How to have hope amid political chaos

David Livermore | 31 Mar 2025

Amid chaos and dysfunction, it’s worth remembering that most people, most of the time, are inclined toward fairness, cooperation and kindness.

Breaking the silence: supporting men's mental health in the workplace

Nathan Shearman

Managers can play a pivotal role in supporting male employees' mental health by creating safe spaces, recognising masking behaviours and promoting vulnerability.

Long-distance leadership: letting go and leaning in

Wayne Turmel

Leading a remote or hybrid team requires a different mindset than you may have had if everyone was all together in the same physical space.

Has traditional team building had its day?

Zoe Carter-Owen

UK companies spend around £200 million annually on company away days and team-building activities. But does this investment really enhance productivity or collaboration?

CPOs: leadership in a challenging landscape

Emma Burrows

In an era of constant disruption, Chief People Officers must embrace AI, leadership agility and business strategy to drive workforce resilience and success.

Building your leadership pipeline: the crucial role of confidence

Kevin Eikenberry

Healthy confidence is a critical criterion in picking leaders and forecasting future success. Thankfully, it is also a skill that can be developed.

Six female femtech leaders transforming women's health

Alix Hobbs

To mark International Women's Day, here's a look at the innovation, passion and drive of six female Femtech leaders whose work is transforming women’s health.

From the archive

Morale: a moving target

Duane Dike

What we think we know about morale is probably wrong, especially the black and white notion that morale is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Like most human feelings, morale is a moving target, which is why being sensitive to its nuances is such a key skill for leaders.

Wayne Turmel

Paying lip service to leadership

Wayne Turmel

Leadership training is big business. But that doesn't alter the fact that most of it is hooey and it won't change a thing. So why do companies bother? Does the lip service they pay to leadership stem from corporate schizophrenia, hypocrisy, or just outright lies?

Max McKeown

What is your organisation like?

Max McKeown

In my last column, I made the comparison between certain kind of organisation and the autistic brain, because I consider metaphor to be a useful technique for revealing hidden insights and a way of using knowledge gained in one field to shed light on another.

Dan Bobinski

Customer service heaven and hell

Dan Bobinski

Is it something in the air or something in the soup? Whatever it is, there seems to be a growing gap in levels of customer service. My shopping experience this weekend adds to the growing body of evidence.

Peter Vajda

Empathy comes from the heart, not the mind

Peter Vajda

Empathy springs from the heart, not the mind, which is why we can never talk ourselves into being empathetic. Empathy requires a higher state of consciousness, and cognition and consciousness are poles apart. They are not synonyms, but sit at either end of a continuum.

Earlier opinion

The benefits of a bucket list

Ian Child

Life’s too short not to have dreams. It doesn't matter if they are big, small, expensive or cheap, the important thing is to try to make them happen.

Parenthood and ESG

Jean-Sébastien Pelland

Becoming a parent is a life-changing event. And the realisation that our children will have to grow up in whatever world we leave behind can also have a big impact on how business leaders perceive growth and sustainability.

Hybrid work: do you want a mule or a platypus?

Wayne Turmel

Would you describe the hybrid workplace as a mule or as a platypus? Stick with me, because the question is not as crazy as it might sound.

Remote working and mental health

Wayne Turmel

One of the more interesting and talked-about topics around remote and hybrid working is how it impacts people’s mental health.

Combating burnout: five practical steps for leaders

Ang Brennan

In today’s relentless workplace, tackling burnout among leaders is a pressing reality. Here are some practical strategies to help build a supportive and resilient work environment.

Managing performance on hybrid teams

Wayne Turmel

As hybrid working becomes more and more widespread, one of the biggest difficulties that has emerged is how to manage individual performance when some people are in the office more than others.

The importance of explicit expectations

Karl Hebenstreit

The mantra for human effectiveness is “communication, communication, communication”. But without setting explicit expectations, communication on its own isn't enough.

Surviving re-orgs and buyouts at a distance

Wayne Turmel

For people working remotely, an internal re-organization or an external buyout can be especially disconcerting and confusing.

How to lead with questions in cognitively diverse ways

Megan Seibel

Questions can be powerful leadership enablers. So it is worth taking time to understand the art of asking the right questions and creating a questioning culture when leading others.

Pause and allow

Neil Jurd

Being 'busy' is normally seen as a positive thing. But being busy has a dark side - stress, poor sleep, never having enough time to stop and think. So how can we learn to be effective without becoming overloaded?

Are America and Europe returning to the office in the same way?

Wayne Turmel

It has been four years since Covid caused a seismic change in how and where people work. But are North America and Europe handling this trend in the same way? The evidence says not.

What to do when you’re just not feeling it?

Wayne Turmel

Working remotely can be great, but it can also be isolating, especially on those days when you’re lacking motivation or just can’t seem to get to grips with what needs to be done.