A senior executive of Google, said of his CEO Sundar Pichai “He is as smart and thoughtful as you can be. He also has this ability to change perspective and look through other people’s eyes. That’s something that you don’t find so much in our world ”. What a wonderful attribute to have one of your senior management say about your leadership style. 

When leading innovation in a team or an entire organisation, a leader must have the ability to consider all options equally before facilitating a final decision. Many leaders talk of servant leadership but are then bullish with their own ideas and views, and fail to entertain all possibilities, particularly new ones, before facilitating their chosen direction. This is not new thinking. In fact Aristotle once said “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it ". 
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If you can manage to consider all points of view without judgement, personal influence, prior conclusions, and/or your own bias towards the outcome, I believe this is the mark of a great leader who can command control of an organisation which truly believes and embraces innovation. 

There is no doubt that a big trend sweeping the corporate world at the moment is mindfulness. Many of us don't know where to start? 
We are in such a rush to get to the next thing, quite often we gulp down our food without paying much attention to the taste, flavour or quality of that meal.  This however can be your next exercise in mindfulness.
Try this. At your next meal, give mindful eating a go. It is said that we chew our food with only 15 chews before we swallow. To get all nutritional value in our digestive system it should be around 40 to 45.
So…Slow down.
It sounds funny, but take a mouthful of your meal, and mentally count out 30, 35, or even 40 chews before you swallow. Think about the process, and mentally come to the moment and you'll start to realise just how quickly we inhale our meals, when this could be a mindful experience.
Mindfulness is just bringing your mind to the moment.  By consciously bringing yourself to the moment, you will not only be doing yourself a big favour in terms of your health, it's good for the mind, and if you're sharing a meal, there is no doubt it will enhance your connection, your conversation, and be a great catalyst to really put you in the moment with your partner.©GB

Recently a number of people I work with, in different parts of the world, have gone through a transition phase as they have chosen to explore new career options.  This process can surely suck your mojo from your soul. In listening and working through this process, I decided to seek out an expert, drink coffee, and extract the tips and tools we need to consider should we go choose to go down the road of looking for new careers utilising the services of a recruiter. 
I sat with Alan Locke Executive Director of EIM, an international recruitment firm and chatted about how to approach recruiters. Alan has been a Partner in one of the senior executive search firms and now focuses on senior level interim management appointments.
Here is what Alan suggests:

• Send your CV to the headhunters/recruiters you know, expect to receive an acknowledgement but plan on the assumption that nothing will emerge from them.
• Manage your own expectations…. Send it, but don’t expect them to jump onto it, it could sit in a file for many months! Your career is going to be a whole lot more important to you than to a recruiter who is getting loads of CV’s every day. However Alan did say that you do need to get in their system, so it is worth sending your CV.
• Make a list of everyone you know and inform them about your availability and career preferences – your personal network is more prospective than all the headhunters/recruiters put together. 
• Further, when you are speaking with members of your network ask them what recruiters they know and add them to your list.  This is very important and a great idea - Reid Hoffman, founder of Linked In, talks about this in his book "The Start up of You" . The guys I have worked with found this invaluable.
• When something arises, apart from the financial due diligence you will do on the company offering you a role, it is more important to do non-financial due diligence - asking former staff, former directors, customers, suppliers and any other stakeholder 'How would you describe the culture, ethics and style of this company, how do they treat people, what is the CEO like to work for, do theyobey the law?”

Alan also said that recruiters are interested in the companies/brands you have worked with… so impress them. If the names are not familiar to most people, ensure you qualify the size, scale and scope of the businesses you worked for, as this can help recruiters gain a better appreciation of your experience. 
One other thing I would add, tell whoever you are speaking with that you are prepared to get in, work hard and get it done…. Alan agreed, as today we need thinkers and doers!
So there you go…. great advice from the best, to consider, should you decide to act upon a change in career. You can find details on Alan and the team at EIM at  www.eim.com.au  ©GB

As you read this post, what is your focus for the day? What is the one thing that you know would make today a really great day? Many of us start our day with no clear focus. Then we start clearing the emails, checking posts, scanning social media feeds and essentially being distracted by what other people think should be our focus for that moment. 

Instead of being focused on what we want, or what is important to us, we start to focus our attention on things that are on other people's agendas, their requirements and things which they think should be of interest to you.  You then shift your focus to their agenda, which takes attention away from your own area of focus.

There needs to be time in your day - stillness and silence - where you can allow yourself to really focus on your own self, on your family, your health, your creativity, your business priorities, and the things you love to do. 
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It's a good tool to audit yourself throughout the day.  Ask yourself What are you focused on? and Are you focused on the right things? ©GB