There’s a little-known psychological study where participants were placed alone in a silent, pitch-black environment for 48 hours. No noise. No light. No sense of time. Nothing to anchor themselves to except their own thoughts. Most people struggled. A few panicked. But one participant coped far better than the rest. How? He talked out loud [...]
Across many organisations, a quiet shift happens as employees move through their late-50s and into their 60s. They care less about titles. They’re less interested in competing. They’re more interested in giving something back. They want to share what they know, support younger colleagues, contribute to culture, and feel useful beyond KPIs. In psychology, this [...]
AI in the Job Hunt: Tool, Trap, or Competitive Edge? I recently reviewed a cover letter that stopped me in my tracks—not because it was bad, but because of the final paragraph. The candidate openly stated that the cover letter had been written with the help of AI. She explained to me that English was [...]
Most leaders spend a lot of time thinking about capability: skills, systems, structures, KPIs. But one of the most powerful forces shaping performance isn’t a process at all — it’s the leader’s expectations. This is the Rosenthal Effect, also known as the Pygmalion Effect: the idea that people tend to rise (or fall) to the [...]
Ask someone what their personal brand is and the answer is often a job title. “I’m a project manager.” “I’m a lawyer.” “I’m a consultant.” That’s understandable—but it misses the point. What you do is not your brand. Your brand is the outcomes you consistently create, regardless of role, industry, or context. Jobs change. Titles [...]
Most organisations are trying to operate today using management models built for a more stable past. Long planning cycles, fixed strategies, and layered decision-making struggle when conditions change faster than approvals can keep up. In a world defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), the leaders who succeed are not the ones with the [...]
Why organisations are exhausting their people—and what leaders can do about it Modern organisations operate in a VUCA environment: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Strategy cycles are shorter, restructures are frequent, and employees are asked to adapt—again and again—often while doing more with less. Two related but distinct forms of exhaustion sit quietly beneath the [...]
Dr Susan Roberts says: