The Step Change Blog

Today’s dynamic global economy has us facing a challenging task of steering our organisations towards success.

The stress from rising competition and regulation, resource management, revenue generation, and customer retention only shows that we have the toughest jobs in the market.

Determination is one thing, but more often than not, achieving success takes more than just sheer willpower. You can be determined yet still be on the wrong path. Going full throttle with no steering wheel may just lead you to a crippling accident. It is essential to recognise the changes needed in your lifestyle and implement them so that you can start driving on the right road.

Happiness is such an abstract concept, yet when we experience it, it feels like an emotion that’s actually tangible. Whether through enjoying simple pleasures, connecting with other people, or achieving a life-long goal, there are different factors that contribute to one’s happiness. But even with all these ways to be happy, it can sometimes still be fleeting.

To most people, success is seen as a destination — a permanent position that can finally be reached through the culmination of the right actions. In a way, it is; and in a way, it isn’t. The right actions are definitely needed, but success isn’t a fixed state that requires a specific number of actions. It’s fluid and ever-changing, and it’s a series of choices that you have to make every single day.

If motivation were a fire, your goals would be the kindling and your driving factor would be the fuelwood that keeps it burning. Too often, people let fear be the driver to their success. Too often, the flame dwindles and exhausts itself. Fear is unsustainable as it is unreliable. In this video, Ashton Bishop, our CEO, shares how detrimental fear can be when using it as a source of motivation to succeed.

If there’s one thing that’s constant in our lives, it’s change. Some people welcome it, some people flee from it, and some people ignore it. In this insightful five-part series, Ashton Bishop, our CEO, shares how you can deal with change to lead you to success.

How many times have you read a book but found it difficult to articulate its message? In this article, Step Change CEO Ashton Bishop reveals how you can turn knowledge into action.

How much of what you read do you actually learn?

How much of that knowledge have you internalised and made useful in your life?

Chances are, it’s a lot less than it could be.

Leadership isn’t just about IQ or technical skill — in fact, these are the entry-level requirements for executive positions. When 58% of all success in jobs are accounted for by emotional intelligence, it’s a clear sign that it has a vital role in the workplace. Moreover, people with a high degree of emotional intelligence make an average of $29,000 more per year than people with lower degrees of emotional intelligence.

Is being a leader in a highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world driving you to the edge? Tough situations require you to be on top of your game, to make sound decisions for your team. But just when you need the very best version of yourself to run the show, the undesirable version shows up and makes a mess out of you.

Is there a way to be a better leader in the VUCA world?

VUCA is a military expression coined in the 90s to describe the tumultuous conditions of the battlefield. It stands for “volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.” And now more than ever, leaders are experiencing such times in the business context.

There’s a growing complexity of how businesses operate, what with the major technological disruptions at work. And executives who are serious about their businesses need to look beyond their own organisations and experiences for new ways to work smart, stay current, and improve.

The number one fear leaders have is being ‘found out’ and having their incompetence uncovered. It’s called the impostor syndrome. If you are experiencing this, you are not alone.

Business leaders will agree that the path to business growth is never easy. Growth means managing the day-to-day — while at the same time thinking about implementing your strategy and making effective decisions that affect the entire organisation. And sometimes, things don’t work out the way you envisioned it. When things go rough, to whom do you turn for wisdom?

An organisation’s success depends on getting the right people. But hiring the right people has been proven to be a challenge among leaders and managers. In fact, in a report by Randstad, 79% of HR managers agree that it’s a struggle to search for people whose capabilities match job requirements.

With disruption inevitably changing how businesses operate, you can’t afford to be complacent; else you risk being displaced by more agile players in your category.

In 2025, 40% of the Fortune 500 companies will no longer exist. In the age of disruption, complacency has no place in great leadership.

It doesn’t matter if you have a winning strategy in place — if your company culture is sloppy, you will not win.

Fill out the form to get your own copy of the Step Change Culture Book.

People see 3,000 branded messages in a single day, notice only 80, and react to only 10. So how can you make your business stand out?

Contrary to the thesaurus, being efficient does not mean being effective. There’s actually a big difference between the two. In fact, oftentimes, highly efficient people can be ineffective in their pursuits.

The world is constantly evolving. In order to keep up, businesses need to switch on system thinking. Here’s how.

Ditch your to-do lists. Here's a better way to manage your time and get real work done.

The world's influential leaders share their insights about leadership.

Beat burnout even before it strikes you: Read the four winning strategies to avoid burnout.

Procter & Gamble was, but BlackBerry wasn’t. Is your company good at receiving feedback?

Problem solving is easy, right? Well, look out… You might be suffering from ‘the illusion of explanatory depth’.

You are in command. You have everything under control. You are the best version of yourself.

And then, things go haywire.

Things at home aren’t going well. Sales are staggering low. The pressure at work is rocketing sky-high.

Have you ever felt like you got your job due to luck? That all your achievements were a fluke? That one day people will realise you are not who they think you are?

You’re not alone.

Complacency is a costly game — just ask Kodak and Nokia. Avoid the pitfalls of complacency and bring in the culture of excellence in your workplace.

Why do some customers pay a premium to get a certain product/service that’s only slightly different from the standard service? Learn how responsibility as a company culture makes a great difference to you, your employees, your products, and your customers.