Welcome to my blog
Accelerate your time to success
Sign up to get FREE advice, tips and strategies to achieve greater success in your career and life
Playing To Your Strengths At Work
Do you get to play to your best strengths at work? For two-thirds of us, the answer is “no” (see the last few paragraphs of the Gallup webpage). But imagine what innovation and energy we could unleash if most of us could answer “yes”. Now...
Leadership Lessons from Steve Jobs
Beyond the amazing innovations he has brought to our world, there are three lessons I have learned by observing Steve Jobs, the leader, from afar. And the good news is that these don’t require being an inventive genius to be useful.
Being Brave: Lessons from Basketball
I have been at the European National Championship Basketball tournament this week, rooting for the Great Britain Under 20s Women’s team which last year, for the first time in history, was promoted from the B League to the A League. By beating...
Being Outrageous: Teens Speak Out
My daughter and her 8th grade classmates had the courage to be outrageous last week by respectfully and successfully challenging their administrators on a point of principle. As is the tradition, teachers and students were asked to vote on which three classmates…
Being Outrageous
I have spent most of my life behaving myself. Doing the conventional and achieving success in a traditional way. Not that there is anything wrong with that. In fact, it has all turned out just fine. However, the question remains whether I would have achieved even more and/or…
It's About The Team
At today’s Varsity Sports Award ceremony at my daughters’ high school, I was heartened to see the next generation of leaders and reassured that, at least in a small corner of England, affirmative life lessons are being taught and learned. This is a sports program that is about more than simply winning. It is a…
Why Like-Mindedness Is Limiting For Leaders
We inherently like spending time with people who think like us, and maybe even act and look like us. It’s easy, comfortable and fun to be with people who understand where we are coming from and share our interests. As well, it builds our...
Two Business Lessons From An Olympic Fencing Hopeful
Fencing is a lot like business, and perhaps even life in general. I learned this yesterday at the British Youth Championships, watching my friends’ 12-year old son compete and listening to his coach (who is an Olympic hopeful for 2012) advise...
3 Ways To Harness Your Fear
Since prehistoric times, fear has proven useful to our survival, both individually and as a species. These days, however, fear more often can hold us back from enjoying the success we are meant to achieve. With most of our fears blown out of proportion or perhaps even imagined, we must learn to keep fear in check or…
Intensity
Why do some people train hard in the gym and play hard on the court, while others go through the motions? Are those hours equally well spent? Some would ask what the point is of showing up if you aren’t going to get everything you can out of it. Others would say that at least the second person bothered to go at all.
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the YouTube video link that my daughter recently forwarded to me (“we watched this in class today and I thought you might like it”). Well, it turned out to be great. So great that it is worth sharing. It is...
What To Do When Asked To Lead A Gender Initiative
Sometimes, it is not clear whether a company is referring to a women’s initiative such as forming a women’s network, or whether it is part of a broader gender balancing program aimed at balancing the ratio of men and women throughout the...
Surviving As An Analyst
Making a success of your first job as an analyst is an important career milestone. I remember looking up at the 53-story office building from the sidewalk on my first day of work. It was scary, exciting, and pretty intimidating. Twenty-four...
Gaming The Year-End Appraisal Process
You’ve worked hard all year, now it all comes down to the official assessment - the year-end appraisal. If only you could be in the room to represent yourself, if only you could be in control. For two decades, this was my refrain after getting...
Compensation: How To Get Paid What You Deserve
Compensation is a tricky topic in banking these days. It is unpopular (and many have argued even unjust) for bankers to be paid large sums given all that has gone on. On the other hand, people doing an honest day’s work cannot be expected to...
How To Make It To Managing Director – Part II
This is a continuation of my earlier article on how to make it to the top of the tree in an investment bank. As I stated previously, making Managing Director is an art, not a science. But there are some things that will help you along the way....
How To Make It To Managing Director – Part I
Making Managing Director is in part an art, and definitely not a science. There is no set formula for achieving this status, and each firm will have its own dynamics in terms of when someone becomes eligible, what it takes, and indeed what it...
What If You Get Passed Over For Managing Director Promotion?
There is no guarantee that having embarked on the journey toward “MD-ship” that one will make it. That having been said, sometimes you just have to be patient. If you are given bad news, then the key is to understand why and what it takes to...