My Executive Coach blog

It’s been a while since I recommended a few books and seeing as we are slipping into the summer months, with the possibility of having more downtime, here are a few suggestions that may pique your interest.  ‘Why we sleep’ by Mathew Walker. This was suggested to me by a coaching supervision colleague and I […]

I’ve been working recently with clients who have undertaken the goal of maximising team effectiveness within remote and non-remote working environments.  One of the key findings for these leaders is the ability to manage polarities within their teams.  Polarities are everywhere because we live in such a complex world, for example work / life balance, […]

A hugely influential mentor and coach once said to me that any sense of certainty, in coaching or in business, is an illusion.  This stayed with me over my career as I led global teams in various sectors, working with and for my clients.   Now as a coach, no matter what model I use, I […]

National Enterprise Day is today, 19th October and there are so many wonderful events being held today to promote, encourage and stimulate female entrepreneurship across Ireland.  As an entrepreneur myself, I am very keen to encourage and support women to claim their entrepreneurial identity and own how they want to be seen professionally.  The journey […]

FPAI, in association with Enterprise Ireland and FD Technologies, hosted #FinTechNation 2023 on Friday September 15th in the Marker Hotel Dublin.  Dara Calleary, T.D., Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation spoke at the event that was well attended by professionals from the Financial Services sector including domestic and international banks, fintechs, tech companies, legal and advisory firms, […]

As a follow on from National Enterprise Day and the wonderful events I attended, I was struck by the number of women I met who said they still lacked self-confidence professionally and that they struggled with imposter syndrome.  Not a new topic but one I was surprised to hear, especially as the audience was full […]

Perseverance. Persistence. Resilience. Trending words right now.  Ones I hear on a daily basis from all my clients.  But what do they really mean and how relevant are these traits in our day-to-day professional challenges? Very interesting take on what makes us ‘gritty’ and how related this is to the relentless drive for Talent Acquisition […]

The topic of the moment seems to circle around how to build high performance cultures in today’s challenging business environment where performance is critical to individual and team success.  When I’m working with clients, this is one of their main concerns: how to drive success and achieve KPIs and quarterly targets while maintaining a culture […]

Marshall Goldsmith’s axiom “what got you here won’t get you there” rings in my ears most days as I operate as an executive coach within a constantly changing business environment.  On a global level, the turbulence of worldwide crises – environmental, social, financial, conflict – is layering an undercurrent of anger, fear, grief and guilt […]

I am struck by how many times I have heard recently from my clients that they are struggling with being all things to their management team, their own teams and their clients.  These leaders are struggling with the expectations of all and commonly highlight feelings of personal failure in their performance.  One recurring concern is […]

Over the years, it’s quite possible you may have taken a psychometric test that collects information about you and assigns you to a neat box.  These tests are usually conducted in order to evaluate an individual’s maximum performance and more aligned to aptitude – such as skills, knowledge, abilities and job/academic potential. However, other psychometric […]

Mentoring for Change, A Catalyst for Sustainable Transformation The speed of political, societal, economic, and technological changes presents opportunities and challenges to our professional practice as well as to the mentees who look to us to help navigate a path. Our mentees look to us to help them navigate a path, they expect us to […]

A lot has been written recently about mindsets and how they influence our behaviour.  Each of us has a unique mindset, which although these may be deeply ingrained, can evolve as we grow and learn from our experiences. This concept of being a change agent in our own lives is key to my coaching philosophy, […]

Early in my career, I admired a leader who communicated clearly, made confident decisions, and earned everyone’s trust. An impressive, likeable, consistent, confident leader with their own distinctive style who triggered for me how I wanted to show up during my twenty years in global management roles. So, what strengths do great leaders have?  There […]

National Enterprise Day is today, 17th October and there are so many wonderful events being held today to promote, encourage and stimulate female entrepreneurship across Ireland.  As an entrepreneur myself, I am very keen to encourage and support women to claim their entrepreneurial identity and own how they want to be seen professionally.  The journey […]