by Derek Percival | Sep 29, 2026 | Confidence & Authenticity, Tips
Every time you shrink to make others comfortable, you confirm the belief that you’re too much. I’ve noticed a pattern across years of working with leaders — particularly women, though not exclusively. The ones who are most capable often occupy the least...
by Derek Percival | Sep 29, 2026 | Mindset & Beliefs, Tips
This is one of the distinctions I return to most often in coaching. Not because it’s complicated. Because it’s simple in a way that takes a long time to actually live. Most leaders I work with are, at some level, trying to control both — the effort and the...
by Derek Percival | Sep 22, 2026 | Mindset & Beliefs, Tips
I spend a lot of time on trails. And I’ve taken a lot of leaders on them over the years. There’s a moment on every hard trail where someone asks when it gets easier. Usually somewhere in the middle, when the initial energy has gone, and the end isn’t...
by Derek Percival | Sep 22, 2026 | Mindset & Beliefs, Tips
I was working with a senior leader who had been fighting a decision his organisation had made for nearly ‘eight’ months. He wasn’t fighting it externally, but internally he was exhausted. Every conversation kept circling back to why the decision had...
by Derek Percival | Sep 16, 2026 | Boundaries & Accountability, Tips
The version of you that says “no” isn’t meaner. It ran out of playing the social performance of wanting to be liked.