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5 signs your boss is toxic... and bad for you

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Originally published July 6, 2019 I get a call at midnight. My friend of many years, is on the phone sobbing, looking for advice. Groggy and horrified - I listen to her story. She is a free spirit, marches to the beat of her own drum, is passionate about making a difference and is always immensely engaged and immersed in everything she takes on... The person on the phone does not sound like her. The person on the phone sounds crushed, has self doubt, feels isolated and alone, and is anxious and insecure. Over the last year, bullied and broken down by her boss, she is a shadow of herself. I have never seen her like this. As I listen to her, I reflect on the toxic leaders my colleagues and I have encountered, faced, and dealt with over the years, the trauma of their teams, their impact on the culture and the damage to the organization. When we think of toxic bosses, our first instinct is to think of the extreme cases of verbal abuse, harassment, bullying, etc. However, there are also
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Ace a job interview with 3 clear messages

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Originally published Sept 27, 2019 The worst interview I ever had was with a gentleman from a well reputed Fortune 50 company, many many years ago. Within the first 5 minutes I knew it was a mistake, but I stayed, out of respect for the company and the person who referred me. It only got worse. We spent the better part of an hour circling over and over on what exactly my role was. He seemed to vacillate between incredulity and confusion over what role ‘I’ had played, specifically, in the significant work my team had delivered. Frustrated and annoyed, I left the meeting, upset with myself, and angry with him. Over the next few days, after I had calmed down, and was able to be more honest with myself, I tried to figure out what happened. My aha moment was when I realized that; his ears, just not accustomed to the use of the collective ‘we’, when meaning ‘I’ was perplexed and overwhelmed, and unable to make sense out of what he was hearing. I learnt my lesson! I have interviewed hundre
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5 tips to lead high performing teams remotely

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COVID-19 has forced us into the largest experiment of remote working in human history. It has surfaced unique challenges we couldn’t have dreamt about. This is a difficult time for us; from businesses closing and impacting employees, to employees stranded outside their country of residence, to stranded split families, the loneliness and isolation, the vast emotional toll and guilt of not being there for extended families or elderly parents, the hesitation of visiting high risk elderly parents, the sheer helplessness of not being able to get a loved one tested or cured, and the fear and anxiety of not knowing when things will get better. As leaders, we are having to learn how to navigate these challenges ourselves, as we help our teams through it. If there was ever a time to step up - this is it. Here are 5 simple tips to help you lead a high performing team remotely, during this time: 1.   Be yourself, be human : Vulnerability is a strength . The key to building and retaining tr
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Observations in the corporate world:

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1. Data is a slave to its user 2. No one is a great leader everyday. Leadership is a choice that a person has to make everyday. 3. A leader who is visionary and inspiring in one situation may be absolutely ineffective in another. 4. Ego is very expensive for an organization 5. People ‘do’ less than 20% of their talk-quotient. 6. When judging your own performance, it always seems like you have moved mountains… when judging another’s,’ it seems like the environment conspired to make it happen. 7. Half – truths are lies 8. The trustworthy person is one who has personal integrity in thought, word and action 9. A leader with thinly veiled personal ambition of self-advancement can never be a good leader 10. A leader has to BE the values he wants to inculcate 11. A person who is unable to balance work and life is too uni-dimensional to be a good leader in the long run 12. I have never met a good leader who wasn’t a good person first 13. It is time to be concerned when perceptions become great
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ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE... Huh??

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Really??????? Is that a term? Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store with a crazy pick of self-serving terms coined by genius wordsmiths that give it a legitimacy and power beyond anything it should ever be allowed to command! Wow… anecdotal evidence …. Really? Meaning that I can record one instance of the person in a not so positive light and hold it against him for the rest of his life???? Cool!!! I’ve got to get me one of those!!! Its like a paparazzi masterminded sneak attack on a poor hapless celebrity! It has every exhilarating element possible… from the mystery and the suspense, to the sneakiness and voyeurism, to the manipulation that is such an essential element, to finally fully engaging the creative instinct in the form of the final story telling… I have recently acquired a renewed empathy for my fellow corporate denizens who crunch through mounds of data, facts and figures just so that the rest of us can make some sense out of the world we operate in… mainly because I
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