Global Leadership Foundation

01/09/2026

Recently a colleague was telling me about a conversation with her manager that had gone badly. She had experienced her manager speaking over her in meetings with a resulting feeling of neither being heard nor having her opinion valued. Recognising the possibility that the manager was not even aware of this, my colleague had mulled over the situation for some time before deciding to raise the issue with him.

When she finally did meet with him, she was careful to raise the issue in an above-the-line manner. That is, she was open and honest about what she was experiencing, the impact it was having on her and what she needed in that situation. While being clear that that it was important to her that she was heard in meetings, she took care not to appear that she was blaming the manager for his behaviour.

Despite this approach, she did not get the response she hoped for. Instead of being listened to and the issue acknowledged, with the manager agreeing to an ongoing conversation, he just rolled his eyes and walked away.

‘I was above the line and being honest,’ my colleague told me. ‘So why did it go so badly?’

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Recently a colleague was telling me about a conversation with her manager that had gone badly. She approached him to talk about it in an above-the-line manner, but didn't get the response she was hoping for.

04/08/2026

It was with much sadness that I heard the recent news of the passing of John ‘Jack’ Zenger at the age of 94. Many of you won’t know of Jack, but he and his work were instrumental to my move into leadership development back in the 1990s, and they continue to influence everything we do at Global Leadership Foundation.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I worked as the human resources manager at Brown Brothers Wines in regional Victoria. Towards the end of that time, as Brown Brothers was undergoing significant growth, we brought in a consultancy called Zenger-Miller, cofounded by Jack, to support the culture change we were making. In particular, we needed to support all levels of leaders in the organisation to work together more effectively in what was no longer a small company.

This work would be my first exposure to what I would come to understand as ‘vertical development’. Instead of just ‘training’ our leaders in specific skills such as conflict management or managing priorities (horizontal development), Zenger-Miller’s work focused on expanding our ways of thinking, recognising and enabling others to be their best and seeing what is possible when we work together.

At the heart of their work were The Basic Principles that had been developed by Jack and his business partner Dale Miller.

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It was with much sadness that I heard the recent news of the passing of Jack Zenger at the age of 94. Many of you won’t know of Jack, but he was instrumental to my move into leadership development back in the 1990s, and his work continues to influence what we do at Global Leadership Foundation.

22/07/2026

If you've ever wondered whether it's harder than it should be – the being the only woman in the room, the feeling you have to prove yourself twice – you're not imagining it, and it was never a failing on your part.

The research is clear that the barriers women face in male-dominated fields are built into the systems, not the women. That's actually good news: it means the answer isn't becoming someone else. It's growing into more of who you already are, with people around you who get it.

That's what 'Women: Made For This' is for.

'Women: Made for This' is, with the support of the Government of Tasmania, offering 40 women a free, fully subsidised workshop series spread over four months. Applicants are particularly sought from those who may have limited opportunities to participate in leadership programs otherwise.

The program will deliver transformation in two ways: it develops women's leadership capability through immersive self development, mentoring and peer networks; and at the same time it supports employers to make changes to workplace systems and culture to enable women's progression.

Leadership is understood here as a practice, not a position. The focus is on understanding yourself, deepening self-awareness, emotional health and adaptive capacity — and on engaging others to achieve success, acknowledging that leadership carries an obligation to communities and the wider world.

The program will be led by Global Fellow Mel Maddock, along with Dr Lisa Schimanski, in partnership with Global Leadership Foundation. It will run from from August to December 2026 with modules in Hobart, Launceston and online. Participants will also be supported by a mentor.

Applications are now open, until 26 July, 2026. Visit womenmadeforthis.com.au for more information and to register.

Made For This delivers transformation in two ways: It develops women's leadership capability through immersive self development, mentoring and peer networks; and at the same time it supports employers to make changes to workplace systems and culture to enable women's progression.

15/07/2026

In the excellent and very moving documentary 'Prime Minister' (Netflix), which tracks the prime ministership of former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, there is a point after the horrific Christchurch mosque shootings where Ardern reflects on her own feelings at the time.

"When I was told that [the shooter] was an Australian who purposely came in to target our Muslim community in some kind of attempt to create a war amongst people, or to other them, I remember feeling just so angry. I mean you're devastated at what's happened, but at the same time I just felt angry. But I genuinely questioned whether or not I was allowed to show emotion like that. My job was to be a calm voice, the voice who shared the facts."

This is an excellent example of what we were discussing in last week's blog post, 'What those ‘negative’ emotions are really telling us'. Ardern allowed herself to be angry, and then to channel that anger into centring herself and remaining focused on her connection with the Muslim community, and on subsequently pushing through substantial gun reforms in New Zealand. Using her anger in this way allowed the Muslim community to genuinely felt heard, while also giving her the impetus to act from groundedness.

It was an authentic, emotionally healthy response to the situation she and her country found itself in.

In our work with leaders, one of the most common misconceptions we encounter is the idea that the goal of emotional health is to move beyond ‘difficult’ emotions such as anger, fear and unworthiness

13/07/2026

"The barriers women face are not deficits in women. They are features of workplace cultures, power structures and leadership norms — and they can be changed."

Are you a woman who works in a male-dominated industry in Tasmania? Are you in a leadership position (at any level) or aspiring to be so? Are you an employer of women in a male-dominated industry?

If so, 'Women: Made for This' is for you. The program, sponsored by the Government of Tasmania, offers 40 women a free, fully subsidised workshop series spread over four months. Applicants are particularly sought from those who may have limited opportunities to participate in leadership programs otherwise.

The program will deliver transformation in two ways: it develops women's leadership capability through immersive self development, mentoring and peer networks; and at the same time it supports employers to make changes to workplace systems and culture to enable women's progression.

Leadership is understood here as a practice, not a position. The focus is on understanding yourself, deepening self-awareness, emotional health and adaptive capacity — and on engaging others to achieve success, acknowledging that leadership carries an obligation to communities and the wider world.

The program will be led by Global Fellow Mel Maddock, along with Dr Lisa Schimanski, in partnership with Global Leadership Foundation. It will run from from August to December 2026 with modules in Hobart, Launceston and online. Participants will also be supported by a mentor.

Applications are now open, until 26 July, 2026. Visit womenmadeforthis.com.au for more information and to register.

Made For This delivers transformation in two ways: It develops women's leadership capability through immersive self development, mentoring and peer networks; and at the same time it supports employers to make changes to workplace systems and culture to enable women's progression.

09/07/2026

We are looking for a number of female Tasmanian leaders to act as mentors to participants in an upcoming free leadership sponsorship program in support of women in male-dominated industries in Tasmania.

'Women: Made for This' will run between August and December 2026, with modules in Hobart, Launceston and online. Supported by the Government of Tasmania, there will be about 40 fully subsidised places available.

Each participant will be matched with a mentor for the full duration of the program. Mentors will offer individual support, share their experiences of navigating leadership in complex environments, and help participants connect their learning to real workplace challenges.

Your commitment would be one 60-minute session per month for the duration of the program (August–December) and attendance at a 1.5-hour online mentor orientation on 20 August (6:00pm–7:30pm).

We are looking for experienced women leaders who have navigated male-dominated workplaces and are willing to invest in the next generation. You do not need a formal coaching background, what matters most is genuine commitment, relevant experience and the ability to listen well.

For further information on the program and the mentorship element, visit our website at womenmadeforthis.com.au

07/07/2026

In a number of recent blog posts, I have touched on the notion that the emotions we commonly associate with being below the line – anger, frustration, defensiveness and so on – are not ‘unnatural’ in and of themselves.

In our work with leaders, this is one of the most common misconceptions we encounter: the idea that the goal of emotional health is to move beyond such ‘difficult’ emotions. That we should somehow graduate from anger or frustration or self-justification into a state where these feelings no longer bother us.

That’s not quite how it works. The aim isn’t to eliminate these emotions but to understand them well enough so they can do the job they were always designed to do. It turns out that when these same ‘negative’ emotions are operating from a place of emotional health – when we are above the line – they have a great deal to offer.

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In our work with leaders, one of the most common misconceptions we encounter is the idea that the goal of emotional health is to move beyond ‘difficult’ emotions such as anger, fear and unworthiness

30/06/2026

We're excited to let you know that Global Fellow Mel Maddock, along with Dr Lisa Schimanski and in partnership with Global Leadership Foundation, will be delivering a Tasmanian Women's Leadership Scholarship Grants Program this year and next. Applications are now open, until 26 July, 2026.

Fully funded opportunities are available for women in your organisation to participate in the 2026 program, 'Women: Made for This'. There are around 40 fully subsidised places available, supported by the Tasmanian Government (Department of Premier and Cabinet).

The program is for women in male-dominated industries and their employers – where those women may be a minority of the workforce or hold a minority of leadership positions. Applicants are particularly sought from those who may have limited opportunities to participate in leadership programs otherwise.

This program is designed to deliver transformation in two ways:
• Developing women's leadership capability through immersive self-development,
mentoring and peer networks; and
• Supporting employers to make changes to workplace systems and culture to enable
women's progression.

The program will run from from August to December 2026 with modules in Hobart, Launceston and online. Visit the link below for more information and to apply.

Delivered between August and December 2026 in Hobart and Launceston. The program moves from the personal to the systemic - building from within. Each module includes a guest speaker who will share their story and act as provocateur for a dynamic facilitated discussion. Participants receive a resourc...

05/05/2026

Anyone who’s lived through the entire life of the public internet of the last 30 years will probably remember when Google arrived on the scene. Launched in 1998, Google made searching the internet fast and efficient. It was also clean and uncluttered, presenting us with a blank white screen, a search box and the Google logo – nothing else.

In 2000, the company developed an advertising model and things started to change. By understanding what individual users were searching for, Google could target specific ads to specific users. They could offer a far more efficient mode of advertising than the traditional ‘broadcast’ model of television ads, newspaper ads and billboards.

Over the first quarter of this century, the advertising models and the algorithms that drive them have become more and more sophisticated. Meanwhile, the parallel evolutions of social media and smartphones have led to a saturation of targeted ads that is very difficult to escape.

In the context of our world and the concepts of emotional health and the Enneagram, these ads are playing on a basic fear that each of us holds as part of our personality. We share these basic fears in our book Working with Emotional Health and the Enneagram.

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Slipping into a lower level of emotional health can make you vulnerable to falling for the 'tricks' of many online ads. These ads play on a basic fear that each of us holds. If we can stay above the line, we can reduce our chances of being taken advantage of.

07/04/2026

There’s a perspective on emotional health that we haven’t discussed a lot in our blog. It’s the role of emotional health in ‘bigger issues’, by which I mean societal or global issues.

Often when we talk about choosing our responses and staying above the line, it is in the context of personal relationships, such as between a leader and their team members. Staying above the line in this context means avoiding blame, denial, self-justification and defensiveness in a given situation, and rather taking personal responsibility for your responses.

However, what about the situation where, say, a world leader is taking actions that make us angry or frustrated, where blame feels easy to attribute and where we have little or no control over what is going on, sometimes ‘in our name’? Are we ‘failing’ if we feel these emotions? What does an emotionally healthy response look like in this case?

The first point to make is that emotions like anger and frustration, and the desire to blame or to deny or to defend, are all perfectly natural.

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What’s the role of emotional health in ‘bigger issues’ - in societal or global issues as opposed to those between, say, a leader and their team? Are we failing if we fall below the line when a world leader is making us angry, and when we have little or no control over what is going on ‘in ou...