THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ARTICLES

At the senior executive level, the air is thin, and the stakes are high. When a General Manager or C-suite leader looks for a sounding board, they aren’t looking for someone to ask them how they feel about a problem. They are looking for someone who has survived the same storm.
For years, the coaching industry has focused on certifications. But for a leader managing a complex region, a shifting market, or a multi-million dollar P&L, there is only one metric that matters in a coach: Lived Experience.

In any high-performing executive team, you are dealing with Titans—individuals with immense drive, significant track records, and, inevitably, high levels of ambition. Many board members are constantly watching the career clock, eyeing the top job with intensity.
When ambition is left unmanaged, the boardroom shifts from a place of collective strategy to a theatre of individual agendas. The result? A lack of cooperation trickles down, creating silos and stalling organisational growth.

Middle managers are often treated as a people issue. A morale issue. A training issue. A nice-to-have development issue.
But for CFOs, COOs and HR leaders, the real question is sharper: what does an under-supported middle manager actually cost the business?

Middle managers usually don’t announce that they are overwhelmed. They keep attending the meetings, answering the emails, fixing the problems and protecting their teams. From the outside, they may look busy but in control. That is why many businesses miss the warning signs.

In many Australian boardrooms, there is an unspoken rule: certain things simply aren’t talked about. Famous management psychologist Adrian Furnham calls this the “Conspiracy of Silence.” It’s a survival mechanism where powerful adults avoid uncomfortable emotional issues—like succession planning, interpersonal friction, or a CEO’s “dark side” traits—by simply pretending they don’t exist.
But for a high-stakes executive team, silence isn’t golden. It’s expensive.