A few weeks ago I was again reminded (by a client) that while I like to think of dirty tricks in the workplace as being petty politicking, the damage created by these short-sighted malicious techniques is huge. Some 15 years after the publication of 21 Dirty Tricks at Work, they are pretty much all just as relevant as they always have been. Which is perhaps why the book (published in 2005) is still selling at very respectable levels. My goal is that Read More

Video Transcript (watch here): After over 15 years of working in the field of influence, helping a lot of people to become far more influential, it's understandable that I come a little bit complacent about why it is worth doing, and why people should aspire to ever greater levels of influence. This showed up in an interview recently when I was asked, "Colin, okay, so what are the big personal benefits that people can gain by becoming more influential?" After all, it does take time, energy, learning, investment to be able to become more influential. So, is it worth it? And particularly for busy people. Here's my response, the three big benefits that I believe people get when they become more influential. Read More

Recently I was helping a client to get moving on figuring out the politics around his work. He is working through the modules on the Impact and Influence Programme. He has knuckled down and done an excellent job, delivering some pretty massive projects/programmes, but has become isolated from the political world. Part of the learning experience. We were discussing ideas on how he can do this more easily. There is a lot of ideas on what to find out contained in the course video tutorials, but even so, this is often easier said than done. Here are a few suggestions I gave him, that may be useful for you too: Read More

A lot of people are probably on the belief that they should treat other people as they wish to be treated themselves, and that's wrong. There's a big mistake in this. Why? Well, frankly because Read More

Forgive me, at times I have a tendency to be a tad blunt. If you’ve been loitering here with me for a while, you will recognise this as my passion for straight-talking – with the very best of intentions for your success. So, here goes… Read More

One of the dimensions on the influence profile that you may be familiar with is Emotional Control. What we're saying in the influence profile is that basically if there is a big difference between your preferred default behaviours, and the individual you want to influence, there's likely to be a distraction creep into the interaction, into the communication. Instead of thinking about what you are saying, they're thinking about what you're doing, and the way that you're doing it. Which means that your influence is likely to be degraded. Read More

There is an aspect of leadership that is rarely talked about that offers huge potential in terms of performance. It is highly valued by team members, essential to the organisation, and fun to do. But most leaders are making mistakes in this area that could cost them dear. Read More

For years, the division between personal and professional life has been questioned. For years, the dominant view is that it is useful/necessary to maintain that split. Now, things could be changing – fast! Several discussions recently have highlighted the problem of trust. There is growing cynicism of national political leaders' facade of probity. Private lives Read More