As humans, we are never not in language – we speak, listen, think and act in language. As a leader, your language is never innocent; there’s intention in everything you say.

Integrity, rightly so, is held to be a virtue of great leaders. But what does the word mean? It originated from the Latin word, integra which means ‘whole or complete’.

John Maxwell, a renowned leadership expert, once said, “a leader is one who is most like themselves.”  Having reflected, ask yourself, ‘so, who am I as a leader?’

I’ve come to recognise that leadership in teams is more organic and less ordained. There are three sources to the organic leadership in teams; it is either claimed, granted or owned.

We’re addicted to addition – we’re conditioned to think and talk about doing more, learning more, getting more and achieving more.

On my morning run, I overheard a person venting about her working arrangements and how unfair and unjust she felt her situation was compared to her colleague.

At a recent leadership workshop I facilitated, a participant asked, “I keep hearing about humble leaders, what does it mean to be a humble leader”?

During the holiday, I read Peter Hawkin’s latest book, ‘Beauty in Leadership and Coaching’ – it’s one of his best. On page 116, he asks the question, ‘What can (I) we uniquely do that the world of tomorrow needs?’

I hope you had a fun filled and replenishing break and my best wishes to you and your loved ones for 2025. For the past decade, as a family, we each declare a word to guide and support us as we move through the year.

As we move towards 2025, I want to take this opportunity to thank you and all the other remarkable leaders and teams I’ve had the privilege and pleasure to work with and learn from this year.

The best advice I ever received from a mentor was to, “be the leader you wished you had.”

Ultimately, every decision is a choice between either-or.