At The Grow Zone we talk about The Sleepwalking Effect™.

The patterns we repeat that limit our potential. And, without meaning to, the potential of the people we lead.

 The ACT model is the reset.

CONGRATULATIONS. YOU GOT THE LEADERSHIP PROMOTION!

Here’s your team. Here’s your budget. Here’s your target. Here are your KPIs. Off you go.

The part nobody shares, is those you lead, are now watching you.

They learn  quickly whether disagreement is welcome and what makes you defensive.

They work out whose opinions matter.

How you respond to one mistake,  shapes what they tell you next time.

Gallup found managers account for about 70% of the difference in how engaged a team is.

In 2026, manager engagement fell to 22%.

Many of the people setting the tone are not feeling acknowledged themselves, by the leaders of the leaders. Fear their leaders may perceive questions as not ready, they often don’t ask for help.

Repeated, this becomes: The Sleepwalking Effect™. 

Sleepwalking wide awake during the day repeating behaviours, that limit our potential. And the potential of those we are there to support.

WHAT ARE THE PATTERNS THAT LIMIT OUR POTENTIAL?

Too many talented people wait to be noticed or asked for their contribution, so ideas  don’t get voiced.

Too many leaders step in and share first, every time, instead of stepping back and listening, proactively seeking perspective or speaking last.

Conversation or conflict are too often avoided. 

Not feeling safe to speak up, not invited into a meeting, participating in check the box 1:1’s, this type of leadership creates disengagement.

Gallup’s 2026 Global Workplace Report shows only 20% of the workforce is engaged, across 142 countries. $10 trillion USD gone in lost productivity, globally.

The ACT reset means once you can see the pattern, you have the place to start.

WHAT IS THE GROW ZONE?

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” Viktor Frankl, Author Man’s Search for Meaning. 

The Grow Zone represents that space where what happens meets our response to it. This is where we we do the work. The reset for the Sleepwalking Effect™ is called ACT.

One degree can feel insignificant, but if you can hold it,  it changes where you land.

That’s true for people. It’s true for companies too.

WHY THIS WORK MATTERS

Thirty seconds, thirty years.

I came third in a school wide cross-country race at high school. My mum said, “Didn’t you come second last year?”

She probably doesn’t remember saying it.  

Our parents are our first leaders, and a lot of us learned early that compliance got rewarded and curiosity got us into trouble.

Leaders at work carry that same influence, whether they realise it or not.

This is where performance gets very human. And it’s where small changes can have an extraordinary effect over time.

 WHY ME?

I started my career in retail, and life quickly handed me two very literal wake-up calls. I broke my spine twice. The second time, I’d sleepwalked out of a second-storey window.

It left me with a question I’m still curious about: why do capable people keep repeating behaviours they know aren’t helping them? I started with me. I took the harder fork in the road, and the further I got from my comfort zone, the more doors kept opening. In my early thirties I became President of Flight Centre USA, where we grew revenue from $3M to $27M in two years.

Since then I’ve worked with start-ups, non-profits and thousands of leaders across three continents, and completed a Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology. What I bring into a room is a close look at the small moments, the ones that are easy to dismiss and remarkably powerful when they’re repeated.

Work with me

Keynotes, facilitated workshops and leadership coaching, for organisations and people who know there’s more in the room than they’re currently getting.

Your people already have the answers. Let’s get more of them said. If that resonates, I’d love to have a conversation.