Author: Anne Taylor

Be a Little Dolly: In Life and Leadership

Be a Little Dolly: In Life and Leadership

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

Last month, a country music star from a small town in the Smoky Mountains died, and the tributes reached every corner of the world. Print, radio, social media, talk shows, dinner tables here in London that have nothing to do with country music. I heard her name mentioned by people who couldn’t name a single one of her songs.

That’s how you know someone’s impact reached past their genre, their industry, and their generation.

I visited the Smoky Mountains in 1999, the region Dolly Parton came from and never really left, even after becoming one of the most famous women alive. I’ve followed her career for decades, as a fan of her music and, just as much, as an admirer of her business instincts.

Here’s what I respected most about her, and what I think is worth borrowing for how we lead, and live.

She Was Unapologetically, Intentionally Herself

Dolly built a look and a persona entirely on her own terms, then owned every joke made about it before anyone else could land it first.

“It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.”

That line alone tells you everything about her relationship with other people’s opinions. She heard the criticism, decided it wasn’t worth defending against, and turned it into one of the most quoted lines in entertainment history instead.

Most leaders spend real energy managing how they’re perceived. Dolly’s approach was simpler. Decide who you are, say it out loud before anyone else can, and let the joke be yours.

She Knew Her Worth, and Said No When It Mattered

In 1974, Elvis Presley wanted to record “I Will Always Love You.” Dolly said yes immediately, thrilled. The night before the session, his manager called to say Elvis didn’t record anything without half the publishing rights. Dolly said no, and cried all night over it.

Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston’s cover became one of the best-selling singles by a woman in history, and every royalty went to Dolly.

That same year, she left The Porter Wagoner Show, the mentor who’d given her the biggest break of her career. He sued her for three million dollars over it. She settled, and stood by her decision anyway, having already sung him “I Will Always Love You” as her farewell, meaning every word of it while still walking out the door.

Fearlessness, for Dolly, never meant being unkind. It meant being clear.

She Commanded a Room at Five Feet Tall

Dolly stood five feet tall, in towering heels she made part of her signature. In boardrooms, on stage, in interviews, she was consistently described as commanding.

“Sometimes I’m the only woman in a whole boardroom of meetings, but I say ‘get past the boobs,’ and listen to me because I think I can make us a lot of money.”

Presence and gravitas come up constantly in leadership feedback I review with clients, especially for women. It gets treated as something you either have or don’t. Dolly’s version of it had nothing to do with height, volume, or how much space she physically took up. It came from absolute clarity about what she brought to the table, stated plainly, without apology.

She Was Kind, and Never Let Kindness Be Mistaken for Softness

This is the part of Dolly’s story that sits closest to what I coach every day. Strong and kind were never opposites for her. She held both, constantly, without ever seeming to choose between them.

She was famous for warmth toward strangers, generosity toward people who’d wronged her, and a genuine delight in making others feel at ease. None of that stopped her from protecting her publishing rights, walking away from a mentor, or naming her own worth in a room full of men. She simply never confused kindness with letting people take from her.

That’s the whole premise behind Soft Skills HARD RESULTS. The soft skills were never the weak part. They were the load-bearing wall the results stood on.

She Let the People Around Her Be Exactly Who They Were

Dolly was married to Carl Dean for nearly sixty years, and he may be the most private man ever married to one of the most famous women alive. He skipped her film premieres, agreed to one photograph in decades, and once told reporters staked outside their home that he wasn’t Dolly’s husband, he was the gardener.

She never tried to change that. She built a public life loud enough for both of them, and let him build a private one, quiet enough for himself and them.

Leaders spend a lot of time trying to shape people into a single mould, one energy, one style, one way of showing up. Dolly’s marriage is a reminder that the strongest partnerships, at home or at work, often run on two people needing entirely different things and being allowed to have them.

She Gave, Relentlessly, Without Making It About Her

Through her Imagination Library, Dolly’s organisation has sent more than 300 million free books to children around the world. In 2020, a one-million-dollar donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center helped fund early research connected to Moderna’s Covid vaccine, something she only learned about after the fact, and downplayed when she did.
She earned an extraordinary fortune. She spent a striking amount of it making other people’s lives measurably better, then talked about it as though it were nothing unusual at all. Some of which we didn’t hear about until her death.

Be a Little Dolly

She spanned genres, generations, mediums, and borders, and somehow still felt personal to almost everyone who followed her. Creative and commercially sharp. Warm and completely immovable when it counted. Famous the world over, married to a man who wanted none of that fame for himself, and happy to let him have it.

She earned every bit of the respect she was given, and it showed in just how far the tributes reached.

Be a little Dolly. Know exactly who you are, say it before anyone else defines it for you, protect what’s yours, and stay kind while you do it.

If any of this resonates, Soft Skills HARD RESULTS is built entirely on that same idea: that softness and strength were never opposites, and the leaders who get the best results are usually the ones who stopped choosing between them.

What’s one thing about Dolly you’d want to borrow for how you lead?

Contracting turned in to the most useful exercise of the afternoon

The Moment an Eye Roll Turned into the Most Useful Exercise of the Afternoon

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

One person rolled their eyes when I introduced “contracting.” It looked, to them, like a slow, slightly pointless warm-up before the real work started.

By mid-afternoon, that exercise was the reason the whole session actually worked.

I recently ran a half-day team development session for a leader and his team -his four direct reports and their own teams, eighteen people in total. A back-office function, several distinct sub-teams under one leader, brought together to strengthen connection and to see clearly how their individual work rolled up to deliver the wider strategy.

Here’s what happened, and what it taught me, again, about how teams actually change.

Where the Team Started

The room opened with genuine positivity. People described good collaboration, an open and friendly culture, strong work ethic.

Underneath that, a few quieter truths surfaced too. Too much work. Newer colleagues who didn’t yet know the rest of the team. A tendency for a few voices to fill every silence.

Nothing unusual. The honest starting point most teams have, if you ask the right way.

An Icebreaker That Revealed More Than Small Talk Ever Could

We started by getting people physically moving, placing themselves along a comfort zone, stretch zone and panic zone, in response to a run of scenarios. Camping. Solo karaoke. Running a marathon in two months. Presenting to 300 people. Asking for help. Giving difficult feedback. Cooking a full Christmas dinner. Then, tied directly to the afternoon ahead, having an honest conversation with a colleague they’d never really worked with before.

We debriefed a few people after each round.

People saw, immediately, how differently their colleagues were wired. What felt easy to one person sat firmly in someone else’s panic zone. That alone opened up curiosity and bonding that no amount of small talk would have reached.

The Exercise Everyone Underestimates

Next came contracting. What does this group actually need from each other to get real value from the afternoon?

The list came together fast.

Do: listen fully, stay present, phones away, everyone contributes, be curious, be honest, be on time, assume positive intent.

Don’t: interrupt, dominate, run side conversations, multitask, blame, stay silent.

We went further. What happens if there’s a disagreement? If someone’s late back from a break? If one person dominates the room? We named, out loud, how the group wanted to handle each one.

This is the exercise people tend to dismiss. It looks soft, obvious, barely worth the time.

It looks that way right up until something happens.

Not long after, the group broke for a few minutes. A handful of people came back late. I named it, referencing what we’d just agreed as a group. A few nods. We moved on.

At the time, it looked like a minor, individual slip. It was actually the first half of a pattern nobody had noticed…yet.

Picturing What Success Looks Like

The bulk of the afternoon was a visioning exercise. Imagine it’s January 2027, looking back on the best year this team has had. What happened? How did you work together? How did it feel? What would other departments notice and say about you – individually and as a team?

We sent people into breakout groups to build this out together, with clear instructions: twenty minutes, then back in the room.

When the Theory Became Real

Most groups came back later than agreed.

A few people said, honestly, they hadn’t registered the twenty-minute instruction at all.

Put next to the earlier lateness at the break, this wasn’t one or two individuals having an off afternoon. It was most of the room, twice, in the space of a few hours.

That’s when I probed properly. We’d agreed being on time mattered. Did this happen at work too?

The room said yes, immediately.

With meetings and even work deadlines.

So we asked the harder question. You said on-time mattered. Why did you say that? The answers were honest. Respect. Not wasting other people’s time. For several people, it genuinely bothered them more than they’d admitted.

What’s your personal role in this dynamic? When do you ignore deadlines, or not even know what the deadline is?  When do you silently resent others for missing their deadlines to you?  Everyone had to reflect as everyone had created this dynamic – by action or silence.

Then the real question. Knowing that, how do you want to handle this back at work?

That’s when the room properly shifted. This wasn’t a couple of individuals with a habit to fix. It was a shared pattern, visible to everyone at once, and everyone recognised themselves somewhere in it. People weren’t just naming a value anymore. They were seeing, in real time, the gap between what they said mattered and what they actually did, and how that gap quietly let colleagues down, including themselves.

That’s what contracting is actually for.

From Vision to Behaviour

With the pattern out in the open, we went back to the visioning work and asked what behaviours would need to be true to get there. What would need to stop.

I pushed hard for specifics here. Real situations from their actual business, not abstract principles. Theoretical discussions are easy to agree with and easy to forget by Monday. Timekeeping, unsurprisingly, made the list on its own merit.

Turning Reflection Into Commitments

We closed with pairs, each person naming what they were taking from the afternoon and two things they’d do differently, then firming up what and when with an accountability partner.

Sub-groups then got specific. What are you actually going to do? When? And, tying it directly back to the pattern we’d just named, how do you stop that becoming a live issue again?

Finally, individual reflection. Yourself, your leader, your colleagues, what you were giving yourself permission for, and what you were genuinely committing to. Each person named one takeaway out loud, captured on a flip chart for everyone to see.

What Changed

At the start, everyone anonymously scored their optimism about the year ahead on a scale of 1 to 10. We repeated it at the close.

94% of people scored the same or higher. The average finishing score was 8.25 out of 10.

A feedback questionnaire is still to come, and I’ll be curious what surfaces once the afternoon has had time to settle. Early signs suggest something real shifted, driven less by any single clever exercise and more by eighteen people willing to look honestly at a pattern they hadn’t noticed they created.

What would your team discover if two small, unrelated moments were placed side by side, right now?

If your team could use a session like this, one built around real conversations rather than theory, I’d love to talk about what that might look like for you. Contact me here.

The Men’s World Cup Is Over. The Leadership Lessons Aren't.

The Men’s World Cup Is Over. The Leadership Lessons Aren’t.

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

Cape Verde is ranked 64th in the world. Spain is ranked 3rd. Cape Verde still walked away with the draw

What if the best leadership training you could give your team this year happened on a football pitch, thousands of miles away, and nobody sent an invite?

I watched this men’s World Cup the way I watch most things, as a coach and a fan. And I couldn’t stop seeing the lessons.

The teams that went furthest weren’t the ones who suppressed emotion. They were the ones who knew what to do with it. That’s the key to Emotional Intelligent Leadership.

Because everything senior leaders wrestle with, quietly, in one-to-ones and strategy offsites, played out in front of millions of people. Building culture fast. Handling adversity. Creating psychological safety. Making space for emotion at work.

Here is what I saw.

Competition Rarely Comes from Where You Expect

Spain arrived ranked 3rd in the world. Cape Verde arrived ranked 64th, with a goalkeeper who is 40 years old, ancient by footballing standards, and a central defender born in Dublin and recruited through LinkedIn.

Spain dominated possession. World-class players, textbook build-up, all the markers of certain victory.

Cape Verde still walked away with the draw.

Sound familiar? The senior leaders I coach often build their strategy around the competitor they can see. The market leader. The obvious threat. Rarely the small, resourceful team nobody’s watching.

Where is your Cape Verde?

Building Culture Fast, With People Who Don’t Share One

Almost a quarter of the players at this World Cup were born outside the nation they represented. Twenty-five of Curacao’s 26-player squad were born elsewhere entirely.

That is not a footnote. That is the job.

A manager has weeks, sometimes days, to take genuinely different cultures, languages and life experiences and turn them into a team that performs under the biggest pressure there is. Australia leaned into it directly, releasing a video celebrating the heritage and immigration stories behind their squad, rather than smoothing them into one flat “team culture.”

Most organisations still try to build culture by asking everyone to become the same kind of person. The World Cup is a reminder that the stronger move is building shared purpose across genuine difference, not in spite of it.

What’s the game your team is hoping to win?

Adversity Doesn’t Cancel Joy, It Sits Beside It

Canada’s ambition, at their last World Cup, was simply to score a goal. This time it was to win a game. At home in Vancouver, they beat Qatar 6-0 in their first-ever World Cup win.

Then Ismael Kone broke his leg in a challenge, mid-match, and the game paused around real human pain. He gave the fans a thumbs up as he left the pitch. His manager, Jesse Marsch, cried on the sideline. The teammate who replaced him held up Kone’s shirt after scoring. The opposing player who’d challenged him apologised, with no bad intention meant.

Canada finished the match 6-0, from 3-0 at the time of the injury.

That is not a story about resilience as gritted teeth. It is a story about a team that let itself feel the moment fully, grief and fight, side by side, and came out stronger for it.

Most workplaces still treat emotion as something to manage down before it “disrupts” performance. This suggests the opposite might be true.

What emotional journey is your team on?

Psychological Safety, Tested in Public

Belgium’s Jeremy Doku left the World Cup, with his team’s blessing, to fly home for the birth of his son. Some commentary condemned him strongly for it.

Think about what it took to even ask. At the pinnacle of his career, in front of the world, he trusted his team enough to say what he needed and expect it to be honoured.

Would your team ask you for what they actually need, or would they quietly manage without?

Rivals on the Pitch, Teammates Everywhere Else

At the end of England’s game against DR Congo, after England came back late to win, I noticed two players leaning into each other, talking, hands on shoulders. Not the quick, obligatory handshake-line contact. They had sought each other out.

It was Anthony Gordon and Yoane Wissa, opponents that night, teammates at Newcastle every other week of the year.

That’s worth sitting with. In most organisations, we call people “teammates” and mean it only loosely, because those same people are often quietly competing for the next promotion, the same budget, the same recognition. Rivalry and loyalty coexist all the time. Pretending they don’t is what makes relationships at work feel more complicated than they need to be.

Loyalty Is Earned, Not Assumed

Scottish fans donated $10,000 to a local children’s cancer charity as thanks for a city’s hospitality. Japanese supporters tidied their section of the stadium after their matches, as they always do, an act of quiet self-respect that I saw at the 2012 London Olympics as well. Iranian players left a handwritten thank you note for their host city, LA “May peace, respect and friendship prevail among all nations.      “

Ask yourself honestly. Are your clients that loyal to you? Are your people that proud to be associated with your organisation? Would they clean up after themselves, or go out of their way to say thank you, if nobody was watching?

The Real Lesson

None of this required a bigger budget or a longer strategy document. It required leaders willing to let people be fully human, competitive and kind, disciplined and emotional, all at once.

The teams that went furthest weren’t the ones who suppressed emotion. They were the ones who knew what to do with it.

That’s a leadership skill. It can be learned.

Which of these 6 hit hardest for you?

Why Your Team Isn't Taking Ownership (And What Your Role Might Be In It)

Why Your Team Isn’t Taking Ownership (And What Your Role Might Be In It)

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

Are you frustrated that your team keeps coming to you for answers?

Do you feel like projects only move forward when you push them?

Do you find yourself wondering:

• Why don’t they take ownership?
• Why don’t they show more initiative?
• Why aren’t they thinking ahead?
• Why am I involved in everything?

If so, you are not alone.

This is one of the most common leadership challenges I encounter coaching senior leaders and executive teams.

The symptoms are familiar.

You are in back-to-back meetings.

Questions arrive all day.

Decisions pile up on your desk.

You have no time for your strategic work.

You feel like the bottleneck.

You may even find yourself muttering the dreaded word:

“Micromanagement.”

Or your team might be muttering it behind your back.

The problem might be your team.

And it probably starts with you.

Sorry. 😉

My clients hear this from me all the time:

If you want your team to change, you have to change first.

That is where ownership starts.

The Killer Coaching Question

When a leader describes these frustrations, I always ask:

“What is your role in this dynamic?”

That question usually creates a pause.

Because most leaders immediately focus on what their team is doing wrong.

The breakthrough happens when they examine their own contribution.

A Real Leadership Example

I recently worked with a President and their Senior Leadership Team.

The President wanted more ownership.

More accountability.

More initiative.

More cross-functional thinking.

Less dependency.

Instead, leaders kept bringing problems upward.

Not recommendations.

Not options.

Problems.

The President wanted them to engage their peers, think systemically, and bring thoughtful recommendations.

Then something interesting happened.

In a separate 1:1 session, one of the Senior Leadership Team members complained about exactly the same thing regarding their own team.

“They keep coming to me for everything.”

I asked:

“Does this sound familiar?”

Lightbulb.

The President wanted him to step up.

He wanted his team to step up.

He suddenly realized the dynamic was repeating itself.

The leadership challenge was not isolated.

It was systemic.

This idea comes from systems thinking, popularized by thinkers such as Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline. Systems create patterns of behaviour that repeat across levels of an organization.

What happens at the top often cascades throughout the system.

The President changes.

The SLT changes.

Managers change.

Teams change.

Or not.

Why Leaders Create Dependency

Most leaders do not intentionally create dependence.

In fact, their intentions are usually positive.

They want to help.

They want success.

They want efficiency.

Common reasons include:

• You have done the job before
• You know the answer
• You can solve it quickly
• You want to be helpful
• You want quality outcomes
• You want consistency
• You are avoiding uncertainty

There are often hidden payoffs too.

Stepping in can provide:

• A sense of control
• Feeling needed
• Feeling knowledgeable
• Feeling powerful
• Being seen as supportive
• Immediate progress

Unfortunately, those short-term benefits often create long-term dependence.

The First Step: Define Success

Before delegating anything, get clear on what success looks like.

Many leaders skip this step.

Organizations have visions.

Projects have objectives.

Your delegation should too.

Ask yourself:

• What outcome do I want?
• What does good look like?
• What decisions can they make?
• What decisions remain mine?

The clearer you are, the easier it becomes for others to succeed.

The Seven Levels of Delegation

One of the most useful frameworks comes from Michael D. Watkins, author of The First 90 Days, and variants of delegation levels have also been popularized by leadership thinkers such as Jurgen Appelo and John C. Maxwell.

The principle is simple:

Not every task requires the same level of autonomy.

Think of delegation as a spectrum.

Leader Delegation Level Employee Autonomy

The mistake many leaders make is assuming delegation is all or nothing.

It is not.

The conversation should explicitly define where the task sits.

Match Autonomy to Capability

One critical factor often gets overlooked.

Does the employee actually have the skills to succeed?

If not, autonomy without support becomes abandonment.

Ask them:

• Do they know how?
• Have they done this before?
• What training is needed?
• Who can teach them?
• What resources are available?

Make skill gaps visible early. What do they need to do to be capable? What do you need to do to upskill them?

That creates learning rather than frustration.

The Hardest Part: Letting Go

For many leaders, delegation is not a capability problem.

It is an emotional one.

You know how you would do it.

You know how it should be done.

You know how to get there quickly.

The challenge is letting go of “the how.”

You can define:

• Why it matters
• What success looks like
• Boundaries and constraints

Then allow someone else to determine the path.

Their route may differ from yours.

That is often where growth happens.

For them.

And for you.

This Applies at Home Too

Parents understand this instinctively.

You do not teach a child to ride a bike by doing all the pedalling yourself.

You gradually transfer responsibility.

My Dad ran beside me holding my banana-seat until I was stable enough for him to let go.

The same principle applies at work.

Ownership grows through experience.

Confidence grows through responsibility.

Capability grows through practice.

Final Thoughts

If your team lacks ownership, accountability, initiative, or independent thinking, start by looking at the system.

Then look at yourself.

Ask:

“What is my role in this dynamic?”

That question may be uncomfortable.

It is also where change begins.

Leadership is not about having all the answers.

It is about creating the conditions where others can develop them.

The goal is not for your team to need you more.

The goal is for your team to need you differently.

Ready to stop being the bottleneck?

Soft Skills HARD RESULTS is a practical guide to exactly this, written for leaders who are technically excellent but want to get more from the people around them. Purchase the book here.

Anne on the Camino Trail April 2026

Leadership & Life Lessons on the Camino

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

There is something beautifully clarifying about walking.

Step after step, mile after mile, the noise begins to fall away. The Camino has a way of stripping leadership and life back to its essentials: how we pace ourselves, how we communicate, how we build habits, how we meet others, how we pay attention, and how we know when to keep going – or when to pause.

Leadership is often spoken about as if it happens in boardrooms, strategy sessions, performance reviews, and high-stakes decisions. And of course, it does. Yet leadership also happens in the small daily choices: the way we recover, the clarity we create, the habits we return to, the courage we show, the data we consult, and the boundaries we honour.

The Camino is not just a walk. It is a living metaphor for leadership and life.

1. EFFORT AND RECOVERY

The Camino teaches the relationship between effort and recovery.

Many leaders are comfortable with effort. They know how to push, achieve, deliver, stretch, and keep going. Themselves and others. I was one of those. Some have even been rewarded for ignoring fatigue. My client this morning has been – nominated for an award while having health issues.

However, the Camino does not let you ignore the body for long. Effort without recovery eventually becomes fatigue and then damage.

There is a difference between healthy stretch and unsustainable strain. Good leaders learn to recognise that difference in themselves and in others.

Recovery is not weakness. Recovery is part of performance. Rest, reflection, sleep, nourishment, and space are not indulgences; they are leadership disciplines. Each day I ate well to fuel myself and slept min 9 hours a night. I learned from the first night 8 hours wasn’t enough!

A team that only knows how to push will eventually fray. A leader who never pauses will eventually lose perspective. A culture that glorifies exhaustion will eventually pay for it in trust, creativity, health, and results.

The lesson: sustainable leadership requires rhythm. Effort matters. Recovery makes effort possible.

2. Clarity (sender) VS. Understanding (receiver)

Another Camino leadership lesson is about clarity from the sender versus understanding by the receiver.

This is one of the most important communication lessons in leadership.

Many leaders believe they have communicated because they have spoken, emailed, presented, or explained. Yet communication is not complete when the message leaves us. Communication is complete when it has been understood, received.

On the Camino, clarity matters. Directions, distances, meeting points, warnings, needs – all can be misread or misunderstood. A message that feels obvious to the sender may not land that way with the receiver.

The company we used to plan the journey wasn’t always clear. Our walking notes document said 18kms for one day while their app said 28kms – that’s a huge difference. We were confused, and that had us second guess some of the other info they gave us.

In organisations, the consequences are familiar. A leader says, “I was clear.” A team member thinks, “I had no idea that was the priority.” A manager says, “I explained the decision.” The team hears, “We were not included.” Someone says, “I gave feedback.” The other person leaves unsure what to do differently.

I’m working with a small departmental team next week about the leader wanting them to take more initiative, be more empowered, come to him less. Has he been clear about this? My experience say probably not as clear as he thinks.

The leadership move is to close the loop.

Ask:
“What did you hear?”
“What feels clear?”
“What still feels uncertain?”
“What support do you need?”
“What are you taking away from this conversation?”

The lesson: clarity is not what we intend. Clarity is what lands. If the action you wanted from that communication doesn’t happen, you weren’t clear enough.

3. DAILY HABITS, ROUTINES AND BEHAVIOURS

Another lesson from the Camino is about daily habits, routines and behaviours that deliver results – especially when it gets tough.

This is true in walking, and it is true in leadership.

When the day is easy, almost anyone can appear resilient. However, when the terrain changes, when the weather turns, when the body aches, when uncertainty rises – that is when habits reveal themselves.

The Camino rewards consistency more than intensity. You do not complete it in one heroic burst. You complete it by returning to the basics again and again: put on the boots, pack the bag, check the route, take the next step, hydrate, rest, repeat. I learned over the first days what to carry in my daypack, and what not to, how much to drink, and how often to stop along the way and then kept doing that day after day.

Leadership works the same way.

Strong leadership is not built only in dramatic moments. It is built in repeated behaviours: listening carefully, clarifying expectations, following through, asking better questions, regulating emotions, making time for reflection, and repairing trust when something goes wrong.

The lesson: do not wait until pressure arrives to discover your leadership habits. Build the routines now that will support you later.

4. TALK TO STRANGERS

As children, many of us were told not to talk to strangers. On the Camino, that rule gets challenged.

One of the great gifts of the Camino is the way strangers become companions. A conversation begins over a shared path, a blister, a coffee, a wrong turn, a beautiful view, or the simple question: “Where are you from?” or “What brings you here?”

Leadership is relational. It is not only about direction; it is about connection.

Talking to strangers is also a leadership practice. It asks us to be curious. To step outside our familiar circles. To listen without knowing someone’s title, background, status, or usefulness. To meet people as people.

In organisations, leaders can easily become insulated. They hear from the same voices. They rely on the same networks. They interpret reality through the same filters. Many employees forget about external networks until they start thinking of looking for a job outside their current company.

However, wisdom often lives at the edges. Insight may come from the person closest to the customer, the newest team member, the quietest voice in the room, or someone outside our usual world entirely.

The lesson: curiosity expands leadership. Talk to people beyond your usual path. And ask curious questions.

5. DATA

One of the Camino lessons is deceptively simple: Are you tracking the right data, and is your data right?

On a long walk, data is everywhere. Distance walked. Kilometres remaining. Steps taken. Weather. Time. Elevation. Energy. Pain. Pace.

Not all data is equally useful though.

A leader can become obsessed with what is easy to measure while missing what actually matters. Revenue, deadlines, dashboards, engagement scores, productivity metrics – these can all be useful. And they are only part of the picture.

The deeper leadership question is: What story is the data telling, and what story might it be hiding?

On the Camino, a step count might say, “You are making progress.” Your body might say, “You are pushing too hard.” A map might say, “Only a few kilometres left.” Your emotions might say, “You are depleted.” Both forms of data matter.

In leadership, the same is true. We need hard data, and we also need human data: morale, trust, energy, hesitation, creativity, courage, silence. The best leaders learn to read both.

The lesson: measure what matters, yet do not confuse measurement with wisdom.

6. BORDERS, BOUNDARIES AND LIMITS

Crossing from Portugal to Spain on the Camino naturally raises questions about borders, boundaries and limits.

Some borders are visible. Others are invisible. Some are helpful. Others are inherited, assumed, or overdue for review.

We literally did a 15 min boat ride across the water to go from Portugal to Spain, no passport check, no big signs on either side; we went from one path to another. We had to remember the language changed 😉

Leaders work with boundaries all the time: role boundaries, emotional boundaries, time boundaries, decision boundaries, cultural boundaries, ethical boundaries, and personal limits.

The challenge is knowing which boundaries protect, which boundaries constrain, and which boundaries need to be renegotiated.

Healthy boundaries create clarity. They help people know what is expected, what is acceptable, what is theirs to own, and what is not. Without boundaries, teams can drift into confusion, resentment, overreach, or burnout.

And leadership also requires examining limits. Sometimes we discover that a limit is real and must be respected. Sometimes we discover that a limit was simply a story we inherited.

The Camino asks: Where is the edge? What changes when you cross it? What do you carry with you? What do you leave behind?

The lesson: boundaries are not barriers to leadership. Used well, they are part of mature, conscious leadership.

THE CAMINO AS A LEADERSHIP MIRROR

The Camino does not offer leadership lessons as theories. It offers them through lived experience.

A long walk asks questions that every leader eventually faces:

Do you balance effort with recovery?
Is your communication truly understood?
Do your habits support the person you want to become?
Are you willing to be curious about people you do not know?
Are you paying attention to the right signals?
Do your boundaries create clarity, care, and courage?

Leadership is not a destination we arrive at once and for all. It is a path we walk, step by step, choice by choice, conversation by conversation.

The Camino reminds us that progress is often made through ordinary actions repeated with intention.

One pause.
One clearer message.
One reliable habit.
One conversation.
One wiser signal.
One better boundary.

Buen Camino.

From Insight to Action

From Insight to Action – Why Leadership Change Doesn’t Stick

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

Most leaders do not lack insight.

They lack follow-through.

You have likely experienced this. I have.

You attend a leadership programme.
You read a book.
You receive thoughtful feedback.

You leave with clarity, energy, and good intentions.

Then work resumes. Pressure builds. Old habits return.

Nothing really changes.

This pattern is not unusual. It is one of the most consistent challenges in leadership development.

Insight feels like progress.
Action creates progress.

The gap between the two is where leadership change breaks down.

Why insight alone is not enough

Leaders today are not short of knowledge.

They know they should:

• communicate clearly
• delegate effectively
• build trust
• give feedback
• listen more

The issue is not awareness. It is behaviour under pressure.

Research in behavioural science shows that under stress, people revert to habitual responses rather than newly learned behaviours. This is because habits are cognitively efficient and require less mental effort.

In leadership terms, this means:

• a leader who intends to coach defaults to telling
• a leader who values collaboration makes fast solo decisions
• a leader who wants to listen interrupts

Not because they lack capability.
Because habits win when pressure rises.

The ‘knowing-doing’ Gap

This challenge is well documented.

Research by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton describes the “knowing-doing gap.”

Organisations and leaders often know what works.
They struggle to implement it consistently.

Their conclusion is simple:

Knowledge is not enough to produce change.
Behaviour must be actively managed and reinforced.

This is where most leadership development efforts fall short.

The real barriers to change

Through coaching leaders across industries, four barriers appear consistently.

1. Lack of real-time awareness

Leaders recognise patterns after the event.
Change requires noticing them in the moment.

2. Competing priorities

Leadership development is important.
It rarely feels urgent.

3. Habit strength

Default behaviours are fast and familiar.
They have been reinforced over years.

4. Lack of structure

Insight without a system leads to drift.

None of these are capability issues.
They are design issues.

A simple framework to move from insight to action

Leaders who successfully change behaviour tend to follow a simple pattern.

1. Define one behaviour

Not “be better at communication.”

Instead:

• Ask one open question before sharing your view
• Pause before responding in a difficult conversation

Clarity creates traction.

2. Attach it to a trigger

Behaviour change is more reliable when linked to a moment.
For example:

• Before every meeting
• After every 1:1
• When you feel challenged

Research on habit formation shows that contextual cues significantly increase the likelihood of behaviour change sticking.

3. Reduce the size of the change

Leaders often try to change too much at once.
Focus on:

• one behaviour
• one setting
• one week

Small changes repeated consistently create lasting impact.

4. Build accountability

Behaviour change rarely happens in isolation.

• Share your focus with a colleague
• Ask for feedback
• Work with a coach

External reflection accelerates internal change.

The role of systems

Leadership behaviour is shaped by the environment.

Research from McKinsey & Company consistently shows that organisational systems influence whether leadership behaviours stick.

Consider:

• What gets measured
• What gets rewarded
• What gets ignored

If leaders are rewarded only for results, behaviours such as listening, coaching, and inclusion are deprioritised.

Systems drive behaviour more than intention.

What I see in practice

In leadership programmes, the most valuable moment is not the insight.
It is the decision that follows.

When leaders ask:

• What will I do differently this week?
• Where will I apply this?
• How will I measure it?

That is when change begins.

In one recent programme, participants focused on one behaviour.

Within weeks they reported:

• more effective conversations
• improved team engagement
• greater confidence in their leadership

The shift was not knowledge.
It was application.

A question for you

Think about the last leadership insight that resonated with you.

A book.
A course.
A piece of feedback.

What changed as a result?

If the answer is “not much,” you are not alone.

This is not a lack of intent.
It is a gap in execution.

Turning reflection into results

Leadership development is not about collecting ideas.

It is about changing behaviour.

Reflection creates awareness.
Action creates results.

The leaders who grow are not the ones who know the most.

They are the ones who apply what they know, consistently, especially when it is uncomfortable.

If you are ready to turn insight into real change in your leadership, the next step is a conversation.

I offer a complimentary session, often called a chemistry session, to explore where you are, what you want, and whether we are the right fit to work together. You don’t need the answers – we figure that out together.

If this resonates, book your session here and start translating reflection into results.

We should not need International Women's Day

We should not need International Women’s Day

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

The fact that we do tells us something about leadership.

Each year, this day March 8th brings mixed emotions.

Gratitude for the women in my life past, present, and future.

Sadness that structural inequality remains visible.

Hope that leadership and individual choices can accelerate change.

A line from my academic friend Martha Maznevski stays with me –

“when we make workplaces better for women, we make them better for everyone.”

This insight extends to many marginalised groups.
If leadership designs better systems for those with fewer advantages, everyone benefits.

Some people call this Inclusive Leadership – whatever you call it; we can all make a difference.

Workplace and economic disadvantages

The data continues to highlight uneven outcomes.

  • The global gender-pay gap remains at around 20 percent.
    Source – International Labour Organization, Global Wage Report 2022–23
  • Women hold around 10 percent of CEO roles in Fortune 500 companies.
    Source – Fortune, 2024
  • Mothers experience lower pay and slower progression following parenthood, often referred to as the motherhood penalty Sources – Office for National Statistics, 2023, Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2016
  • Women report higher levels of burnout and job insecurity in many sectors.
    Source – Deloitte Women at Work, 2023
  • Women are underrepresented in senior leadership across most industries.
    Source – McKinsey and LeanIn, Women in the Workplace 2023

Health, safety, and financial disadvantages

Beyond work, the data remains stark.

  • Women’s pain is more likely to be underestimated and undertreated in healthcare settings.
    contributing to delays in treatment and poorer outcomes.
  • Sources – The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, 2001, King’s College London, 2022
  • Women face higher rates of misdiagnosis for conditions such as heart disease.
    Source – British Heart Foundation, 2022
  • Financial insecurity remains higher for women across the life course.
    Source – OECD, 2023
  • Women are disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence.
    Source – World Health Organization, 2021

Strengths and advantages often overlooked

Alongside these disadvantages, the strengths women bring remain significant.

  • Women have higher rates of tertiary education attendance and completion globally.
    Source – UNESCO, 2022
  • Women live longer on average than men.
    Source – World Health Organization, 2022
  • Women demonstrate higher levels of workplace engagement in many surveys.
    Source – Gallup, 2023
  • Women report finding significantly more meaning and purpose in their work than men, with the gap having increased over the last two decades – suggesting a growing focus on purpose and impact rather than only transactional work.
    Source – Columbia Business School, 2023
  • Women show stronger risk management and long-term investment behaviour in financial decision-making.
    Source – Barclays, 2020
  • Women build and sustain stronger social networks, supporting wellbeing and resilience.
    Source – Harvard Study of Adult Development

Progress exists.
Disparity persists.
Leadership and individual choices shape the pace of change.

Personal Reflection – where I find hope

I choose to hold a positive lens alongside realism.

Where I find hope is in the women around me.

My choir friends who share joy, laughter, and collective breath.
My book clubs who expand my thinking & share ideas and perspectives I would not have considered.
Friends across countries who challenge, support, and celebrate me.
My coaching clients who show courage, vulnerability, commitment, and humour.
My chosen sisters who stand beside me through quirks, stumbles, and growth.

These networks matter.
They shape resilience.
They strengthen leadership capacity.

The research shows women build strong social networks.
My lived experience reflects that truth.
I am healthier, happier, and richer in experience because of these relationships.

Leadership Lessons

Leadership is shaped by the systems we design.
The data shows where those systems fail many women (and others, of course).
The relationships show what strength looks like when people are supported.

Key leadership lessons emerge.

• Designing for inclusion improves performance for everyone
• Structural barriers shape individual outcomes
• Community strengthens resilience and courage
• Progress requires sustained leadership attention
• Allies accelerate change across organisations

Leaders influence policies, norms, promotion pathways, health support, and psychological safety.
Leadership impact compounds through everyday decisions.

Ideas for action going forward

Leaders can take practical steps.

• Audit pay, progression, and performance systems for bias
• Design flexible work practices that support caregivers across genders
• Create sponsorship pathways for women into senior roles
• Train leaders to recognise historical patterns and visibility gaps
• Measure wellbeing and burnout across teams
• Support networks and communities inside organisations
• Invite men into active allyship roles
• Track outcomes over time and adjust systems accordingly

These actions support women.

They also improve organisational health, engagement, and performance.

Closing reflection

I remain grateful for the women in my life.
I remain hopeful leadership and individuals can accelerate change.
I invite men to join this work as partners in building better systems for everyone.

If this reflection resonates, DO 1 action this month to strengthen equity in your workplace or life.

If you want practical tools to support inclusive leadership, contact me here and I will share resources leaders use to turn intention into impact.

 

Anne on the 1% Club Valentine's Show 2026

“Use Your Voice More” – What Leaders Are Really Being Asked to Do

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

“Use your voice more.”

If you have ever received this feedback or something like it, you are not alone.
Most leaders hear it and still have no idea what to do with it.

Last month, I shared a LinkedIn post about writing to three political party leaders.

It was a small act of voice in a public space.

Not loud.

Not dramatic.

Intentional.

That moment prompted several conversations about what it means to use your voice with clarity and courage. It also connects to a pattern I see often in leadership development work.

“Speak Up.”  “Need to hear your voice more.”

It is one of the most common pieces of feedback I see in 360-degree reports for leaders.

It is also too vague.

I review many 360s each year as part of my leadership coaching and training work.

This feedback appears more often for women, though it shows up across genders. That raises an important question.

Is this useful developmental feedback?

Or is bias shaping what is being said to women?

Often, it is a mix of both.

What stands out is not the feedback itself.

It is the lack of clarity behind it.

Rarely does the comment explain what “use your voice” actually means.

It could refer to:

  • Speaking with more volume
  • Varying tone and inflection
  • Building confidence to speak
  • Knowing how to interject in fast, loud meetings
  • Using fewer words, or more
  • Framing points with greater authority
  • Being heard by senior leaders

These are different skills.

Without specificity, leaders are left to guess what to change.

The Bias Layer We Need to Acknowledge

Research highlights that women face a double bind around voice and presence. Research shows:

  • Women are interrupted more often than men in meetings.
  • Women who speak assertively are more likely to be labelled abrasive, while men are more likely to be seen as confident or assertive.
  • In mixed-gender groups, men tend to speak more and are perceived as more influential, even when women contribute equally.

So, when women receive feedback to “use your voice more,” the context matters.

Are they actually quiet?

Or are they being overlooked?

Each requires a different response.

Leadership Voice Is Not About Volume

Leadership voice is not about speaking louder.
It is about presence under pressure.

I was reminded of this in a very different context when I appeared on The 1% Club quiz show.
The lights were bright.
The sound felt louder in person.
The technology was unfamiliar.
The pressure was real.

What helped was grounding myself.
Regulating my breath.
Focusing my attention.
Choosing when and how to respond.

Leadership voice shows up in moments like these.
It is composure.
It is clarity.
It is intentional presence when the environment becomes noisy.

From Vague Feedback to Useful Development

If leaders receive feedback about voice, the next step matters.

Instead of “use your voice more,” consider:

  • In which situations is this leader not being heard?
  • What would effective voice look like in those moments?
  • What behaviours would we notice if this improved?
  • What is the environment doing to enable or crowd out contribution?
  • Are we rewarding volume, or impact?

Voice is not a personality trait.

It is a skill set.

Skill sets can be developed when they are named clearly and practised intentionally.

What Leaders Can Practise

Leaders who want to strengthen their voice can experiment with:

  • Preparing one clear point before key meetings
  • Saying their contribution early in discussions
  • Pausing before speaking to regulate pace and tone
  • Watching where energy rises or drops in the room
  • Ask open questions
  • Asking for specific feedback on what lands and what does not

Small changes create noticeable shifts in presence.

If feedback about your leadership voice has felt unclear or unhelpful, I can help you translate it into practical actions.

Contact me here and quote ‘VOICE’  and I will share a simple exercise to strengthen your presence in high-pressure moments.

 

Be Intentional About 2023: Create Your Future

Be Intentional About The New Year: Create Your Future

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

With the old year behind us and the lengthening of daylight each day, my positivity says things can only get better. Now is the time to think and dream about the new year 🥳. What would you like to intentionally create for yourself this year? By thinking about what you want to create in your life this year and how you want to BE as you do those things, it just might be the hope you need to get through these darker months.

Now there are people out there that say they don’t want to plan; they want to accept what comes along spontaneously. If they plan they think they’ll take the fun out of life or miss what comes along. Why not have both? Think what you want in your life and be open to the serendipity that comes along.

Just like a company has a vision and strategic plan, or at least successful companies, you as an individual would do well to have a vision and strategic plan for your life. This isn’t about making New Year’s resolutions, those don’t work. This is simply about thinking about what you want and being intentional about having more of that in your life.

The photo here is my business partner, Sue, and I doing our reflection, lessons learned and creation this year at a very nice spa hotel. That’s how much we are committed to this exercise, as we’ve done it every year for probably over a decade.

Lessons Learned

In last month’s article I suggested reflecting on last year which you can reread here The self-reflection was to capture the successes, achievements and celebrations and release the failures, disappointments and regrets. From those reflections of the past year, what are the lessons you’ve learned?

What matters to you?

What do you want more of in your life? Less of?

If you could have a do-over of something within your control this past year, what would you do differently?

Think baby steps, what are some qualities you’d want more in your daily life (humour, fun, depth, lightness, purpose, consciousness)?

Even if you don’t do the reflection exercise you can still do this next step…

Create Your Future

With everything you’ve learned from last year now create a captivating vision for next. Think about the following questions. As you think about the next 12 months also think about how you want to feel. What would excite you about the year? It’s not just what you want to achieve, it’s also about how you want to feel and be.

What do you want in the year ahead? Think of all aspects of your life – family, work, personal, financial, health, fun, spiritual, relationships, etc.

What are you tolerating that you’d like to change in the next year?

What would you add more regularly to your life for more enjoyment, fun or fulfilment?

What is something you’d do this year if you didn’t care what people thought of it/you?

If this year was a chapter in the book of your life, what would this next chapter be called/what would its title be?

Things I’ve been thinking of for this year are: more joy, laughter, singing, delivering a new leadership program with a colleague, gratitude and lightness.

Capturing Your Vision – Vision Board or Something Else?

Now that you’ve thought of the various aspects you’d like, you have an idea of the overall theme (from your chapter title) and some qualities or characteristics you’d like to experience more, it’s time to pull them all together.

There are a few options for how to do this however, first why do this? Because we know that by engaging the creative part of your brain there’s more chance of following through than just relying on willpower.

1. Make a vision board – this is the most popular suggestion although this doesn’t appeal to everyone. Find images (from the internet, canva, pintrest, magazines, draw) of the things you’ve just identified and put them together (on a poster, on-line). It’s essentially a collage, so you have a visual reminder of your aspirations for the year. This is what I chose to do this year, as there were pictures of me from the year that were ‘what I want more of’ this year so I’ve included them 📋.

2. Write a list – so you can refer to it periodically through the year to plan your intentions into your schedule 🧾.

3. Pick some music that represents your theme and qualities – play it often . A friend of mine has chosen “I’m Coming Out” as her song, I’m still looking for mine. Any suggestions around fun, release or letting go would be very much appreciated 🎶.

4. Draw yourself a picture – this is what I’ve done for many years. I draw images and words for the coming year and at the end a central image usually emerges that I then photograph as my phone wallpaper 🖍️.

There’s no right or wrong way to capture your visioning, do what appeals to you most or create your own idea and let me know what that is. Once captured, plan how you can work towards including those new aspects into your life, in small incremental steps.

This year will pass (if you’re lucky; the alternative is sad and not pleasant) like every other year. To have an idea of how you want it to be better or different than last year requires visioning and then action. Take the time to dream, it doesn’t have to be long or all at one time. Then live the vision through reminders, action and inspiration. And enjoy whatever else comes along the way!

I’d love to hear about your theme, vision, images and ideas if you’d like to share them with me or how you felt trying this exercise.

Book a COMPLIMENTARY coaching session with me here for some guided visioning time – and some practical tips for how to achieve that vision. What would make you more effective and fulfilled at work and personally?

Before 2025 Ends, Take a Moment for This

Before 2025 Ends, Take a Moment for This

Posted on | by Anne Taylor

The holidays are at our heels! Where did the -BER months go?

If you know me it’s that time of year – COMPLETION OF 2025

Over the holiday season, I reflect about the past year and I invite you to do the same.

Reflect on the personal, professional and organizational (if relevant to you) aspects of your life.

What were your highlights of 2025?

What was the difference you made in 2025?

What were the biggest challenges you overcame?

How did you grow over the year?

What did you learn that you can take forward?

I’ll stretch to share some of my reflections with you here:

Some of my highlights:

  • Joyful, active 60-4-60 activities with friends (Zip World, Scafell Pike, walking marathon, theatre shows, archery, axe throwing),
  • My choir, both the singing and the friendships that have come out of that,
  • My singing teacher for his knowledge, compassion and appreciation,
  • Having time to choose, especially with friends (fun and heartfelt)
  • Pleasure and gratitude of giving my Christmas baking to people,
  • My amazing coaching clients for their openness, trust, appreciation.

Some challenges:

  • Life-impacting health issues of my friends,
  • Siloed health practioners and system,
  • Taking rest and time for myself,
  • Working through old responsibility patterns.

The differences I made:

  • Supporting friends and strangers,
  • Inspiring clients by challenging and championing them,
  • Being called a good friend,
  • Encouraging people through my activities,
  • Making people laugh.

One learning I’ve identified:

Mid-Sept to November was very busy for me because of 2 big work commitments with travel, Halloween (I make my own costume and treats), Christmas prep (letter, cards, baking, social media), and my team’s similar commitments.  We are going to identify a plan well in advance to alleviate any stress.

Give reflection a try, it’s worth it – for the joy, for the pride, for the improvements, for the hope.

I’d love to hear your reflections – what are you proud of?

Have an amazing holiday break – whatever you celebrate – and Happy New Year!

Enjoy every moment to the end of 2025 before jumping ahead to 2026.

🧭 If you’d like help reflecting or making sense of your year, contact me here. I’m happy to explore it with you.