Welcome to the tenth edition of Cadence Catch-Up!
I’d like to mark this milestone by extending a huge thanks to the more than 250 followers that now view the Cadence Catch-Up. If you’re liking what you are reading, please drop me a note, or tell your friends and colleagues about it. The more people who are passionate about leadership issues and getting the most out of your work life experience, the better!
As we head into the Easter break (for those that celebrate it) and school holidays it’s a good time to draw breath. From many discussions I have with clients and colleagues, it’s clear there are some very tired people out there. If not physically, then certainly mentally. While I’m not suggesting a fortnight holiday with the kids will cure all our ills, it’s a great opportunity to reflect on what’s really important in our lives, and draw energy from that to take into the second quarter of 2023.
WHY THE SILICON VALLEY BANK COLLAPSE WAS A FAILURE OF RISK MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
At the start of March, many people (myself included) had not heard of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Very soon it was the hottest story on the planet. It served as a stark warning that bank collapses in 2023 look different to the last material wave in 2008. In this self-authored piece, I look into the risk management AND strategic failures that underpinned SVB’s collapse, and unpack why “responsible growth” is a concept all leadership teams and boards should be considering.
COACHING YOUR TEAM AS A COLLECTIVE
Small group coaching continues to grow at pace. As a leadership coach, it’s that valuable time where participants can share their individual stories about leadership successes and challenges, support their colleagues, and learn from one another. The trust that builds from these settings – with authenticity, logic and empathy at the heart of it – molds leaders together. And it doesn’t always require a facilitator! I’d love to hear from followers who can relate to what they read in the recent HBR article by Siang and Canning.
YOU CAN FIND SILVER LININGS IN LAY-OFFS
Never a pleasant topic, but one we hear and read about with more frequency. As I observe from this article by Megan Tatum in BBC Worklife, a lay-off should never define you. It is simply a point-in-time decision. Lay-offs always take time to recover from, and while the obvious thing is to start looking for a new job the very next day (I’ve been there!), my advice looking back is – don’t. Take some time to reflect, think about what you’d really like to do next, and plan accordingly. This need not take months and months – but it will take support and belief in your skills.
WRITERS’ CORNER
Normally I reserve this space to promote good podcasts I’ve heard, but something different this month. Last week I attended the Newcastle Writers Festival. An excellent event. I’ve two books in hand that I’m looking forward to reading for different reasons – Dr Norman Swan’s So you want to Live Younger Longer? and Indira Naidoo’s The Space Between The Stars. The former, because it examines the often-overlooked value of emotional connection as a marker of longer life; and the latter as a reflective piece on the value of really stopping and finding the beauty of the environment around us. I’ll comment more next month!
ABOUT LEWIS
Cadence Leadership Advisory is a leadership development business specialising in coaching people, team leadership and development, strategy review and organisational culture.
Its Founder, Lewis Williams, has over 25 years of leadership experience gained through senior roles at NAB, HSBC and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. A Graduate of AGSM@UNSW, a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), and an Approved Advisor with Advisory Board Centre, he instigated and drove development of the 2021 paper “Organisational Culture: Beyond the Intangible” with other alumni of the AICD. He is also an accredited CultureTalk practitioner, a training and development platform that activates the framework of personality archetypes for the growth of leaders, teams, brands and cultures.
FOUNDER: Lewis Williams
EMAIL: lewis@cadenceleadershipadvisory.com.au
MOBILE: 61 (0) 477 371 665
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-williams- cadenceleadershipadvisory/
