Alicia Curtis

Best Books for Aspiring Board Directors

March 30, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 28 April and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

One of the questions I get asked often is my recommended reading list for aspiring or new board directors. Please note these recommendations are skewed very much for Not-For-Profit boards as that’s where my experience lies. I am also a big book nerd who loves reading about the processes, culture and people that make boards work effectively. A book to me is like an intimate chat with the author, listening to their knowledge and experience on a subject, and what better topic than boards to soak in the wisdom and experience of others!

Eyes Wide Open by Robyn Weatherley

This is a fantastic book and if you’re a new or aspiring board director, you should definitely check this one out now, go!

I interview the author, Robyn Weatherley in the Board Ignition course as she has written my number one recommendation for new and aspiring directors! I love Robyn’s book as it is jam packed with great information and advice. And it’s easy to read too!

Difference Makers by Dr Nicky Howe and Alicia Curtis

I have to plug my own book, right?

This is a great read on an emerging issue for ALL board directors – the beauty and brilliance of diversity in the boardroom. It shares the story of how the Engaging Young Leaders on Aged Care and Community Boards was started and also delves into the research to prove diversity is an advantage in the boardroom.

Not-For-Profit Board Dilemmas by Julie Garland McLellan

Julie is an Australian governance expert and her books are pure gold! Not-For-Profit Dilemmas gives you fantastic NFP case studies on regular issues that might be faced along with two expert opinions following each case study providing perspectives on what to do or should have been done.

101 Boardroom problems and how to solve them by Eli Mina

Oh, the boardroom can be an interesting place!

There is such a range of challenges that can plague the boardroom and Eli gives you a succinct and easy to read overview of all of them and some strategies to overcome them too. All great boards are striving to improve, this book gives an aspiring or new director an overview of the challenges that can and will occur on all boards so you can pinpoint and act appropriately.

Building Better Boards: A Blueprint for Effective Governance by David A. Nadler, Beverly Behan, Mark Nadler

I found this a really interesting and useful read about what makes top boards tick. The only caveat I would make is that it is a little dated now being written in 2005 and it’s also written for an American corporate context. That being said, I did find it easy to read and had many strategies that would be useful in the NFP context too.

Directors at Work: A Practical Guide for Boards by Geoffrey Kiel, Gavin Nicholson, Jennifer Ann Tunny and James Beck

This is a great reference book for board directors in Australia. It is a hefty book but this means it’s thorough. It includes the governance processes and procedures as well as the behavioural dynamics that support good governance. You definitely need at least one reference book like this in your collection. I highly recommend this be the one.

These are just a few…

Of course, there are many, many books on board governance, culture and the Not-For-Profit sector. Shout out too to a colleague, Paul Smith over in the eastern states of Australia on releasing his new book, Right Seat, Right Table too.

I would love to hear about the books you’ve come across in my Facebook group, Alyceum Leaders.

4 Strategic Reasons to Support Your Staff to Seek a Not-For-Profit Board Position

February 24, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

Are you keen to join a community board but looking for ways to engender support from your workplace? I’ve got just the thing!

Skills-based volunteering is a very smart choice for leading businesses. It’s meaningful, connected, and clearly beneficial for the person, business, and community. Corporate community involvement is a strategic imperative. Especially in a world where people are increasingly selective in the businesses they buy from, who they work for, and who they invest in.

Indeed, supporting employees to seek and contribute to a community organisation through sitting on a board is an excellent win-win-win situation. Both for the community organisation, employee, and business. Corporate community involvement has evolved significantly from a nice add-on for a business to a strategic opportunity for providing serious value to businesses and their people too.

This White Paper will explore four strategic reasons why employers should encourage their staff, especially their emerging leaders, to serve on the boards of community organisations.

1. It contributes to your corporate social responsibility
2. It is an incredible learning and development opportunity 
3. It can energise employees and enhance engagement
4. It builds trust, relationships, and reputation

“If building a more committed, engaged, creative and energetic workplace is high on your company’s agenda, then corporate volunteering might be the foundation of your staff retention and development program.”
Deborah Mobberley, The Centre for Volunteering, NSW Volunteering

Register your details in the box below to receive the White Paper. It’s a perfect way to showcase the case study to get support from your workplace to support your involvement in a program like Board Ignition.

Board Ignition is an exceptional program to support professionals to explore the opportunity of serving on a community board and understanding the role, expectations and time/knowledge required.

“I am pleased an experienced professional like Alicia Curtis is reaching out to potential directors of NFPs in a way that will help individuals decide whether a move into this type of role is right for them. Not everyone enjoys stepping back and looking at the big picture while at the same time providing quality governance oversight for often inadequately resourced NFP organisations. It can be very satisfying but if it is not the right fit on both sides it can be an unhappy experience. A great initiative.”
— Erica Smyth AC
Professional Company Director

Choosing your Best Emotional Response

February 17, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

Emotions are contagious!

Which is why it is so important to understand how we process them especially when we are leading others. Our emotional brain seeks cues from the people around us. So, once we begin to know our emotions and patterns of behaviour, the next stage in practicing emotional intelligence is learning how to manage ourselves.

Consequential thinking is a great tactic to begin processing emotions in a constructive way.

Applying consequential thinking takes three easy steps:

Pause: Give your body time to register the emotion.
Evaluate: Compare this scenario to your intrinsic goals.
Respond: Act with intention rather than reacting.

Consequential thinking can vastly help in reducing internal and interpersonal conflicts as it steers us away from behavioural patterns that breed stress, tension and uncertainty. Does this sound familiar in your workplace?

A leader who calmly overcomes disagreements and challenges will be better for their team than a manager who is challenged by their emotions.

It can help in the following ways:

Less tension and conflict standing in the way of performance.
Constant team building and trust.
A safe environment that allows new ideas to flourish.

Dealing with fear and anger

Stress-causing emotions such as fear and anger can have consequences for our health, taking years off our life expectancy and diminishing its quality. However, fear and anger are inevitable parts of our professional lives, so they should not be suppressed or viewed as weak either. This will only lead to the escalation of these feelings. These emotions arise when our emotional brain perceives a threat, so let’s try to decode them.

Fear

“Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, your fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if you explore them.”– Marilyn Ferguson, Author

As Marilyn says in the quote above, feelings of fear are inevitable just like sickness. The same way our immune system learns how to deal with an illness, we can learn about our fears and the best way to approach them. Firstly, when experiencing fear, we need to know ourselves well enough to discern whether the ‘threat’ is coming from our internal or external environment….

Internal environment examples

Past negative experiences.
Personal insecurities.
Unrelated influences (family, lifestyle, etc.) causing a negative mindset.

External environment examples

Potential problems that need to be pre-emptively dealt with.
Choices that do not align with our goals.
Challenges we are not prepared for.

Think about it for you – when was the last time you experienced fear? Where was the fear coming from?

Regardless of the source, fear is leading us to identify what stands in the way of achieving our goals. It is a very useful tool and we have no choice but to use it!

Anger

Just as fear is giving us hints about what stands in our way, anger tells us that we want to act on an obstacle. We might be less likely to act on fear, as a common expression of fear is backing away from a problem. However, anger can cause us to react too quickly and make things worse.

Moderation is key to stopping anger from escalating into a crisis – yes, that’s right, stop, take a breath, go for a walk, drink a glass of water or anything that allows you to pause and take a break. This is the time to consider the consequences of the actions you are considering – but don’t get me wrong, you won’t want to do this!!

A helpful exercise – Body, mind, heart scan

A body, mind, heart (BMH) scan is a useful meditative exercise for identifying, analysing and proceeding with emotions productively. Paying attention to these three areas will improve our emotional intelligence and capacity to deal with fear and anger.

Body: what physical sensations are you feeling, and where?

Mind: what are your thought patterns? Where is your attention focused?

Heart: what are some of the feelings you are having?

In summary…

The effects of our emotions on others cannot be overstated. All people, especially leaders, need to be aware of the consequences of their feelings and expressions on the people around them.

Difficult emotions like fear and anger are, in fact, telling us really important information about the situation. It is not the emotion that should be avoided, rather the crises that they are warning us about. Being able to observe our own emotions rather than succumb fully to them is what you want to practice.

Emotions, health and performance are all interconnected: positive emotions improve performance and health, negative emotions can hinder performance and health. These relationships continue to reinforce each other without intervention so let’s think about what emotional state we want to aim for and how we can cultivate in our personal and professional lives!

4 Steps to Unlocking Your Potential with Emotional Literacy

February 10, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 25 February and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

Isn’t life an emotional rollercoaster at times? Do you feel that and wonder, how can I not get caught up in my emotions all the time? It’s true, gaining emotional literacy is the key to unlocking your inner awareness and untapped potential.

It’s about starting to think, feel and act more intentionally rather than just react to life.

We all experience emotions constantly, but it is rare that we understand exactly what they are and what they are telling us. We don’t realise it, but our emotions are a source of endless information about ourselves, the people around us and the environments we’re in! The trick is to observe them more!

So, what is emotional literacy?

Emotional literacy is not just having general knowledge about emotions but becoming fluent in your very own emotional language.

Developing emotional literacy allows you to:

Improve your problem-solving skills.
Make more informed, emotionally intelligent decisions.
Become a better leader and team player.
Learn vital information about your thinking and behaviour.
Strengthen your relationships with others.

Deciphering Emotions

In The Heart of Leadership, Joshua Freedman tells us that all emotions fall on an intersection of two continuums: pleasantness and intensity.

So your emotions range from pleasant to unpleasant on one continuum and from mild to intense on the other. The location of an emotion on these two continuums can dictate your decision-making, how you perceive and respond to others and your performance. This is why it is so important to have emotional literacy so you can be aware and place your emotions. Test the truthfulness of what you’re feeling or whether you need to shift emotions to see the issue differently.

The following steps are a starting guide to learning and interpreting your emotions.

1. Realise your emotions are assets

As a culture, we tend to deal with our emotions in a very unproductive way. We stifle them because we think they are weak or ugly, or we respond to them in a way that is unhelpful.
Wouldn’t you like to experience your emotions guilt-free and actually benefit from them? It sounds too good to be true, but it is possible.

Your emotions are letting you in on the very nuanced details of your life:
‘You didn’t get enough rest on the weekend’.
‘This person does not seem trustworthy’.
‘You should work on more projects like this’.

In Essentials of the Human Brain, John Nolte explains that the limbic system, or the emotional brain, is responsible for providing input from our surroundings and to indicate how our body is doing. It sends this data around the body and you feel emotions as physical sensations. How amazing is that?

It’s time to stop thinking about emotions as obstacles and realise they can move you in new and exciting directions.

2. Stop ignoring emotions

The next step is to stop ignoring your emotions. Have you ever had a feeling in your chest during tense or uncertain circumstances? Does that feeling ever go away without a change of some sort? Perhaps not.

If nothing changes, unpleasant emotions like stress, fear and anxiety can grow in intensity. Our brain just gets more desperate to have its message heard and acted on. If you feel apprehensive about a big meeting one week prior and don’t do anything to better prepare yourself, you will surely feel terrified one hour before.

On the other hand, pleasant emotions need to be followed up. If you feel happy about something, that is a great indicator that you should keep doing it!

3. Start to name your emotions

Now that you’ve started paying attention, you can start thinking about and speaking about your emotions more explicitly. It’s amazing how much of a difference it can make to pause and think or even speak about what you are feeling!

When you name an emotion, you’re acknowledging that it’s there, opening up a channel to begin considering that emotion. Sometimes, naming an emotion is powerful enough to change the direction of a situation. As you make this a habit, you’ll notice yourself becoming more present in each moment as your inner dialogue begins to change.

4. Understand the wisdom of your emotions

Once you have developed your emotional literacy, you can begin to better understand how your emotions are sharing wisdom that your mind hasn’t caught onto yet.

You can also start to observe emotional patterns, triggers, shifts and their strength. Don’t judge, just observe. Track particular emotions over a time period – consider emotions you want to have more and less of. Expand your emotional vocabulary by naming your emotions and see how you can express your emotions through conversation, art, writing or music.

It takes time to learn the language

So, the more you listen to your emotions consciously and learn to understand them, the more you can see personal and professional growth. Well-developed emotional literacy takes time and practice. Be gentle with yourself!

Continue to imagine what you might achieve when you know how to work WITH your emotions rather than AGAINST them!

Five ways purpose can help in tough times

February 3, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 25 February and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

The reality is everyone experiences tough times in their lives. The trick is to build your resiliency so the tough times don’t beat you! One thing that you’ll often find common in resilient people is the presence of purpose in their lives. That’s right – having a purpose in life can help! No one’s life journey is without detours, failures, setbacks, and challenges. Whether it is work challenges, anxiety, stress, unstable personal life, health challenges or family issues, having a purpose makes it all easier to bear.

5 ways purpose can help in tough times

1. Purpose Gives Us Clarity

Don’t get me wrong, having a purpose won’t solve your problems and it won’t ward off the tough times either (sorry). A purpose simply provides you with clarity when everything else might be spiralling out of control.

In his book, Rick Warren says, “when life makes sense, you can bear almost anything; without it, everything is unbearable.”

This clarity driven by purpose will make you unstoppable. Come rain or shine, you know what you want and nothing can sway you from it. You’ll see the obstacles only make you stronger and help you achieve your goals.

2. Purpose Leads to Emotional Recovery

University of Wisconsin’s Department of Psychology, conducted a study to find out the correlation between purpose and negative emotions.

The study discovered that having a purpose in life, helps us reframe stressful situations and allow us to deal with them in a more productive manner–leading to recovery from even severe stressful and traumatic episodes in life.

“How might higher levels of purpose in life contribute to the ability to recover from aversive and unpleasant events? Additional research is needed. However, having greater purpose in life may provide motivation to constructively learn from and reappraise negative events in an adaptive manner and avoid brooding and ruminative tendencies, so as to quickly refocus on one’s goals and purpose.”

Like the study suggests, a purpose in life allows us to build up a resilience muscle that keeps us strong even during hard times. You won’t find purpose-driven people being gloomy and ominous during challenging times, you’ll find them directing all their energy and focusing on recalibrating!

3. Purpose Gives Us a Greater Will to Live

Wow – this is impressive!

One study researched the connection between purpose with our physical, biological and neural health and what did they find…

“The present results showed that higher purpose in life was associated with greater use of preventive health care services and fewer overnight hospitalisations above and beyond the effects attributable to depression, anxiety, and negative affect. This outcome underscores the important point that psychological strengths, such as having meaning and direction in one’s life, involves more than being free from emotional distress.”

So greater purpose can encourage us to utilise preventative health care services and less hospital visits. That sounds good to me!

4. Purpose Helps Us Make Decisions and Smart Ones at that

“Like a compass, purpose offers direction for individuals when making decisions and formulating life goals.” – McKnight and Kashdan, 2009

Stuck on what decisions to make in life?

Researchers, McKnight and Kashdan “proposed five roles that purpose in life fulfils, namely: stimulating behavioural consistency, generating target motivated behaviours, stimulating psychological flexibility, fostering efficient personal resources allocation, and applying higher-level cognitive processing.”

In short – when we have a purpose in life, we are able to execute stable thinking processes and instead of taking impulsive decisions out of grief or stress or anxiety; we make smarter decisions.

5. Purpose Gives Us Hope

Last one is my favourite!

Purpose gives us goals, and goals give us hopes of achieving it with hard work and commitment. It motivates you to set higher expectations for yourself and your future.

In the book, Making Hope Happen, author Shane Lopez shares that having hope can be broken down into three areas: Goals, Agency and Pathways.

You have a goal to inspire you, the agency to believe you can achieve it and the pathways to know that no matter what obstacles you face, you’ll get there.

Time to seek your purpose?

Finding out the purpose of your life has the potential to change everything.

You’re clear about what you truly want and desire in your life, you know what matters to you, and you are constantly striving for that goal. It serves as a strong base in your life and whatever comes at you, this base will always be there to support you lest you fall.

Are you ready to be guided through a self discovery process to understand yourself so you can get on with the important work of cultivating your best self and improving the world around you? Register now for the Purpose Masterclass.

Four practical experiences to help you form your life purpose

January 27, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

Want to carve out time and space for thinking and reflection in 2020? Join me once a month online for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Our next gathering is on the 28 January and you can use the coupon bemyguest to try it for free for the first time. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

For years I’ve been helping people uncover a truly meaningful purpose in life. There are a number of truly wonderful reflective (research based) activities you can do to demystify purpose, break it down, understand it and start to form it for yourself. This is your life’s work to keep focused on it and refine it to give you meaning in your life.

I love it so much that I developed a three week online course about it called the Purpose Masterclass, where I walk through through these reflective activities as well as practical challenges to get you not only thinking and reflecting but talking with others, stretching yourself and doing stuff – to help you uncover your purpose in life!

In this post, I wanted to share four practical activities that will help you in your journey to purpose as they have done in mine.

1. Volunteer

“If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.” – Kofi Annan, seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Volunteering has been the BIGGEST pathway to purpose for me. I started volunteering as a ten year old in my school environment club and I’ve never stopped. The picture to the right is me at my first international conference representing my community project and country!

It’s allowed me to see the challenges in the world and focus on how I can contribute to them. It’s given me a platform to develop my skills and master my strengths. It’s offered me the opportunity to meet and develop friendships with some incredible people from around the world! The list goes on.

Finding a cause that it not focused on you but other people (or animals or our environment) taps into a deep force of energy in our lives.

How to start?

There are many websites that can connect you with volunteering opportunities. If you have no idea where to start – try a few out to see what really connects and engages you.
See if your family, friends or workplace are involved in any volunteering projects.
Get a group of friends together and find a place to volunteer as a group.

2. Travel abounds

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustav Flaubert, French novelist.

Whether it’s a regional town in Western Australia, a very large city in China or the regional communities of Italy, my travels have taught me so much and maybe most importantly it’s taught me that how I live is not the only way to live.

There is a huge world out there. Taking the time to explore how people live their lives gives us greater understanding of our own culture, values and norms. It highlights our own worldview and hopefully allows us to gently uncover how you came to that worldview.

Another way that you can do this in your own backyard is to meet people who are different to you. Perhaps from a different culture or religion. Attend the multicultural festivals, eat at different restaurants, explore the different cultural museums. In Western Australia (my home town), we have the incredible Museum for Freedom and Tolerance facilitating powerful experiences to break down barriers and invite curiosity and learning.

How to start?

Be a tourist in your own city.
Learn about another culture.
Pick up a novel that takes you to another place.

3. Experience (or create your own) art

“Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness.” – Anni Albers, German-born American textile artist and printmaker.

We are all artists, remember that! Music, art, theatre, comedy or dance to name just a few.

These experiences get us out of our heads and into our bodies. It’s an opportunity to truly be in the present moment – without worrying about the past or the future. To just be! This is the transformative power of the arts.

Art gives us a safe place to challenge boundaries and learn through being part of an absorbing experiences. The creativity of art gives us inspiration in our own lives and helps us fully tap into the human experience.

I love how art organisations are continually stepping up and give us transforming experiences to share with our friends and family. I can highly recommend Perth Symphony Orchestra and the WA Ballet in my hometown.

How to start?

Go visit the Art Gallery, see a play, go to a concert or comedy show.
Get into art yourself – sign up for an art class, dance class or do some improv!
Listen to different music than you usually would – jazz, African, hip hop or classical.

4. Revel in Nature

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” – Rachel Carson, marine biologist, author, and conservationist.

There was nothing like hiking up the mountain to Tiger’s Nest (Paro Takstang) to the sacred Buddhist site and temple located on the cliffside of Paro Valley in Bhutan (see the pic above at the half way point to Tiger’s Nest which you can see in the distance on the side of the cliff). The natural environment has a transformative power to invigorate. The good thing is you don’t even need to go to Bhutan to experience this. The beach, stars, trees, waterways and connection to animals can do this for us too.

Nature improves our mental health. It helps us to think clearly. It encourages us to breathe deeply. My friend Erika runs beautiful walking tours in Margaret River and around the world.

Nature creates this space for mindfulness. It encourages movement and increases the use of our senses – touch, smell, sound and sight.

The trouble is that we are too disconnected from nature in modern society. We forget about its transformative nature. We wonder why we lack clarity when we are cooped up in buildings all day every day.

How to start?

Watch a sunrise or sunset. Observe the rhythms of nature.
Find a short walk or hike close to home.
Find your natural environment happy place – is it at the beach, under the trees, near a river, the outback, in a park or out under the stars.

Get started today

And this is just four practical experiences to help you find and live your true purpose in life! These practical experiences can support and inspire the self reflection and awareness needed to defining your purpose in life.

If you’re ready to discover your own purpose in life, register for the guide below to guide you through the purpose-creating process!

Alicia Curtis

Eyes Wide Open by Robyn Weatherley

Difference Makers by Dr Nicky Howe and Alicia Curtis

Not-For-Profit Board Dilemmas by Julie Garland McLellan

101 Boardroom problems and how to solve them by Eli Mina

Building Better Boards: A Blueprint for Effective Governance by David A. Nadler, Beverly Behan, Mark Nadler

Directors at Work: A Practical Guide for Boards by Geoffrey Kiel, Gavin Nicholson, Jennifer Ann Tunny and James Beck

These are just a few…

Ready to step into your full leadership potential?

Ready to step into your full leadership potential?

Applying consequential thinking takes three easy steps:

Dealing with fear and anger

A helpful exercise – Body, mind, heart scan

In summary…

Ready to step into your full leadership potential?

So, what is emotional literacy?

Deciphering Emotions

1. Realise your emotions are assets

2. Stop ignoring emotions

3. Start to name your emotions

4. Understand the wisdom of your emotions

It takes time to learn the language

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

5 ways purpose can help in tough times

1. Purpose Gives Us Clarity

2. Purpose Leads to Emotional Recovery

3. Purpose Gives Us a Greater Will to Live

4. Purpose Helps Us Make Decisions and Smart Ones at that

5. Purpose Gives Us Hope

Time to seek your purpose?

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

1. Volunteer

2. Travel abounds

3. Experience (or create your own) art

4. Revel in Nature

Get started today

Get this Free Guide: 6 POWERFUL SECRETS TO FIND YOUR HIGHEST PURPOSE IN LIFE

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