There is a strong undercurrent in Australian culture not to be the person that ‘dobs in’. That is, we actively discourage people from reporting illegal or dishonest behaviour. We act as though it goes against the national psyche. It is a really strange phenomenon, and stems from a culture of resisting oppression and orders from […]

There are a lot of forces at play in the office. The social element of working with people means simply being excellent at what you do is often not enough, you need to engage in the art of influence. This is really tough for some people, who either aren’t skilled, aren’t confident enough or simply […]

Have you ever witnessed someone being bullied or being spoken down to? You may see the hurt and suffering, then see that person try to regain composure and carry on with their day. It is an awful feeling. What about seeing someone steal from the office, or deceive a customer? Another common injustice that some […]

When you think about it, ‘work’ is a very strange thing to be motivated about. It requires a lot of effort, and can diminish our recreational time to about 5% of our waking lives – yet so many of us are driven by career and actually enjoy being consumed by work. So what is it […]

Last week I wrote about being a successful mentor. But what if you are looking for a mentor – how do you choose the right one? The first point is that this is not like a relationship or marriage where you need to be wonderfully compatible, or go for the long haul, long term. It’s a […]

A lot of really successful people put high value on having good mentors in their working lives. The help that a good mentor can provide will keep you on a straight path while the world is trying to pull you in other directions. But looking at the other side of the coin – how do […]

How many times have you felt like you are not being listened to? Someone stares back blankly as you try to cover an important issue, or tell a story, or explain something. It’s especially annoying when someone doesn’t make good quality eye contact with you. But how good a listener are you? What usually goes […]

There are few things more difficult in business than motivating a team of people of diverse personalities. Everyone seems to have different strengths, weaknesses, motivators and trigger points. And that’s before you consider personality clashes! The start of the year is a good time to start thinking about motivation. It’s a time when most people […]

We make a lot of decisions every day, most of them are of little consequence. But when we get stuck on a big problem it can completely take over! Trying to work out how to tackle a really tricky problem, especially one that involves other people, can be paralysing. The reason it is so tough is […]