category:High Stakes communication

The moment no one moved I was on a trip recently. The music paused, and the dancer looked out at the audience and asked for a volunteer to join her. Nobody moved. I had not come to dance. But the silence stretched on, I could see her waiting. I could sense how uncomfortable the quiet was for her, standing alone in front of a room full of people who all hoped someone else would answer. I wanted to support her so I stood up. Dancing in syn with the Tibetan dancer I did no

Ask a room full of executives what a good week looks like, and most will describe some version of the same thing: a packed calendar, a cleared inbox, decisions made quickly and often. Busyness has become the default proxy for competence. If you're moving fast and touching everything, you must be doing your job. But there's a quieter, more uncomfortable question worth sitting with: what if the leaders producing the best outcomes aren't the ones making the most decisions — they

AI generated image of team meeting Why leaders who make people laugh often lead better — and how to keep the laugh from costing you the room “A little humor is good for the soul”-Richard Branson “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.”-Dwight Eisenhower Humour has always been a big part of my life. Perhaps that’s because my late dad had a great sense of humour, and I grew up appreciating the light-hearted momen

The storm below the calm waters Details in this case have been changed to protect the privacy of everyone involved. What remains true is the lesson. A few years ago, I was asked to manage a high stakes complaint. A patient had gone in for a surgery classified as low risk. He did not come home. His wife called the hospital afterwards, and by every measure the frontline staff could see, the call went well. Her voice was steady. She asked measured questions. She thanked the staf

My leadership journey began over a decade ago. As a seasoned mediator, my natural inclination has always been to seek win-win solutions and protect relationships. However, one day, I faced a tough decision: terminating a team member due to performance. I felt deeply conflicted. My empathetic nature wanted to spare her feelings, but my objective duty as a leader required decisive action for the overall team and standard of work. After careful thought, I delivered the message w

I thought I had a good handle on what "hard leadership" looked like. I am leading a team across 3 business functions these couple of years. I want to be honest about this, because I think honesty is where real thought leadership begins — not in the polished LinkedIn takeaway, but in the messy middle of actually doing the work. Leading a cross-functional team has been, without question, the hardest leadership challenge I've faced. And the reason surprised me: it wasn't the pol

Meet Rene She's 38, a Senior Marketing Manager at a tech firm. From the outside, she has it together — a title she worked years for, a salary that looks impressive on paper, and a wardrobe that says I belong in this boardroom. But most mornings, before her first meeting starts, Priya has already checked her bank account twice, mentally recalculated whether she can cover next month's rent and her student loan payment, and spent twenty minutes in a low-grade panic she can't qui

This article on mental health in the workplace reminds me of the time when I had to talk to one of my team members when she became a new mother. It’s not easy to balance work and her new role as a mother, something which many new parents can relate to. Some new mothers put immense pressure on themselves to be a "perfect parent", leading to feelings of guilt or failure when things don't go as expected. At one point, she felt stretched and was considering resignation. She spoke