Blog

Historically, we’ve had some amazing women leaders, from Elizabeth I to Oprah, women have inspired other women across the centuries and proved that we can achieve our goals.  Not that aspirations and achievement come easy. The excitement of being in charge is often a great motivator to succeed, but the responsibilities attached to being a successful leader, on top of those commitments in your personal life, can be challenging for many women.  Associated […]

Negotiation. It can seem like a dark art to many. It’s undoubtedly an underutilised skill. However, the art of persuasion is just another life skill, the same as any other and anyone can learn how to negotiate well.   The thing to remember is that negotiation isn’t all about getting your way or playing ‘hardball’: it’s about opportunities to influence others and achieve […]

I consider myself very lucky in my career. From working in media at the BBC when I first left university to today being an M.D. in a globally recognised training and development organisation.  Why? Because along the way, I have had mentors on hand to help, support, cajole and guide me along the path.  So, […]

Over the past few blog posts and podcasts, we have explored various topics to stimulate your thinking.   From the challenge of becoming self-aware as a leader, to changing first. Today we want to continue this conversation by looking at curiosity.  Indulge me as I share a couple of my favourite quotes by Albert Einstein on the subject of being curious:  […]

“Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”  Tony Robbins    When I first became a leader, I genuinely thought that no matter how small or big my team, I was supposed to have all the answers.  When a volcano erupted creating an ash cloud that grounded flights, I […]

With wellbeing and work–life balance being on many organisations’ agenda, a question we are continually asked by the leaders we train is how can people achieve more by working less?  To clarify the ‘less’ our participants are referring to is, how do we ‘get it all done’ in our working week without having to work late every night and then start […]

In one of our last posts, we talked about the need to develop yourself as a leader who has a high EI or emotional intelligence. By definition, you would expect that this also includes your ability to be a great leader who understands the need to be aware of an ill thought through communication or side comment, which isn’t necessary. It’s easy […]

Over recent posts on the Excel Communications blog, we have discussed various ways to improve your leadership capability.   You’ll notice a theme which revolves around improving your level of self-awareness alongside developing your courage and connection.  Today I want to discuss something which underpins all of these suggestions, and that is the quest to develop your EQ (Emotional Quotient) which […]

I read a story recently about a well-known UK comedian, author and Radio 4 presenter called Sandi Toksvig, who studied Anthropology at university. One day a professor held up a photograph of an antler bone with 28 markings on it.  “This,” said the professor, “is alleged to be man’s first attempt at a calendar,” Toksvig admitted that she and her fellow students looked at the bone in admiration.   […]