brian donovan

How standing for something helped deal with a crisis

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When a major IT system fell over, the CIO, Graham experienced the single most high-pressure period of his career. Customers were angry, and it exposed the business to major reputational risk.

He had to resist the temptation to take over and pretend to have all the answers. He recognised his role was not to be a technical expert. Rather, he was the agent of hope, conveying the message, “We are going to get through this.” That meant he delegated and let the experts work through the issues without breathing down their necks.… Read more

How to identify your accomplishments and gain fulfilment

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Do you focus on what you have NOT done?

Perhaps you are caught up in a never ending to-do list? You may not take the time to reflect on your achievements. A valuable question to ask is, “What are you most proud of having accomplished?” 

You will have many things on your list of accomplishments. But there could be one highlight.

My client Karen was proud of reinventing her problem-solving strength.

She invested in her own development this year and in doing so, has taken her leadership to a new level.… Read more

Your mindset is the one thing you can control

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One thing you can control in an uncertain world is your mindset.

I saw the power of mindset during the 2008 global financial crisis. We were all hearing stories of gloom and doom at that time. Based on the news reports, we were all going down the toilet. I could not believe that leaders would just throw up their hands in horror. I interviewed many senior leaders in a Big Kahuna Leadership Survey to see what they were thinking about the dire situation we faced. … Read more

Why leaders need free time for deep thinking

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My client Robert was busy going nowhere.

He was drowning in a sea of emails, back-to-back meetings, performance reports and people problems. It seemed like everything was coming at him. He was just surviving the onslaught. If he kept going at this pace, he would burn out. He also had to find time to think about the strategic issues the business faced or they would show him the door.

Something had to give, so he allocated one day a week for thinking time.… Read more

Align the team to produce powerful results

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When my client Graham took on his new leadership role, it seemed obvious to him the business was in decline. He spent the first few months discovering how people viewed the viability of the organisation. He asked them what they saw as the predictable future if nothing changed. People said the organisation would limp along for another few years. But they had not confronted the inevitable demise of the business and the impact on them.

Graham helped them face the grim reality of the predictable future.… Read more