus. It doesn’t just happen. One of the great misconceptions of leadership is that, if you make people happy, they will perform better and team morale will be high. Although this is possible in theory, it is highly unlikely to happen in practice. One of our listeners...
Jan 16, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 281
Moment #51// We’ve all sat in meeting rooms where we’ve been subjected to death by PowerPoint. For every leader, the ability to present information in a compelling, interesting way is your basic table stakes: it should be a vital element of your core leadership competencies. The good news is, it’s never been easier to put together a great presentation to get your point across. These days, there’s no excuse for a poor presentation, so I want to share some basic tips, to help you reduce your likel...
Jan 14, 2024•6 min
Episode #280 // “ The productivity decline isn’t just a flash in the pan: it’s a structural reset that we're all going to have to grapple with in the coming year. ” At the end of each year, I spend time analyzing a variety of sources to come up with a view on the range of possible outcomes for the year ahead—across business, politics, and society in general. Without trying to make any fearless predictions, I like to have some sense of how the world is trending: trend is your friend! Using source...
Jan 09, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 280
Moment #50 // Many young leaders who have to manage older, more experienced workers find the whole process quite intimidating. Equally, older leaders who may have gotten by in their careers using a more directive leadership style, are confounded by their inability to lead millennials to do what they want them to do! If you’re a leader, you may have workers from four different generations in your team… from Baby Boomers, all the way through to Gen Z. Although each of these generations has definin...
Jan 07, 2024•5 min
Episode #279 // “ Most of us are highly rational leaders, and our instinct is to make the long-term planning process a purely intellectual exercise. But when it's done really well, it's much more than this — they have to protect their position, their image, and their identity” Do you want to start the New Year off on the right foot? Forget the New Year’s resolutions… they rarely breed long-term success. A better alternative is to spend an hour or two taking on our free Crush Your Career Challeng...
Jan 02, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 279
Moment #49 // There are two types of people in the world: lifters and leaners . Lifters carry the burden for themselves and others… they take on more accountability than the average person, and they don’t rely on anyone else to make things happen. And leaners? Well they’re happy to let the lifters do the work! Anyone who’s genuinely successful (and I’m not simply talking about people with power, status, and money) is a lifter ! From the earliest available opportunity, you need to a...
Dec 31, 2023•5 min
Episode #278 // We’ve been producing this podcast now for over five years and, as we traditionally do at this time of year, Em and I are taking a look back on the year of podcast content. We’ve picked out our favorite episodes for you to go back and listen to while you’re enjoying some downtime in the New Year. We’ve had another cracking year at Your CEO Mentor : one where our global reach continues to grow! I’ve been living in the US now for over 2 years… Em’s daughter, Florence, is now walking...
Dec 26, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 278
Moment #48 // One of the things that characterizes a high-performing team is the ability to withstand and harness the value that lies in healthy disagreement. In this moment, I look at the example of a failed company that demanded their employees needed to be loyal, above all else. In my book, loyalty means fearlessly telling the truth to the people above you, no matter what. But to them, it meant bowing to their authority and not challenging them in any way… particularly if they had bad o...
Dec 24, 2023•4 min
Episode #277 // The end of year is a time of renewal. We all instinctively take the opportunity to reflect on the year just gone, and reset our expectations for the year ahead. In this episode, Em and I do something we’ve never done before… we pull the curtain back on our business, Your CEO Mentor , and give you a window into our 2023 scorecard. How did we do? What were the things we focused on that didn’t actually pan out the way we expected? Which things went really well? We talk t...
Dec 19, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 277
Moment #47 // There are literally thousands of articles and posts written every week about the attributes of great leaders. Humility , Transparency , Fallibility, Integrity . Although it’s fun and interesting to muse on these attributes, they lack any real clarity. If you actually decided that you wanted to take action to develop one of these attributes, where would you start? What habits and disciplines would you need to develop? Rather than debating the merits of leadership attribu...
Dec 17, 2023•5 min
Episode #276 // One of the biggest barriers to change, in any area of your life, is your own awareness of the size of the gap —that gap between your current state and your desired state. And I’m no different to anyone else! I’ve struggled with this principle over the years in a number of different areas… When I stacked on a few pounds after a running injury, I knew how much work it would take to get back to racing weight… and that became a barrier to starting my recovery process. Of...
Dec 12, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 276
Moment #46 // As you transition through to more senior leadership roles, you’ll realize that you can’t continue to compensate for your people when they don’t deliver the results you want. You have to do your job, not their job. There are all sorts of repercussions to dipping down, and not working at the right level. Like, not focusing on your own job; like, diluting the accountability model; like, robbing your people of the chance to grow. Doing your own job positions you to lead your people to ...
Dec 10, 2023•5 min
Episode #275 // One of the most common questions I field from our leadership community is, “ Marty, how much time should I give someone when they’re not performing, before I make the decision to let them go? ” Like most questions in business, the answer is, “ It depends ”. Your job, as a leader, is to work out what it depends upon , and to position yourself to make a decisive judgment call in any situation. In this episode, I take a look at the example of the Haas F1 Racing Team , and its...
Dec 05, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 275
Moment #45 // With the sustained, relentless pressure of performing as a leader in today’s business world, combined with the expectation that you’ll also perform in every other area of your life, it’s incredibly easy to burn out. That’s why it’s so important to have long-term strategies that make your life sustainable: strategies that, even when you hit the peaks of pressure that ebb and flow, you know how to manage your way through it. You can take a deeper dive into these insights by listening...
Dec 03, 2023•5 min
Episode #274 // Since releasing our new self-paced short course, Landing Your Dream Job , we’ve had a stream of questions from our leadership community about whether or not the course is applicable to them. In this week's episode, Em joins me as we answer two of the most commonly asked questions, which deal with key aspects of the job search process: “ How do I network and utilize my mentors most effectively? ” and; “ How can I determine which role is best for me? ” Your long-term career future ...
Nov 28, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 274
Moment #44 // If you’re in it for yourself, your people will never be in it for you. Ever. Self-seeking leaders can’t bring out the best in their people, because it’s almost impossible to rally them to a higher purpose. One of the keys to unlocking your people’s discretionary effort, and stretching them to perform at the next level, is that you have to subordinate short-term considerations for the greater good. You can take a deeper dive into these insights by listening to Ep.29: Win...
Nov 26, 2023•5 min
Episode #273 // In order to convey the No Bullsh!t Leadership principles concisely, I explain them in quite categorical terms—it has to be that way so that you can understand the principles sufficiently well to implement them. But, as with everything in life, nothing is just black or white… there are exceptions, there are judgment calls, and there are 1,000 annoying shades of gray! A CEO who I’m quite close to recently challenged my mantra of friendly, not friends , and I realized that, while I ...
Nov 21, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 273
Moment #43 // We generally talk about stress like it's a bad thing. Putting people under stress is something that many leaders try to avoid. Why? Because, if you put people under stress, then maybe they won't like you anymore. Instead, we choose to lean into our well-developed power of rationalization, and do everything we can to give ourselves a reason to not ask our people to stretch. But, unfortunately, stress is a prerequisite for high performance… You can take a deeper div...
Nov 19, 2023•5 min
Episode #272 // According to LinkedIn , 70% of the global workforce isn't actively job searching, but 87% are open to new opportunities. This reflects a universal truth in the professional world – many are passively open to new job opportunities, yet they rarely actively pursue them. It's a common trap that we see even the most ambitious leaders fall into: passively waiting, relying on people in their existing networks to approach them, or counting on that internal promotion that's 'just around ...
Nov 14, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 272
Moment #42 // Have you ever questioned your boss about a particular task, and at the end of a brief exchange, he simply says: “Look, just do it, OK?” Although I’m sure no one sets out to become a Nike boss, sometimes it’s simply the product of a leader being overworked… or not having sufficient information about why something needs to be done… or because explaining would be difficult and time-consuming… or because it may potentially put them in a situation of escalating conflict. Nike boss...
Nov 12, 2023•5 min
Episode #271 // In today’s evolving world of business, there’s an ever-increasing focus on employee wellness. Mental health, which was a taboo subject until fairly recently, now has to be front-of-mind for every leader. A leader’s duty of care for their people used to be confined to the workplace. Now, there’s an increasingly broad interpretation of a leader’s obligations to look after their people, which is much more holistic, and reaches well beyond the boundaries of the workplace. And still, ...
Nov 07, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 271
Moment #41 // It can be a little daunting to take on a new role, especially when it's at a higher level than the roles you've previously held. Whether you’ve been promoted internally, or appointed from outside the company, you need to set strong expectations right from the get go. It's really important to stamp your mark on a new role early. People need to know what to expect from you… and the more clarity you can give them, the better. You can take a deeper dive into these insights ...
Nov 05, 2023•5 min
Episode #270 // Innovation is key to sustained performance. Whether we look at it from a company perspective, or at the level of countries and global economies, innovation fuels productivity and growth. We’ve seen this over and over throughout the centuries, where a technological or scientific breakthrough has driven new levels of prosperity that were previously unimagined. We now live in the most affluent times in human history. Our life expectancy and our standard of living is mass...
Oct 31, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 270
Moment #40 // Simplicity goes hand-in-hand with focus. We all try to do too much, for all the right reasons, and with the best intent. But, more often than not, this is incredibly counter-productive. As a leader, value, performance, and forward momentum all rely on having a crystal clear focus on the right things. But this is hard to achieve, because perfectionism hides in complexity. Even though The Pursuit of Perfection sounds noble, more often than not it’s simply masking the fear of ge...
Oct 29, 2023•5 min
Episode #269 // One of the positive (and virtually inevitable) outcomes of improving your leadership confidence and capability is that your opportunities for promotion start to come thick and fast. And there’s a reason for this: as your leadership skill improves, so do the results that your teams achieve. But when you've already achieved best-in-class performance, you’re expected to know what you're doing in any given situation. The people who promote you assume that you'll continue to be largel...
Oct 24, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 269
Moment #39 // Formal education is important to establish a baseline for your career. It’s like buying a ticket to the dance. But management and leadership education comes later in your career, and it’s often valued very differently, depending on where you live. In Australia, an MBA is entirely optional… in the US, it’s essential if you’re serious about progressing to the heights of corporate America. No matter where you live, though, education in all its forms is there to support you...
Oct 22, 2023•5 min
Episode #268 // We know that every individual is unique, and despite all the conventional wisdom about how to motivate people, everyone is completely different in regard to what drives them. In my experience, you never really know what’s going to switch the lights on for someone. You just have to keep trying, over and over, to reach every single person. This means you have to use different (sometimes novel) techniques, and varying levels of pressure. When you see a breakthrough, it...
Oct 17, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 268
Moment #38 // Is the virtually limitless supply of cheap, instantaneously-accessible information making it easier for us to make decisions? And are those decisions any better than the ones we made 20 years ago? Malcolm Gladwell says, “ We clutter our decision-making process with extraneous information in the hope that it makes us better off in the end. It's a fool's game .” This moment reminds us to focus on what's most important . Too much information just makes it harder for us to process the ...
Oct 15, 2023•7 min
Episode #267 // Every so often, we produce an episode of No Bullsh!t Leadership that challenges conventional leadership wisdom. I call them my ' myth buster' episodes, and in the past, I’ve taken on some of the most widely accepted axioms: Are happy workers really productive workers? Why is leading from the front a bad idea? Why do consensus-based decisions deliver inferior outcomes? Why is imposter syndrome good for you? Challenging conventional wisdom is tricky, because there’s always at...
Oct 10, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 267
Moment #37 // There's no doubt that systemic bias exists in hiring - but sometimes, even with the best intentions, it's really difficult to improve diversity. Quite often, you’re simply dealing with a shallow pool of talent. Entrenched beliefs and attitudes at lower levels of an organization act as a barrier to progress - not just for women, but for any minority group that's not the typical appointee. The homogenous, safe candidate is effectively ‘green lit’ all the way through the p...
Oct 08, 2023•4 min
