What do we mean by future-proofing?

Initially, the technology industry created this word to design software, content, and more linked products to be still used in the future even when technological change occurs. However, it has now morphed across our wider lives into protecting ourselves from external change.

We will use future-proofing in the context of looking at how we can enhance our ability to protect ourselves and our business from any future external influence through our internal actions. So the time has come for us to focus on a new level of thinking, which has been here the whole time

For the last 30 years, we have lived in a time where society has become so much is done by the few.  It is up to us to decide whether the circumstances of COVID-19 will give us a chance to readdress this and decide if we are serious about the forced lessons placed on us right now around the world.

Humankinship has a series of attributes that we have to make a choice about do we do them or not?

Let’s get real about emotions in the workplace. The bias that sits with emotions is not resigned to work it’s everywhere. Yet in work, it seems we are less tolerant, less perceptive of others emotions, ignorant [1] even and if you place to be more emotional than men then we have - although it is been proven men are 60% more emotional in the workplace than women [2]?

We all use time as an excuse at some time in our lives. The number of courses, books and webinars on time management is overwhelming and like most things the real impact is improving your time isn’t the issue. It’s the choices you make around time.

Curiosity and Interested. The power duo in people management, coaching and support, every human interaction is boosted when you are curious AND interested, by themselves, they can help together they transform.

When you coach, you also learn something - this is, to me, is actual coaching. It is not just sharing knowledge, great questions, curious and intuitive questions, and listening as your life depends on it (an RLC technique LLYLDOI), and this learning keeps me connected to my clients and coaching as a role.

The Grand Leadership Illusion 

In the movie The Truman Show, a man is living his life on the set of a soap opera, where everyone knows he's the star of the show, but he has no idea that his world is not actuality and all created.

• Imagine going through such an experience yourself?

• How would you feel if you found out the truth?

• What would be the impact on you?

 Chances are, it would be alarming and also challenging to comprehend. Now imagine this analogy with leadership. Real Leadership bears little resemblance to illusory leadership, and I think we have all been deluded by the latter grand illusion over time. 

In business, do we need evolution or revolution?

The distinction of the two is essential and one that we misuse easily linguistically and within a business to the detriment of achievement and progression.  

We review this adaption and edit of the chapter of Leadership or Leadershit and its eight faces of leaders. This edit covers the examples of revolutionary actions and outcomes for business and how we can look at evolution as the day-to-day business operation, and revolution is the long term strategy.

Meaningful or meaningless- An interesting topic that creates paradoxes throughout. We look at it from many different aspects and this fully re-edited version of the book by myself, Leadership or Leadershit (re-edit by Debbie Halls-Evans). I focussed on one aspect when I first wrote this chapter of the book- the difference that meaningful and meaningless impacted the work, role, and leadership. We explore more in this re-edit of meaning versus happiness and updated meta-studies that allow us to explore our own meaning and be curious about the differences and benefits of meaning and meaningless!

What’s better? Inspiration or Expiration? They call a no brainer, but if that is all this means, this would be the first and last sentence. It isn’t! As a supplement since the Leadership or Leadershit book was written in 2016, my wife Debbie and I have discussed Inspiration in all of its forms. The overall summary we make is that inspiration is from within first, always. Inspiration is overused as a word and real inspiration in action. You get inspired to do something, take action, and a new outcome occurs. How often does that actually happen?

Connecting with the right people is the basis of excellent leadership and being a successful balanced human. Look at the things we love doing as humans: relationships, love, families, communities, eating, drinking, holidays, having fun. All these pursuits have a connection at their core.  Equally, all these things viewed as a solitary exercise could be construed as depressing, negative and soul-destroying. When we apply a cut off behaviour, we create a severe flaw in our leadership. We may be doing it to protect, or with what could be a positive intention, yet its direct output is assumption, judgement and in work creates

Your current mindset is a choice you made at a very early age and then continued to choose time and time again right up until this moment.  It's something that can be changed and altered by making new choices. To develop who you are as a leader, simply make good choices and when you are not choosing, ensure you ask yourself the right questions.

 The difference we know now from the latest neuroscience is that it’s not just mindset or motivation but also our culture, and environment that impact our choices and therefore, the outcomes.

The first word of each face is the most prevalent. In this Face of leadership with Selfish being the leading element, you may be thinking that I've got this second face of leadership the wrong way around. To assure you that I haven't, consider this analogy.

You're travelling in an aircraft with two small children. The oxygen masks fall from above you. What do you do next? Do you, grab yours and put it on almost selfishly, or help your scared children first before looking after yourself? If you are a frequent flyer, you will know that every airline's safety instructions ask adults to put their mask on first before helping others. Regardless of who they are, because if you're suddenly no longer conscious due to a lack of Oxygen, you will be of little or no value to others, especially young children. Is this selfish or selfless?

To Lead Others, You Must Lead Yourself First

 Leadership requires authenticity- courage, trust, honesty, connection, vulnerability all behaviours to be exhibited, yet leadershit that we see is fake and built on fear, insecurity, scarcity, ego and hierarchy.

Leadership has been built on many poor behaviours and few examples of leadership and many more of Leadershit.

Leadership affects every aspect of a business including teams, individuals, customers, growth, futureproofing, strategy, tactics, culture for recruiting the right people, retaining skill, protecting your people and business.

We use the 7 RLC Daily Leadership Principles and the Eight Faces of Leadership (in the book Leadership or Leadersh£@!

No business plan in 2020 had Covid contingency plan on it. No one had a crystal ball that told us exactly what will happen and 2020 taught us that very quickly. Our ability to map a business future is possible, and we are looking back at 2020 at four key areas that affected a business trading success and how we can learn to map our future success.

• Preparedness

• Ability to act

• Agility to react, respond and pause.

• Limitations of a 12-month perspective

What is Leadership Intentionality? Have you ever been asked what Leadership is? Better still an even more challenging question is ‘How could you go and do Leadership right now?’

At RLC, we have asked this many times in workshops and with Leadership teams worldwide, and we are amazed at some of the answers we collect……

First, why is intentionality necessary. This is simple, and intentionality is about taking control of what you CHOOSE to do, responding, reacting, taking action, and creating balance and satisfaction.

You can’t be intentional if you don’t know your why?

Your why provides a specific what of your intentionality?

We make choices every day, yet how many are considered and intentional?

How many are habitual?

Are you intentional in what you do?