Make the next few months boring (on purpose)
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…
Getting a notice letter isn’t the end of your leadership.
January 14, 2026 – The next few months in the GoC will be quite uncomfortable: Many executives must still lead after learning they could also be laid off…
Leading right now isn’t about certainty. It’s about steadiness.
January 9, 2026 – Across most of the GoC, workforce reduction decisions are still unknown, fatigue is high despite the holidays, and year-end pressure is building…
“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…
Great article by HBR about the need to continue investing in senior leaders’ development
October 2, 2025 – But I think the slow down in learning starts lower down – at the DG and director levels….
Last week, I hosted a 400-person webinar on how to lead when you’re not yet in a leadership role.
September 30, 2025 – My message was simple: Leadership isn’t about titles….
“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”…
Yes, there are cuts. Don’t stop managing.
July 24, 2025 – When budgets are cut, the instinct in Government is often to stop things like talent management, performance feedback…
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…
Take a step back. Especially when everything is a “crisis”.
June 30, 2025 – Taking a step back when it matters most sounds wrong at first. But I think professional detachment is an overlooked leadership skill…
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…
“Why even bother being an EX?”
June 9, 2025 – I’m seeing a lot of stress on social media by GoC managers and executives and it’s worrying me. Too many doubt the value of leading and feel hopeless…