Tag: Personal Development

Are you prepared to model the real you?

This evening I had the pleasure of attending a fashion show put on by the Auckland Zonta Club.  Zonta I discovered, is an international organisation dedicated to advancing the status of women.  This was no ordinary fashion show.  Held in the beautiful Fables Antique rug gallery in Parnell, Auckland the models were almost all, well, not models. But you’d hardly know it!

Here were women from all walks of life, all ages, parading it out in front of a big crowd seated around the rugs to an eclectic music mix including Carmen, Paolo Conte and Michael Jackson.

My immediate reaction was this was a beautiful display – all the women were beautiful.  And brave.  Braver than all of us on the rugs, that’s for certain.

I’ve blogged a bit about authenticity and uncovering the real you to find the authentic leader that exists in us all.

When we’re comfortable enough in our own shoes, when we know who we are and why, we’re comfortable to present ourselves to the world as that real person.

In return we win respect from those around us and become role models for others to aspire to.

Zonta turned this concept into glamorous reality tonight.


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Who do you admire?

I was asked on Friday “which leader to you admire the most?”.

Responses to this question generally can often include Churchill, Christ, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandella and more recently, Barak Obama. What is it about these people what we can admire, and what can we take from them for our own leadership journey?

Sometimes, and I admit to enjoying these moments, we hear stories of a very personal nature where someone describes a tireless worker, sometimes in a low-paid or voluntary position who led others to achieve great things, but never really got noticed. It’s always my hope that the Queens honours find these people for some recognition.

I confess to being a bit of a leader-resister. Continue reading “Who do you admire?” →

Are you for real?

Earlier this week I had some meetings with some great people talking about leadership. Getting ready for work that morning I decided to go full-blown shirt and tie. Yep, I’ve got dozens of ties, lots of suits, but frankly, that’s just not me. But my expectation was that other’s expectations were that I should wear a shirt and tie. Even writing this now seems absurd. But it’s what I did and I admit to having done it in the past.

My first appointment was smartly dressed with an open neck shirt. “so, where does your programme fit in? what’s different to others he asked”. “Well I said, it’s about authenticity, we want people to develop the real leader inside them – not like a copy of someone they think is a great leader – take Barak Obama, most people would say he’s so natural, himself.” Then it hit me and I confessed! Continue reading “Are you for real?” →

Take control of your own baggage

Simon Moutter the Auckland Airport chief executive said this afternoon that lots of little things have made a difference to the airport visitor experience. Historically, the airlines managed which baggage conveyor belt in the baggage claim area their flights used, through a schedule prepared a month out. Of course, planes don’t always arrive on time and passengers can get frustrated when bags take forever to appear, especially when there are unused baggage claim areas. So Auckland Airport gave the control of which baggage claim area is used to the folk that run the baggage system. Seems pretty simply really. Why weren’t they doing that before Simon wondered?

What baggage are you carrying around that you think someone else is going to sort out for you? Leadership starts from the inside – knowing how we’re wired, how we interact with others and empowering and mentoring others to do what needs to be done. Continue reading “Take control of your own baggage” →