My whole career I have embraced two simple approaches when speaking with my colleagues on a daily and monthly basis. The first is when I meet my co-workers, wherever it is, on a VC, or with a client, I always ask, “How are you today”, listen very carefully to the response, and engage around the ...
Many times throughout my leadership career, I have used a mirror-holding approach to help talented direct reports and aspiring leaders to look into and see themselves at work. Instead of telling colleagues what I perceive as their areas of strengths and development areas, I engage in questions and dialogue to help them better understand their ...
“So much of life is a negotiation - so even if you're not in business, you have opportunities to practice all around you,” Kevin O’Leary. More than ever in these very uncertain times I have found the need for thoughtful, effective negotiation. Building new relationships with people in our communities as we attempt to ...
“Sometimes the hardest things and the right things are the same.”--Anonymous-- After an amazing four and a half years at IBM, I've made the hard decision to take some time out of my career to be with my family. One of the things that sets IBM apart is its compassion, especially in supporting people ...
The last few months have been challenging. Concerns around the well-being of my Mum, family health issues, distressing news about a former employer and the impact on friends and colleagues I care deeply about. Challenges in life often seem to converge at the same time and test our internal fortitude and resilience. I know I’...
Have you ever experienced a moment when you think – ‘oh, I’m never going to get there, it’s too difficult’, or ‘I am afraid it’s not going to work, I’d rather not try it’? If yes, I suggest you take a step back and look to others who faced problems and dilemmas ...
It’s clear that driving digital reinvention and becoming a true cognitive enterprise – one that is combining AI with data and applying this to customer journeys, core processes and workflows – is as much about people with the right skills as it is about technology. If the Cognitive Enterprise is the destination IBM Garage is the ...
“The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” – Sigmund Freud As a lifelong champion of diversity and inclusion, although we’ve come so far, I believe there is still a long journey ahead to create workplaces where everyone – regardless of gender or any other personal characteristic – feels they ...
One of the most interesting challenges you can face as a leader is how you bind people from diverse backgrounds together as a team. What makes people from different cultures, spanning different generations, and with profoundly different life experiences work together as a well-oiled machine to achieve great missions? Last week when I held my ...
Lily Tomlin is a comedic genius. She makes being funny look effortless. I saw her on a US talk show recently with Jane Fonda and I felt like she continues to get funnier with age. Like most comedians, she has a sharp mind and is a keen observer of human behaviour. She once said that, “...