Leadership

Co-Leadership: The Power of Plurality 

For a long time, leadership has been dominated by the myth of the lone leader. You know the type – that lofty figure standing at the top of the corporate hierarchy. Gazing wisely down on the organisation, power amassed in...
Marcus de Courtenay
Insights, Leadership

Horizontal Leadership

The role of a leader is transforming.Our ever-changing environment means that organisations are adapting to be more agile, innovative, and customer-focused. Moving to deeper levels of agility is calling on us to lead “horizontally.” The leadership of the past has...
Gretel Bakker & Marcus de Courtenay & Dr. Marianne de Pierres
Culture, Insights, Leadership, Teams

Leveraging Creative and Critical Thinking for Better Decision-Making

We hear a lot about critical thinking in the workplace and how it’s needed to exercise good judgment in solving complex problems. But what constitutes critical thinking? Is it something that we practice in isolation from other forms of intelligence?...
Dr. Marianne de Pierres & Gretel Bakker
Conscious leadership, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Insights, Leadership, Leadership skills, Storytelling

Making Decisions in the Age of AI – why we can’t outsource all our critical thinking

All the technology humans have previously created can be classed as tools that have been predictable, explainable, and, most importantly, under our control. But now, for the first time in our history, this is no longer the case. Popularised by...
Insights, Leadership

4 Cognitive Biases That Can Derail Your Critical Thinking – How to Overcome Our Kryptonite

Critical thinking is a superpower. It has allowed humans to reason rationally and rigorously to uncover some incredible insights— ultimately, changing the face of our world. But in order to unlock this superpower, we need to overcome our kryptonite: cognitive biases. Over many...
Marcus de Courtenay
Conscious leadership, Insights, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership skills, Learning and Development, Self Leadership, Storytelling

Psychological safety as a risk mitigant for psycho-social hazards

As people across human resources (and the broader employment landscape) in Australia continue to grapple with the implications of the psychosocial hazard changes to WHS law, there is a powerful correspondence with a leadership and team theory that some are...
Marcus de Courtenay
Diversity and Inclusion, Insights, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership skills, Psychological Safety, Storytelling, Teams

Radical Candour for Executives

The author of Radical Candour, Kim Scott, tells the powerful story about a time when Cheryl Sandberg gave her feedback after she made a presentation. Sandberg said it went well but gently pressed her on the fact that she said...
Marcus de Courtenay
C-suite, Conscious leadership, Executives, Feedback, Insights, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership skills, Radical candor, Storytelling

Emotional Labour and Antifragility for Leaders

There is no doubt that modern leadership is demanding. Employee expectations are increasing year on year.  And the already weighty organisational expectations are certainly not going anywhere. Leaders are called on to place the well-being and interests of their team...
Laura Clemesha & Marcus de Courtenay
Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development

Is Versatile Leadership Wise Leadership?

Leadership today is exacting. Whichever management book or article you read, the skill sets required to succeed, seem endless. Mantles such as service, adaptive, agile, transformational, horizontal, regenerative, creative, and vertical leadership are just a few of an exhausting list,...
Dr. Marianne de Pierres & Nikki Brown
Conscious leadership, Insights, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership skills, Learning and Development, Storytelling