Your leadership must be sustainable
Your leadership must be sustainable
May 13, 2026 – Too many GoC executives and managers are exhausted right now. To support them, I’ve started sharing a very helpful exercise…
Build your Executive Presence every day
April 28, 2026 – Over the last few months, I’ve worked with a few managers and new executives who got the same feedback – “You need to strengthen your executive presence”…
Don’t transform in isolation. Please.
April 22, 2026 – I’m seeing a transformation pattern with many GoC clients right now…
Leadership and taking it on the chin
April 11, 2026 – Great questions and responses in this post about a hard part of leadership….
Honoured to join the Institute on Governance!
April 8, 2026 – …and contribute to its mission for good governance and professional development across public sector teams…
Leading right now takes a toll. Take care of yourself too.
March 10, 2026 – GoC leaders are managing a lot right now: workforce adjustments, return-to-office, high expectations on government priorities, and teams that are mostly tired or discouraged…
GoC executives need to lead differently for more productivity. Especially now.
February 17, 2026 – TBS published its response to the Working Group on PS Productivity last December. I honestly can’t tell if it’s a good report…
Return to office
February 6, 2026 – Leading a change that many people don’t like is a true test of leadership – especially if you are one of them…
Everything is a priority. I’m overwhelmed and I’m afraid of choosing wrong.
February 2, 2026 – Many public servants are overwhelmed by the uncertainty about what matters most right now and if they can still show initiative…
Make the next few months boring (on purpose)
January 21, 2026 – Thousands of GoC employees and leaders are now receiving workforce adjustment notice letters. That’s a lot of anxiety landing all at once…
“You can’t get happy at getting good at something you don’t love.”
October 24, 2025 – You can’t work hard at something without passion. It’s not sustainable. A character on an old episode of Fargo reminded me of this recently…
“They’re lucky they have a job.”
August 1, 2025 – The worst, laziest leadership I saw during the 2012 workforce reduction period? It’s a colleague that said “They’re lucky they have a job”…
Every team will feel the cuts. So now what?
July 16, 2025 – In his July 7 message to public servants, the Clerk shared three key words – Focus, Simplify, Accountability. The message is clear – change is coming…
Budget Cuts – “I’ve never done this before.”
July 9, 2025 – “I’ve never done this before.” I’ve heard this from many EXs and managers over the last year or two…
Sometimes you just don’t connect with your boss.
June 17, 2025 – Sometimes, two good people just don’t fit together easily. They struggle to communicate, trust each other, get clarity or find a good rhythm…