I have friends who have done multiple Ironman, but I had convinced myself that it wasn’t for me. How on earth, at the age of 63, could I sea swim for almost 2km, then cycle for around four hours and then run a half marathon. Oh, and I had a replacement hip 6 years ago.

I revisited an iconic Apple advert from 1997, whose message about creativity in challenging the status quo spoke volumes about what it means to be a leader.

In December every year I look back to see what I’ve achieved, what I’ve learned, how my health and fitness is, how my relationships have developed and grown. When I’ve reviewed the previous year, I decide what my key goals, actions and targets will be for the next year.

Change is a complicated beast; it’s all around us and yet we find it so hard to do in organisations. Why is this?

Setting easy goals doesn’t get your people excited. Take a chance on something really challenging and generate some excitement.

It’s one of the joys of my life to observe people and teams, grow, change direction, stretch themselves, show vulnerability and become what they want to be, not rest on what they are.

Strategy is one of the most overused, yet misunderstood, words in leadership circles. And the biggest danger is that the members of your leadership team have different views about what it means. In other words: there is no clarity and alignment.

Are you a gritty leader, or a lazy one? How we act (not what we say) day in and day out will make the difference to the culture, the churn rate, the engagement of your people and lead to changes in productivity, effectiveness, creativity and innovation and, ultimately, our credibility and success as a leader.

A colleague and I interviewed 30 middle managers and asked them: “How are you judged as a leader?” Their response was fascinating and alarming in equal measure.

The world we live in now is volatile and uncertain; we’re balancing health issues and our businesses and we’re faced with moral dilemmas daily. Leaders face a massive task.

One day you are a manager and the next you’re asked to be a leader. I’ll explain the key differences between the two.