Leadership Fuel 1: Decisions & Conversations

Here is your fortnightly Leadership Fuel newsletter – a dose of clarity and insight for a complex and distracted world.

1. A word from us
Despite the seemingly infinite dimensions, subtleties and nuances of leadership, at its core leadership is about decisions and conversations.
If you do nothing else, focus your time, effort and energy on how to improve the effectiveness of your decision-making and conversations.

Activities to improve your decision-making:

• Keep a decision journal to reflect on and improve the process you use to make decisions.
• Meditate: This is perhaps the single most high-leverage activity you can undertake to improve the quality of your emotional regulation, higher-order cognition and capacity for complex problem-solving.
• Use a disciplined approach when making important decisions. For tips and ideas check out the article on strategic decision making under the Fuel for Thought section below.

2. A question to consider

“What question lies at the heart of your work?
– Otto Scharmer

3. Fuel for thought



A book to read

+ Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps: How to thrive in complexity – This short but powerful read by Jennifer Garvey Berger offers practical ideas and strategies to overcome 5 leadership mind-traps: the desire for simple stories, our sense that we are right, our desire to get along with others in our group, our fixation with control and our constant quest to protect and defend our egos.



An article to check-out

+ A structured approach to strategic decisions – This article by Daniel Kahneman & co. sets out a disciplined process to overcoming biases and making effective decisions.



Podcasts and videos to watch

+ Clayton Christensen: on disruptive innovation & competing against luck – This editorial contains an excellent collection of the best ideas and work from the great Clay Christensen who passed away this week. Clay will be remembered for his fresh thinking and pioneering work in the realms of business strategy and leadership.



+ Eric Weinstein & Tom Bilyeu: The power of mindset and learning – In this wide-ranging conversation on learning & mindset, Tom & Eric explore an array of topics including overcoming learning disabilities, consciousness, creativity, language and parenting.

4.  A final thought to ponder

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan

Thank you again for choosing to be part of our community and we hope you find great value in this newsletter.
Warmest regards,
Alex & the Adapt Leadership team