"I feel too encouraged," — said no one. Ever. Yet countless people are burdened with self-doubt. Which is why a few well-timed words of encouragement can make a profound difference. Encouragement isn't soft. It's a superpower - and research backs it up. In this episode, I explore why encouragement is like verbal sunshine and why giving it generously doesn't just lift the person receiving it, it transforms the person offering it too. I share the story of a new mother who nearly turned down the career opportunity of a lifetime until one phone call changed her mind, why one of America’s greatest CEO’s made encouragement a core leadership practice, and how speaking into who someone ‘can be’ - rather than their present fear - can help them close the gap between where they are and where they're capable of going. If you want to be the kind of person others want to work with, work for, or just have more of in their life, this episode will remind you that you hold more power to impact others than you may sometimes think.

The Courage Gap — Available on Amazon + independent bookstores ⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Gap-Steps-Braver-Action/dp/1523007249⁠⁠

The LinkedIn Course ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/learning/activating-courage-transform-discomfort-into-bold-confident-action

We are not living through a period of change in higher education. We are living through a change of era — and while educational leaders see it coming, centuries of tradition run deep, anchoring them in place at the very moment bold action has never mattered more.

As generative AI rewrites the rules of the workforce at breathtaking speed, a degree alone is no longer enough. The question facing every university leader today isn't whether disruption is coming - it's whether they'll have the courage to lead it, or be flattened by it.

Sharon Pickering, Vice-Chancellor of Monash University - one of the world's top 50 and Australia's largest, with a growing global footprint - has the courage to say what others won't: the old educational models are broken, complacency is a slow death sentence, and imitation is the fastest route to irrelevance.

In this conversation, Sharon makes the case for what higher education must become - and why getting there demands institutions to disrupt themselves and dare to reinvent education for the 21st century. We explore what it really means to equip today's young learners for a world being remade in real time, why distinctiveness is a survival strategy and not a branding exercise, and why Monash's founding mission of social and technological transformation has never felt more urgent.

If you care about the future of education, the leaders we're shaping, or what it takes to turn a bold vision into reality, this one's for you.

The Courage Gap — Available on Amazon + independent bookstores ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Gap-Steps-Braver-Action/dp/1523007249⁠

• The LinkedIn Course ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/learning/activating-courage-transform-discomfort-into-bold-confident-action

We live in a world that constantly invites comparison. Every time we pick up our devices, our newsfeeds flood us with curated images, updates, and highlights from everyone else’s lives. It’s designed to capture our attention—but all too often, it leaves us feeling “less than,” stoking insecurity and fueling endless comparisons.

Comparison is human. Decades of research show it’s part of how we navigate the world. But when we measure our insides against other people’s outsides, or our weaknesses against their strengths, it drains our creativity, our energy, and our focus. It also shortchanges everyone else of what we might otherwise bring to the world (much less ourselves!)

I’ve been there—more times than I care to admit. But over time, I’ve learned something powerful: no one else has your unique combination of talents, experiences, opportunities, passions, and hard-won wisdom. No one is positioned to make the impact you can make, right where you are.

Your race. Your lane. Your pace. It’s time to stop scrolling, stop comparing, and start running your own best race.

• Stop letting comparison steal your confidence. Learn how to bravely run your own race and close the gap between your doubts and your potential. The Courage Gap — Available on Amazon + independent bookstores https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Gap-Steps-Braver-Action/dp/1523007249
• The LinkedIn Course ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/learning/activating-courage-transform-discomfort-into-bold-confident-action