Too many leaders sidestep the tough conversations that actually create performance. In this Moment, Marty unpacks why avoiding feedback isn’t a strategy - it’s a ceiling. Want the full story? Listen to Ep.6: The Psychology of Feedback . ———————— 🔥 2,000+ No Bullsh!t Leaders Are Inside… You In? 🔥 Join our free Skool community for real leaders with no egos. 👥 High-calibre connections. 🎧 Weekly Podcast Club prompts. 📢 Unfiltered convos that shape the podcast content. You’re in the trenches, so...
Aug 03, 2025•4 min
Tired, cynical, or stuck? Learn 4 tools to beat creeping frustration at work. Have you ever been in a situation where you just get worn down? Where all of the little things just seem to add up? This is what I call creeping frustration …things that, by themselves, are hardly worth mentioning…but they add up over time to create a drag on your capacity, mood, and effectiveness. It’s the proverbial death by 1,000 cuts. In this episode, I show you how to become more aware of the creeping frustrations...
Jul 29, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 361
Have you ever thought of quantifying how well your team is performing? You probably should, because so much of it is down to you, and how you lead. The Value Delivery Rating is a useful guide. It’s simply the product of effectiveness and efficiency , and it shows you how much performance upside is yet to be captured. If you want to go deeper into how you can supercharge your team’s performance, have a listen to Ep.340: Driving a High-Impact Value Focus . ———————— 🔥 2,000+ No Bullsh!t Leaders Ar...
Jul 27, 2025•3 min
Astronomer CEO on Coldplay Kisscam: A leadership lesson in trust, power & judgment. Social media platforms have been full of schadenfreude (read: pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune), as the relationship between two company executives was inadvertently revealed for the world to see on the Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert. We shouldn’t fall into the trap of making moral judgments. Everyone has to make their own choices about how they live their lives, and then accept t...
Jul 22, 2025•18 min•Season 1Ep. 360
You’re not responsible for everyone’s success. Here’s what you are responsible for. As leaders, we often feel as though it’s our obligation to make sure that everyone on our team is happy, motivated, and succeeding. As much as that would be nice, it is also incredibly unrealistic. The notion that you can make everyone successful is somewhat ridiculous, given the myriad human conditions you’ll come across in the teams you lead. What should your people reasonably expect from you, and what do they ...
Jul 20, 2025•6 min
How to handle pay reviews, bonuses, talent retention, and asking for a raise. Last week, we released a bumper episode on remuneration — Ep.358: How to Pay People Properly . How do remuneration packages work? What’s involved in the different types of incentive payments? How is each pay component evaluated? Having built the foundations, in this episode I take it to the next level by walking through 5 practical scenarios that you’re likely to face as a leader when you’re making decisions about peop...
Jul 15, 2025•23 min•Season 1Ep. 359
Ambition isn’t bad - here’s how to harness it without burning out. There are plenty of people who will tell you that ambition is inherently bad. But without ambition there would be no innovation, no invention, and no progress. So don’t be misled by people who tell you that ambition is bad or undesirable. The trick is to learn how to manage your ambition so that it becomes a source of infinite good for you, and for those around you. If you want to go deeper on how to manage your ambition in a hea...
Jul 13, 2025•5 min
The biggest cost item on most P&Ls is labour. You’ll probably spend more money this year paying people than you will on any other operating expense. But do you know what you’re paying for ? And do you know how to get the most from this major investment of your company’s resources? We’ve had several questions from the leaders in our current cohort of Leadership Beyond the Theory on the relationship between remuneration, motivation, and performance. That’s why, in this episode, I’m going to gi...
Jul 08, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 358
Is servant leadership helping - or hurting - your team’s performance? Here’s the truth. The concept of servant leadership isn’t new. It departs from traditional leadership models by shifting the focus from the organisation to the people who work for it. But is this a good idea? Can your team still perform at its peak if you divest the accountability of your position? Or is this noble sounding theory more likely to lull you into a false sense of security, which ultimately damages your team’s abil...
Jul 06, 2025•5 min
Can you really trust business research? 3 tips to sort facts from flashy findings. We have a deep fascination with the research that’s pumped out of the world’s top business schools. But are the findings as bankable as we’re led to believe? The number of academic research papers that have been retracted due to faulty or manipulated data has blown out massively over the last several years. More than ever, you have to be careful what you believe. The trick, though, is not to throw the baby out wit...
Jul 01, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 367
Moment #127 It’s easy to fall into the trap of “ do as I say, not as I do ”, which is why it's important to be aware of any mixed messages you might be sending. Your people watch your feet, not your lips! They see every little inconsistency between your words and your actions, so self-awareness is everything. If you want to go deeper on how to be congruent, not hypocritical, have a listen to Ep.191: Are You a Hypocritical Leader? . ———————— 🔥 2,000+ No Bullsh!t Leaders Are Inside… You In? 🔥 Jo...
Jun 29, 2025•4 min
One of the tensions you’ll feel as a leader is the constant trade-off between high-minded aspirations and practical outcomes. When you’re faced with any sort of ethical dilemma, it’s important to remain grounded, and this requires a deep understanding of the driving forces behind corporate decisions. This episode is about maintaining your perspective… ensuring you behave in a way that’s consistent with your values, even though you may be asked to do some things that challenge your personal belie...
Jun 24, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 356
Moment #126 There are a few difficult truths that may be crucial in your quest for leadership success. There’s no doubt in my mind that these principles are rock solid. They’re like gravity… they operate the same way on all of us, whether we believe in them or not! In this Moment, I take a brief look at these 12 truths… if you find yourself having an adverse reaction to any of them, it might be a sign that you need to go a little deeper. If you want to go deeper on the capabilities that really m...
Jun 22, 2025•6 min
When we started the No Bullsh!t Leadership podcast in 2018, one of our first episodes focused on how to build a High Performing Team . Part mythbuster, part rallying cry for strong leadership, I outlined the essential characteristics that are common to all great teams. I also identified some attributes that are often said to enhance team performance, even though they do nothing of the sort. After spending the last seven years interacting with thousands of leaders in pretty much every industry, a...
Jun 17, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 355
Moment #125 When it comes to business, your raw intelligence doesn’t necessarily guarantee superior performance. There’s a massive difference between being a great leader, and being a smart executive. Unfortunately, I haven’t met many great leaders. The higher up you go, the more you rely on others for your success – so you’d better work out how to get the most out of them! Don’t let over-reliance on your intellect become a drag on team performance. If you want to go deeper on the capabilities t...
Jun 15, 2025•4 min
Most leadership advice assumes you’ve got support and alignment, but what if your boss won’t back you, your peers are undercutting you, and politics matter more than performance? You don’t have to wait for the system to change. When you learn to lead anyway, you’re the one who gets noticed, trusted, and promoted. In this episode you’ll learn: The 10 boss archetypes that destroy careers – and the specific tactics to handle each one without getting fired or labeled “difficult” The one escalation t...
Jun 10, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 354
Episode #124 // Career progression is a contact sport. If you want to be at the top of your game (and if you want to be in the tent when the promotion circus comes to town), it’s critical to build the 10 ingredients of promotability into your leadership repertoire. If you want to go deeper on how to improve your chances of picking up your next big role, have a listen to Ep.289: Improving Your Promotion Prospects . ———————— 🔥 2,000+ No Bullsh!t Leaders Are Inside… You In? 🔥 Join our free Skool ...
Jun 08, 2025•5 min
Over the last several years, Em has had countless conversations with the leaders in our global community. One of the trends she’s recognised lately is the breaking point that many leaders reach as they get promoted to more senior roles. Many natural leaders have the ability to wing it… at least for a while. But eventually, they realise that it takes more than good instincts to lead confidently. In this Q&A episode, we explore some of the most compelling questions from these conversations: Wh...
Jun 03, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 353
Moment #123 // When it comes to any company’s operations, leaders tend to focus purely on the technical and process elements of performance. But the technical barriers that confront you are dwarfed by the organisational barriers that exist in your people and culture. How do you get your people to step up for the good of the business? If you want to take a deeper dive into how to make your operations really hum, have a listen to Ep.247: Achieving Operational Excellence . ———————— 🔥 2,000+ No Bul...
Jun 01, 2025•4 min
We hear a lot these days about personal branding, and there’s an expert for every occasion promising to guide us through the leadership branding maze. Is our “brand” important in helping us to realise our career aspirations? Probably… But there’s a dangerous misconception that you can construct an external image of desirable behaviours and values, without actually possessing them. That approach is doomed to failure. In this episode, I give you a clear, practical approach to reinventing your bran...
May 27, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 352
Moment #122 // Some of the most important success principles are counterintuitive. It’s in our nature to look for easy answers to the things that challenge us. The fact is, though, there aren’t any silver bullets. In this Moment, I look at one of the most powerful counterintuitive truths, which every leader faces at some point. If you want to take a deeper dive into how to build a mindset for leadership success, have a listen to Ep.130: Counterintuitive Truths . ———————— 🔥 1,800+ Leaders Are Al...
May 25, 2025•4 min
I came across a great quote recently, thanks to one of the leaders in our inner circle, Natasha Read . It was a quote from Maria Montessori , who devised the Montessori method of teaching. The method focuses on the development of a child's inherent initiative and ability, allowing them to develop at their own pace. It emphasises growth through independence and experimentation. The quote is a blinder… “ Everything you do for me, you take from me! ” It hit me like a pie in the face: I immediately ...
May 20, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 351
Moment #120 // Humour can vastly improve team dynamics and culture, by breaking through tension and giving people a laugh. But organisations have become pretty stiff over the last 10 years, and the part that humour plays seems to have greatly diminished. In this moment, we look at what forms of humour are likely to be OK, and what might cross a red line at work. If you want to take a deeper dive into how to bring some comic relief to your team, have a listen to Ep.145: Humour is Underrated . ———...
May 18, 2025•5 min
Fewer, Better People. What a great mantra! The meaning is crystal clear and, what’s more, there’s absolutely zero fat on it - no corporate speak, no flowery adjectives! It’s one of those expressions that can apply to any business, in any industry, in any geography…it sounds blindingly obvious as soon as you hear it, doesn't it!? But that’s what makes it so incredibly powerful. It’s clear, and it’s obvious…and it’s incredibly difficult to achieve! In this episode, I deconstruct these three simple...
May 13, 2025•18 min•Season 1Ep. 350
Moment #120 // It’s almost guaranteed that when you take over a new team, it’s going to be a little dysfunctional. Sometimes, the team you inherit is completely broken, and you’re left with the unenviable task of repairing it. Fixing a broken team takes relentless commitment, but there are a few things you can do to greatly improve your chances of success. If you want to take a deeper dive into how to repair a team that's fallen into disrepair and neglect, have a listen to Ep.105: Steadying the ...
May 11, 2025•6 min
Psychological safety is a critical part of a high-performance culture. Unless people feel comfortable contributing their ideas and challenging the vocal majority, the team will easily slip into the complacency of groupthink. But psychological safety is often misunderstood, which is why we produced this mythbuster episode to debunk some of the commonly held misconceptions. I talk, from two different perspectives, about how the term ‘psychological safety’ has been misappropriated: first from my ow...
May 06, 2025•17 min•Season 1Ep. 349
Moment #119 // There’s been an increasing trend over the last several years for high profile leaders to come out in support of social issues. Many CEOs have crossed the line, using the company’s brand as a platform to demonstrate their personal virtue, or to support a cause that they believe in. Is it appropriate for leaders to use their professional platform to grandstand on social issues, even though they know it will disenfranchise a large number of their stakeholders? If you want to go deepe...
May 04, 2025•4 min
Fear of feedback...it's one of the biggest barriers that holds leaders back from reaching their potential. Even some of the smartest, most talented leaders struggle when it comes to delivering honest, direct feedback…and the fallout is huge. Teams underperform. Culture weakens. Leaders lose confidence. The truth is, overcoming your fear of feedback isn’t about learning a new skill. It’s about building the will to have the tough conversations, and realising that avoiding them will only make thing...
Apr 29, 2025•48 min•Season 1Ep. 348
Moment #118 // Politics is so ingrained in human nature that it can be really hard to identify and neutralize… Political animals are everywhere. Identifying them, and proactively countering their silent attacks is a leadership challenge that gets more difficult the higher up you go. If you want to lead at your peak, and deliver superior performance by focusing on the things that truly matter, you have to make sure you aren’t blindsided by political animals. If you want to take a deeper dive into...
Apr 27, 2025•4 min
Keeping people happy…it seems to be a constant focus for leaders at all levels, and it spawns all sorts of cultural ills. But the worst part is that, for all the time, money and energy that goes into trying to crack that nut, most leaders miss the mark… to be honest, the vast majority of leaders aren’t even aiming at the right target. You could work tirelessly, every day for the rest of your career, to try to exceed your people’s expectations… and not even move the needle. One of the main reason...
Apr 22, 2025•20 min•Season 1Ep. 347
