Equality and equity may have some letters in common, but they're not the same thing

Service should never be for the recognition but it's appreciated when it is recognised

At a recent presentation on faith-integrated leadership, someone asked a question I appreciated more than a polite nod:

"If I'm standing in front of a dying patient - how does relying on a god actually help?"

This blog explores my response - on the gap between effort and outcome - and the ancient Prophetic tradition that captures an entire leadership philosophy in three words.

My daughter passed her final nursing exam this week. Got a placement. A real, paid, adult job. Earned.

Her response to that news? Two words: "Impostor syndrome."

My response? "Impostor schmmoster."

This week's blog is about why I pushed back on that label and what years of paying the fitting-in tax actually produces in people who've earned every right to be in the room they're standing in.

It's better to start with what you have instead of waiting for what you wish you had

This week, the manuscript updates for The FaithFULL Leader went to my editor.

One sentence. Eighteen months of everything behind it.

This isn't a post about finishing. It's about what it actually took - the doubt, the energy, the excusitis, the ignition points that kept the long game alive when momentum faded.

Sometimes we need to enter seemingly unsafe spaces to create comfort for someone else to follow

This week I attended a Matariki session where one line stopped me:

"One constellation, one sky. Many stories."

I didn't expect those words to land the way they did. But then again, I didn't expect what happened two weeks ago either - when I stood in front of 60 people, mid-introduction and my father's name came out of my mouth differently than it ever had before.

On a journey of change, conversations may be more valuable than outcomes

The past few days handed me the same lesson twice. In two very different settings. With two very different groups of people.

A conference on equity for Muslim communities. A workshop with an organisation fighting cancer. And somewhere in the background - a voice calling for the removal of the very communities that were busy building.

On Friday evening, fifteen people arrived at a retreat not knowing they were leaders.

By Sunday morning, that had changed.

Not because we taught them something entirely new. But because we named what was already there - and then built deliberately on top of it.

Yesterday I found myself in two very different rooms. In one, I said exactly what I think without hesitation. In the other, I was invited to contribute in a space that once would have made me feel small.

Both moments came from the same place. This is a reflection on defaults.

Failure to see or acknowledge our character flaws doesn't mean we don’t have them

Experiencing joy is wonderful; bringing joy to others is extraordinary

All doors in life operate on proximity sensors: we have to move towards them before they'll open

Someone commented on a post this week: "Love your positivity always, Niyaaz."

I sat with that for a moment. And then I wrote this post.

This week held a mosque in San Diego, a moment on a Wellington waterfront and a government announcement that will touch thousands of families. Three very different things. One pattern worth naming.

"If come from inside you, it's always the right one" - Mr Miyagi

Preparation for a loved one's death can never prepare you for their death

My father returned to his Maker two days ago and I've since been making lists.

What he didn't teach me. What he did. And what it means for the kind of leader — the kind of man — I'm still trying to become.

This one's personal.

People hardly take a long hard honest look at themselves unless and until they feel stuck, hit a wall or face a crisis