Leadership is often just about having the right conversations about the right stuff...

• If all you do is talk about and measure finances then that's all employees will measure their role and commitment on
• If you want to create sustainable loyalty from employees then talk about helping them realise their own core purpose and vision rather than just salary
• There'll always be another prepared to pay more, so change the conversation to something you can sustain
• being an employer of choice isn't only about salary, it's about self actualisation of the employee

Whole Brand Energy - how to create a high performance culture and true brand equity

Great leadership, innovation, a high performance culture and true brand equity are almost universal goals of any organisation. Yet, almost every organisation has a piecemeal approach to achieving these four core objectives. Often leadership programs exist alongside cultural change programs which in turn exist alongside Innovation drives and whatever marketing plan is currently being implemented.

Currently brand is separately developed by the marketing team and signed off by the organisational leaders. Brand is viewed as autonomous to the people, but paradoxically representative of the people in the organisation. An organisation is simply the sum of all the people that form it and the resulting products or services they emit. If an organisation is it's people, how then can a brand be separate to the organisation's culture? It cannot. The brand is the people and the people are the culture and the culture produces the products and services. It therefore follows that the whole energy of the people is the whole energy of the brand. Further more, if you neglect the whole energy of the people, you neglect the whole energy of the brand and consequently undermine the profitability and equity of the organisation.

Imagine there was a strategy that not only unified the four objectives of great leadership, innovation, a high performance culture and true brand equity, but also created a platform on which these four success principles became self sufficient and perpetually developing. There is, and it's called Whole Brand Energy. By considering the energy of the individual employees and investing in them, you are enhancing the Whole Brand Energy of your business.

Whole Brand Energy is a unifying architecture that forms the basis of an organisation that is not only culturally enlightened, but monstrously profitable. This Whole Brand Energy strategy gives real meaning and quantifiable depth to human resource and marketing buzz words like ‘employer of choice’, ‘brand equity’, 'life balance’ and ‘talent management’. Whole Brand Energy strategy is a method of moving companies into the most profitable and happy state they had ever experienced.

Whole Brand Energy encompasses both internal and external communication to ensure brand postioning and stakeholder emotional responses and behaviours to the brand are aligned. Where stakeholders include all employees, owners, customers and anyone interacting with the brand. 

Whole Brand Energy determines and is determined by the consistency of the leadership, prevailing culture, product integrity, service integrity, stakeholder value, brand concept and brand positioning of an organisation. The ideal state for any organisation is the complete alignment and integration of all the determinants of Whole Brand Energy which creates a dominating market leader in product, services, human resources, talent management, leadership and social contribution.

By ignoring the concrete link between individual and organisational values, principles and core purpose which drives an individual's energy, and instead focusing resources on cosmetic changes to product features, services, systems and technologies many organisations are throwing their capital and brand equity away. Before the organisation can exist, it depends on a community of people forming, and if the basis of this formation is simply desperation for a salary, fear of marginalization or any other fear, then the result is defunct Whole Brand Energy. 

Defunct Whole Brand Energy translates to minimal or non-existent brand equity, low employee retention, cyclical corporate restructuring, tenuous and highly fragile revenue and expense control and a culture typified by fear, deceitful politics and bullying.

By embracing the link between individual and organisational values, principles and core purpose the organisation achieves greatness. By focusing resources on Whole Brand Energy an organisation can simply, efficiently and effectively create a community based on customer value, employee value, community value as well as internal and external market leadership. 

Clearly there is no substitute for Whole Brand Energy, nor is there any other method to achieve organisational greatness, yet most organisational leaders ignore this proven path to success and happiness. Without a commitment to Whole Brand Energy, organisations find themselves randomly engaging management consultants, new age marketers, performance and talent managers, business consultants, technical consultants, business coaches and even life coaches or new age practitioners. Whilst as a discrete tactics these alternate engagements may have specialised application, there is no way to expand their application to the entire range of effectiveness that a Whole Brand Energy strategy has.

Whole Brand Energy creates stakeholder value so that innovation, organisational flexibility and associated responsiveness, high quality product and services, high margin and the overall organisational happiness manifest. When organisations follow this strategy they, at the very least, become market leaders, and, at best, completely unrivalled within their chosen industry.

So how do you create Whole Brand Energy? By focusing on the people within the organisation and fostering their individual Vision, Missions and Mastery Paths so that they are all aligned with the overall Vision, Mission and Strategy of the business. 

The Life Balance Myth

The myth of "Life Balance" has been touted around the corporate world for many years now, and almost universally accepted as the ideal way to live and cope with life. The myth is particularly popular with human resource managers and well-being advocates throughout this country. This alluring ideal is constantly promoted as the answer to all our problems, yet its rate of adoption by people seems to be almost nonexistent. Why is that? It is not because Life Balance is a new notion that people are unaware of, rather it is one that saturates our society. Perhaps then, the answer to its ineffectual nature is the fact that it does not actually exist, and that people are seeking the impossible, under the guise that it is probable.

To begin to understand how a strategy is failing its definition needs to be established and its practical application examined. The term balance itself implies equal parts tenuously poised in a state of temporary perfection, always on the brink of imbalance. Logically, to apply this term to life, the identification of the relevant life parts needs to occur and then the arduous task of balancing them potentially can occur. What are the discrete units of life that can so carefully be manipulated to create this perfect state? Do the units consist of time, mind space, calories, nutrients, points of view, atoms or theories? Pretty quickly it becomes apparent that there are no discrete units of life that can be balanced. Instead there are a myriad of potentials that most people haphazardly juggle in the absence of a meaningful strategy and then wonder why they cannot achieve stable states of energy. 

As a health & well being marketing term "Life Balance" is a catchy buzz word that continuously prompts people to take action and address their lack of perfection, but ultimately it lacks substance and meaning. Life Balance falls into that ever expanding pool of Balance derived terms that has no quantifiable definition but an appealing ring to them and serves as a commercial incentive for marketers to perpetuate. 

Perfection is a shame based incentive and causes you to constantly look outside yourself for the answer, in an attempt to correct inherent nature of being. This can be a pretty tall order for a diet soda, a well-being workshop or the next greatest Life Balance toolkit.

For those vehemently defending the notion of balance consider this. If the answer in your mind is the balance of one of the elements mentioned above, then the term balance is inaccurate as a description of what is actually occurring. How do you balance time? You can not as you do not control or possess it. You can however allocate your focus during time to achieve certain outcomes, and allow for the prioritising of certain tasks. You are never going to accurately allocate equal portions of time to all areas of your life. You need to accept sleep and work are always going to dominate the western corporate existence.

The tumultuous relationship between work and life is an ongoing dynamic struggle that is never in equilibrium, nor should it be. If after all this time of being exposed to the notion of Life Balance with no or little impact, surely it is time to consider alternate strategies? 

Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Given the results thus far, does not pursuing Life Balance as the answer to happiness and energy fall into the definition of insanity? Even logically we understand that constant failure suggests we search elsewhere for success.

Although it is time to let go of the "balance" idiom, we should not feel too bad about our persistence with the Life Balance Myth. Given the proliferation the myth has experienced due to numerous industries perpetuating the concept such as food, communication and human resources, our attachment is understandable, albeit misplaced. For example how often have you heard the term Balanced Diet? Yet, a balanced diet does not actually mean balanced in terms of equal amounts of some or all foods, in fact it is a heavily skewed diet leaning towards certain food groups and away from others. There is no balance, just a focus on certain foods. Food marketers have clearly cottoned onto the fact that people are more likely to buy balance promoting foods if they believe they are in a state of imbalance. Consequently the ineffectual term Balanced Diet permeates our society. Its degree of success or lack of it is well illustrated by a society that is littered with junk food, high sugar content snacks, increasing obesity rates, cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes and yet also has a plethora of balance enhancing products and additives. Clearly the myth of a Balanced Diet is not working out for us, but works very nicely for certain food marketers. 

Food marketing aside, even the dietary experts disagree on what constitutes a Balance Diet and how to achieve it. If the experts cannot agree, then what hope does everyone else have?

A balanced perspective is perhaps the most amusing of all the "balance" ideals that float around our verbose corporate ether. The very nature of human perspective is it is subjective, and can only reflect what an individual determines to be their view based on the information available to them. What’s more, the term "perspective" implies there are infinite alternatives, because it is simply one position out of many. Where is the balance in that? There is no balance in perspective, people way up the facts available to them based on there value-system and agenda, and then make a decision on how they appear. Anyone suggesting they have or maintain a balanced perspective is simply self-aggrandising and disillusioned. Everyone’s perspective is subjective and skewed according to their personal value system and agenda.

As already discussed when applying the term "balance" to life, it becomes even more meaningless and worse still, a powerful negative reinforcement. People are continuously disappointed with themselves when they are seeking balance because they can never achieve it. Life Balance is a mythical life management mirage spouted by ignorant specialists in an attempt to appear as though they have a clear agenda for themselves and others. Additionally, when people continually fail to achieve what they think to be important, they feel like failures. This can be easily demonstrated by reflecting on your own life and energy status - How has pursuing a balanced life worked for you and how does it make you feel?

Even when you spend time trying to create balance, you realise the task is ostensibly futile. If you hope to balance working hours with leisure, health, fitness, family and partner time, then clearly anyone working in the modern world, has an uphill battle. To earn money the majority of people need to work at least 8 hours per day. This leaves 16 hours for sleep, exercise, socialising, hobbies, fun and anything else. Quickly it becomes obvious that what actually needs to happen is prioritisation, not balance.

You simply cannot balance the hours in the day. If we choose to look more qualitatively and say balance relates more to the notion and concept of mind space and time. Then before you have even finished reading the sentence, you have no idea what balance actually refers to.

Has there ever been a moment when you felt everything was perfectly balanced in your life? If so, what exactly was being balanced and what were you actually experiencing? 

If you are finding it difficult to define the balance, but rather finding words to describe your state of being, sensations and feelings, then you are on the way to actually getting traction. To understand that "life balance" offers no way forward and that it will instead only serve to baffle and bewilder you, is a huge step in the right direction.

Instead of "Life Balance" seek "Life Imbalance", where things are continuously out of balance, moving and changing but on a backdrop of stability and constancy. This state is also known as "harmony".

The question we need to ask ourselves is how can we create this "harmony" within our lives, and what approach can I adopt to make this happen on a daily basis?

Harmony is found through your adoption and commitment to your own Personal Vision, Mission and Mastery Path where all your primary values, behaviours and beliefs are realised. by following your own set of principles you will find energy, happiness and profound composure.

Balance in an energetic sense also implies stagnation, immovability and death. Physics tells us energy has only two forms: kinetic and potential. Kinetic energy is the motion of energy that affects things. Potential energy is the energy stored in things. All potential energy is eventually converted into kinetic energy, and all kinetic energy eventually converts to potential energy. This is called the "energy cycle".

Energy never dies, it simply changes form. Energy is always in a state of imbalance in order for it to be converted to one form or the other. Therefore "Energetic balance" occurs momentarily  only when a person is dead, this is when all forms of energy have almost entirely evaporated. So death is really only way to find true "balance". Probably not most people preferred goal.

Consequently and ironically, the advocates of "Life Balance" are actually promoting death as the solution to life! 

People on the whole are seeking more energy, not less. Due to the relationship between kinetic and potential energy, Life Imbalance is crucial. It is the prioritisation of where you distribute and regenerate your energy that is fundamental to greater states of energy, not the relentless pursuit of perfection.

By defining your personal Vision, Mission and Mastery Path you are making a statement about where you will place your energy and what gives you energy. Just as importantly, you are also implicitly stating where you will not put your energy. Without such a strategy is it virtually impossible to find happiness, peace and high performance.

Release yourself form chains of outdated and ineffectual "Life Balance" ideology and instead embrace "Life Imbalance" with all its imperfections and navigate consciously with your personal purpose, drivers and values.

4 Truths about Success & Stress

The 4 Truths about Success

1. All personal success is relative

2. Anyone can be a personal success

3. Personal Success depends on a clear strategy

4. To create a strategy, you need an 8 Point Personal Plan

The 4 Truths about Stress

 

1. Life is necessarily stressful

2. It is still possible to create harmony with stress

3. Disharmony creates excessive stress

4. To create harmony you need you need an 8 Point Personal Plan

An 8 Point Personal Plan

1. Clearly witness and assess yourself and your work

2. Create a mission

3. Share your mission to everyone who will listen

4. Create mission accountability, goals and measures

5. Let your work reflect your mission

6. Let your body reflect your mission

7. Let your mind reflect your mission

8. Relentlessly be your mission in everything you do

To create your mission do Executive Elites FREE online energy audit 

DIRECT Leadership

Do the FREE online DIRECT LEADERSHIP AUDIT right now!
 
These six aspects are the summary of what makes a great leader and a great person. It draws not only on my lifetime and business experience, but also on that of Jim Collins, Stephen Covey, Ken Wilber & Robin Sharma. Not to mention the eternity of Buddhist texts, Eastern and Western philosophers who are too numerous to cite, but have been espousing these beliefs for thousands of years.

Suffice to say, that whilst I have taken the time to summarise and make it palatable to the business executive, this position is not unique or original, rather eternal and obvious after consistent and insightful examination of life.

Dogged Determination
 
Without exception, greatness does not come easily. No matter who you choose to examine because of their greatness, it has come at great cost and relentless pursuit. If you are not willing to pursue greatness on a day to day, week by week, month by month, year by year basis, then you will not succeed. You must be robust, courageous and dogged every day.

 



 Inspirational
Managers motivate and leaders inspire. To inspire means you are leading by example through talking the talk and walking the walk. To inspire you must have absolute clarity of your day-to-day mission and your distant vision. You must ooze consistency, application and life force. The clarity of your mission must be obvious to all that surround you including your family, friends, business colleagues and strangers.

 

Respectful humility

Respect is not taken, it is given. To show respect and humility for your fellow man is not always an easy task. This becomes particularly so when you start to experience an element of success and then your ego is tempted to "know, assume and discount". To remain humble after success, is both the hardest and the easiest pursuit for man. Hardest because the signals around us are telling us we know, and the easiest because inclusiveness and connectedness are human nature and can only occur when you are humble.

Energy to burn
 
Without energy, the best laid plans go unfulfilled. Your strategy may be impeccable, but if you do not have the energy to execute, then everything is for nothing. To be inspirational, you must possess energy. People love energetic people. Energetic does not necessarily mean extroverted and outspoken, in fact more often than not, hyper people have fleeting energy, whilst the more understated or moderate have sustained warmth and vigor. To create this sustained warmth and vigor, namely vitality, you need to eat energetic food, exercise both forcefully and passively (eg. gym and yoga respectively), be able to both focus and quieten the mind and, finally, let go. Energy is about being in the flow of life, which requires both intensive push and the attentive yield.


Childlike Fun
 
The childhood humour of our past is continually suppressed by the responsibilities of our adulthood present. We allow, through conservative rationalisation, the imperatives of life to squeeze out the lighthearted perspective driven by youth. Ironically, through a yearning based on a vacancy in their own life, people are drawn to fun. Despite resisting having fun on a regular basis, people consistently desire it. Fun is always available as a source of relief and energy, no matter how dire the situation. Fun is an essential aspect of greatness because it lubricates the resistance of all, and enhances the contribution of any.

Timing

 Life and business are all about timing. The right timing can overcome insufficient skill, ability or resources. The wrong timing can negate the best skill, ability and resources. To be able to read the flow and sense the timing is vital to greatness, leadership and success. It comes from a place of experience, natural rhythm, flow and perception. Experience cannot be faked forever, and eventually lack of experience manifests in poor timing. All life's moments have a natural rhythm and flow that is apparent on a spectrum of visibility depending on your ability to perceive it. Sincere listening and atunement is the only way to connect continuously with the rhythm of people and life. Sincerely listening to yourself, others and your environment allows you to see the flow and the timeliness required for action.

Do the FREE online DIRECT LEADERSHIP AUDIT right now!

10 Coaching Principles from Cancer

Nothing prepares you for the death of your child. No course, no coaching tool allows you to easily process the prospect of your able child suddenly becoming severely disabled or dead. No sporting challenge, no tricky business deal and no academic pressure can prepare you for the completely disempowering and gut wrenching pain of your five-year old daughter being diagnosed with a massive and deadly brain tumour. The cruelness burns in every fibre of your body.

Principle 1.
Everyone needs time to process pain before they can take action.
Ensure the timing is right for the client.

When you hit a crisis your past serves as your foundation. Like a warrior that goes into battle, like a professional athlete who runs out onto the field for their final and like a neurosurgeon who makes their first cut, there's no more practice and there's no turning back. We need to live now in a way that prepares us for anything. We need to live a life that makes us mentally strong, physically fit, questioning, curious and clear. Not only because it allows us to be the best in business, parenting or everyday life, but because we never know when we will be faced with the greatest crisis of our lives.

Principle 2.
Prepare now for who you need to be in the future.
Ensure your clients have robust levels of physical and mental fitness.

July 2008, a mild and slightly overcast Melbourne Monday, I was driving along Melbourne's city bypass, Wurundjeri Way, around midday. My five-year old daughter, Ella, had been displaying some balance problems for a couple of weeks now, and we noticed she was now unable to walk up stairs without the aid of the handrails. At the beginning of four-year old kindergarten, Ella was flourishing, but by the end she had lost her vigor and complained regularly about hip and body soreness. Now at five, she could barely walk without appearing as though she was dizzy and disoriented. After a couple of GP visits followed by two Ears Nose & Throat specialists (ENTs), we still had no answers. Consequently, my wife Sophie and I decided that Ella should go to the Royal Children's Hospital - Melbourne to see a neurologist to rule out any brain problems, but we never really thought that would be an issue. Driving along Wurundjeri Way that fateful Monday my phone rang; it was Sophie and with a detectable frailty in her tone she said I needed to come to the hospital. I asked what was wrong, but she the doctors said it would be best if I waited until I got to hospital so they could explain. Immediately, I asked was it a brain tumour. Sophie burst into tears.

The Royal Children's Hospital greets you with a bizarre atmosphere of frantic and foreboding illness tempered with hope. The energy of the place is disorienting and it takes time to aclimatise. Making my way to the Neuroscience floor, a surreal feeling consumed me. I felt like I was observing someone else's life, not mine. Sophie and I were ushered into a "consultation room" down the far end of the ward deliberately well away from the other rooms. A slow numbness began to pass over me. Five or so white coats piled into this tiny room. They remained standing while Sophie and I huddled together on the bland couch as they delivered the news. There was no denying it now. My gorgeous baby girl had a massive tumour sitting right in the middle of her brain. The doctors said it was one of the worst they had ever seen.

The numbness and shock encircles you like the steady and purposeful movements of a giant python moving into position to swallow you whole. Initially, I was crippled with a mixture of disbelief, anguish and ignorance. It was like the dream when you are trying to run, but you can't move at all. Early on I remember saying to my brother,

"I need you to find out about this, I need you to find the best doctor, I need you to find some way out, because I can't process anything. I can't think."

Principle 3.
Surround yourself with people you trust.
Ensure clients have a network of trustworthy and aligned peers, mentors and advisors beyond yourself.

The hospital was a series of traumatic experiences one after another. I got to breaking point one day because I suddenly realised, that although the doctors were saying there was some hope, they actually believed Ella was about to die. Like an alarm echoing in my head I heard,
"She's going die".
"She's going die".
I saw the grim face of death on every doctor.
"She's going die". 
I had to get out.
"She's going die".
I couldn't walk. I had to run.
"She's going die". 
I ran down the stairs, numbly knocking people out of my way.
"She's going die".
I ran and I ran and I ran, until I collapsed sobbing and exhausted in the open parklands behind the hospital. As I sat there on the damp grass, moisture slowly seeping into my trousers, and the August wind gently chilling my body, I had an epiphany… This was my moment. I stood up, stretched out my arms and screamed, "Bring it on, you bastards!!"

Principle 4.
Define the moment or the moment will define you.
Often clients see crisis as overwhelming, drive them hard to see it as opportunity.

Personifying death helped focus my mind and shift me into action. In that moment the game changed. I went straight home and changed out of my tracksuit pants and t-shirt and into a suit. I realised the doctors weren't going to treat me like a leader if I looked like a victim. I did some yoga and meditation. I started reading and reading and reading.

Principle 5.
Change the game. Play it on your terms.
Make sure your clients are playing the right game for them, in the right way.

Ella had stopped being able to walk. She was unable to swallow. Her breathing was laboured. Despite this, her resilience was inspirational. I remember her asking,
"Dad, why is this happening to me?"
I responded without thinking and with absolute conviction,
"Because this is our journey; this is what we need to do."
Fearing this may be too ephemeral, philosophical or confusing for a five-year old I waited anxiously for her to reply. She looked at me and nodded saying,
"Ok Dad… but it's really hard."
At that point I burst into tears and put my head on her lap. Stroking my head, my five-year old daughter gently consoled me,
"It's ok Dad, it's ok."

Over the next few weeks we discovered that doctors are like any profession; they fit on the same bell curve as everybody else. 10% are poor, 80% are average, 10% are good, and 0.01% extraordinary. Unfortunately, when you're dealing with brain tumours only the extraordinary will do. To find the extraordinary, you need to challenge everyone and everything. Hospitals are designed to deal with sick kids, not proactive parents. You need to break through walls of bias, self-interest and institutionalised incompetence to find the best.

Principle 6.
No matter the industry, everyone is on a bell-curve.
Ensure clients are relying on the best information and best people for their success, not necessarily the most easily accessible.

After chemotherapy failed, the doctors suggested radiation therapy with potentially terrible side effects, but also the potential of life. Contradictions in their treatments and comments caused us to pause and reconsider. Consequently, I flew to Sydney to get a second opinion from renown neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo. Immediately on meeting Charlie his straight talking, charismatic and inspirational manner convinced me he was the white knight we were seeking. We had found the best of the 0.01%. Charlie met Ella on the morning of her operation and spent 15 minutes examining and talking to her. By this stage of her illness Ella had encountered over 50 doctors, none of whom she had connected with. With Charlie it was completely different. Ella eagerly answered his questions proudly showing the minimal movement she still had. Charlie responded saying that within two years she would be up walking again. Ella's eyes lit up, my heart lifted.

On October 20^th, 2008, Charlie Teo operated for 10.5 hours and saved my daughter's life.

Principle 7.
Challenge everything, particularly "absolute truths".
Ensure clients challenge all their preconceived notions of "absolute truths".

The last two years have been a profound blend of dark and light. The journey of recovery continues to challenge me but I am coaching again, scarred, stronger and battle-hardened. My coaching has taken a new and more decisive path. The constant reflections on my daughter and Charlie Teo serve to inspire me daily. I now only work with the top 10%, or those seeking to be in the top 10%. I believe the privilege of life and work should be celebrated and exploited, because the uncertainty of death is forever present. Now I only seek those who want to change the game.

Principle 8.
Coach only those that are open and hungry. Coaching is not counseling. Coaching is for those seeking to be in the top 10%. Learn to recognize when remedial medical or psychological intervention is required and refer.

Lasting inspiration comes from within, so I initially turn client's focus inward. Exploring their values and philosophies creates their daily mission and lasting rapport with me. I still use a tool I developed eight years ago – the Energy Audit. Coupled with this tool, I use the classic GROW model and a range of profiling tools. From the intensive three-hour Chandler Macleod psych-testing to the brief and cost-effective, Personal Skills Map by Dr Darwin Nelson. Regardless of the profiling tool, the next step is to audit a client's values, establish meaningful goals and determine gaps in their skills and abilities. From there, the coaching journey has its foundations, and the game is on.

Principle 9.
Have an integral coaching process based on multiple sources of expertise.

Personally, I ensure I am prepared for anything. My decade long passions for yoga, jiu jitsu and meditation undoubtedly allowed me to access my greater self in the time of my greatest crisis. Constant learning and challenging the veracity of information is imperative for us to find the truth. Without this beautiful blend of curiosity and skepticism, we can miss life without contribution. Having been a coach for nearly a decade now, I am extremely fortunate to have my 'mission' clear, for now. However, the recent two years has blown away any cobwebs of complacency or illusions of permanency with what I do. It is a privilege to be coach, and it has been a privilege to have experienced and continue to experience this dark and light filled journey of life.

Principle 10.
As a coach "Talk the talk", BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, "WALK THE WALK"!

The last twelve months have been my most rewarding both financially and emotionally in the history of my business. All I have done is apply the ten principles that I have learnt through this recent journey in a relentless and uncompromising manner. Obviously, there is nothing too unusual or special about my situation. Every person has or will experience the trauma of loss and hardship due to cancer, how you choose to deal with it is up to you. 

10 COACHING PRINCIPLES SUMMARY

Principle 1.
Everyone needs time to process pain before they can take action. Ensure the timing is right for the client.

Principle 2.
Prepare now for who you need to be in the future. Ensure your clients have robust levels of physical and mental fitness.

Principle 3.
Surround yourself with people you trust. Ensure clients have a network of trustworthy and aligned peers, mentors and advisers beyond yourself.

Principle 4.
Define the moment or the moment will define you. Often clients see crisis as overwhelming, drive them hard to see it as opportunity.

Principle 5.
Change the game. Play it on your terms. Make sure your clients are playing the right game, in the right way.

Principle 6.
No matter the industry, everyone is on a bell-curve. Ensure clients are relying on the best information and best people for their success, not necessarily the most easily accessible.

Principle 7.
Challenge everything, particularly "absolute truths". Ensure clients challenge all their preconceived notions of "absolute truths".

Principle 8. 
Coach only those that are open and hungry. Coaching is not counseling. Coaching is for those seeking to be in the top 10%. Learn to recognize when remedial medical or psychological intervention is required and refer.

Principle 9.
Have a coaching process based on multiple sources of expertise.

Principle 10.
As a coach Talk the talk, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, WALK THE WALK!

Conscious Leadership

The problem with conventional psychometric assessments like Myers Briggs is that they prescribe character traits that people interpret as fixed, final and all-pervading. Any form of psychological, personality or character assessment is valid for that moment in time only, and its future relevance is dependent on the habits of the individual. If people do not change their habits, then tools such as Myer Briggs are successful indicators of future behaviour. Conversely, if people change then the tools become less predictive of future behaviour.

This is particularly relevant in the context of leadership, and specifically leadership within certain contexts. Conscious Leadership is the concept of being an adaptive, listening and flexible leader attuned to the environment in which the leader is immersed. A Conscious Leader adapts their style of leadership depending on the climate and its requirements. No single style or characteristic of leadership is optimal for all types of situations.

Essentially there are three broad environments in which a business operates:

1. Temporary Calm
2. Constant Challenge
3. Absolute Crisis

All businesses will experience, or be experiencing, the domination of one of these three states at any one time and will experience all these states during the life of their business, whilst also transitioning from one state to another constantly. Accordingly there are three types of effective leadership that a Conscious Leader can choose to adopt depending on the particular dominating state the business is experiencing.

1. Democratic Leadership - making decisions by committee using popularity as the determinant
2. Consultative Leadership - making decisions by consulting all stakeholders and incorporating their positions in the final decision ensuring all parties feel they own the decision
3. Authoritative Leadership - gathering the best advice and making a unilateral decision

A Conscious Leader will choose one of these three styles of leadership to be the dominating style matching it to the environmental demands. The Democratic style is best suited to the Temporary Calm state of business when urgency is low and there is plenty of time to involve all parties in a democratic decision making process. The Consultative style is best suited when the business is experiencing constant challenges, where timeliness is important and urgency is at moderate level. The Authoritative style is best suited to a crisis situation, where urgency is high, time is limited and the team are looking for strength in their leader.

By a Conscious Leader appropriately matching their style of leadership to the environment, they will optimise cultural alignment and team support for themselves and the business, whilst also making the best decision. Conversely by mismatching the style of leadership the leader will hinder cultural alignment and minimise team support for themselves and the business, and most likely make a sub-optimal decision.

Leadership styles are best thought of as being on a continuum, where a Conscious Leader can slide to any particular style as and when required. Unfortunately many business leaders are prescribed a certain style of leadership, either by themselves or by others, for life and without any consideration for the environment in which the business is experiencing.

The opportunity for you as a leader is to develop all three styles of leadership through combining 360 degree feedback, periodic psychometric testing, executive coaching, team development workshops and retreats. This is best summarised as constant introspection validated against external assessment. This will ensure that you are a Conscious Leader that is constantly adapting and growing through your experience, making the best possible decisions with the full support of your team.