The Archives
GeniusYou for strategic minds didn’t just appear; it was a hard-fought build with three distinct stages.
Over these years I’ve worked with hundreds of people, getting stronger and stronger results as failure turned to learnings, learnings formed method and method solidified into tools.
The library contains case studies and insight articles written when I could take my eye off the development of the process as I was getting results with a certainty which I signaled that bit worked.
From 2021 onwards I was looking for a way to tell the epic stories I watched every time a person got through the programme. Thinking if I told epic stories, then people would come running to experience the genius of their own mind.
But epic stories happen all over the place, in fact they happen in all our lives, all the time, through the journey of moving through our own hardships using our own strength and attributes, either in collaboration with others, or not. They happen because we are human, they are the result of the mind doing the thing it does, so they are not actually something that GeniusYou can own. These epic stories belong to the person who brought them about — claiming them is a bit like claiming I provided the air they breathed while they were working with me. GeniusYou just makes them happen faster.
These stories, though, they brought me to this point, ready to build a brand that worked like a powerful tool, one that lets you experience the programme for yourself. That experience is something GeniusYou can own, because unlike an epic story, it is not inevitable, it has to be built.
When the epic stories started repeating, to the point where I couldn’t catch them all, that’s when I knew I had the results that won me the right to build GeniusYou for strategic minds.
Lessons from loss: Overcoming avoidance in business
I often say we don’t live on a planet with 8 billion other people, we live on a planet with 8 billion other worlds!
Mastering Lasting Change: Understanding and Shaping the Systems Behind Our Behaviours
Despite best intentions, most individuals fail to make substantial, long-term changes—with only 20-30% succeeding in achieving their personal goals—while the rest struggle and often give up.
Bennie’s Beautiful Story
I think about my self-worth like a bank account: there are behaviors that can top it up and others that can deplete it. When someone makes me feel despair, it serves two purposes: it reveals my emotional balance and prompts me to investigate the source of that despair and how to resolve it.
Doubt derails success: It’s the emotional barrier few overcome
Doubt is an emotion that often traps us, causing fear, imposter syndrome, and sometimes failure without us ever realising it’s a crucial part of the journey to self-belief.
Embracing Emotions: A Strength, Not a Weakness
The common and outdated stereotype that labels women as 'too emotional' still prevails in New Zealand’s business circles.
Family Rifts: The path to reconciliation starts with us
I’ve noticed that many Kiwis, about 30 per cent, have experienced the painful reality of family estrangement. This often happens between parents and children or siblings, and it can last for decades or sometimes never be resolved.
Reclaiming Values: Navigating the Challenges of Kiwi Kids’ Behaviour
The recent report from the Education Review Office, which starkly highlights New Zealand’s challenging school behaviours, should serve as a wake-up call.
Breaking the Silence: Embracing Emotional Vulnerability in Men
Reflecting on my journey as a personal transformation strategist and the driving force behind Genius You, I’ve become familiar with many men’s silent struggles.
Riley’s Story
This client is not afraid to look at what he’s doing and investigate where he’s going right – and wrong. Once he figures things out, he’s great at putting in the hard work to change things.
Oscar’s Story
How do you resolve household maintenance issues in your home? Does someone take the lead, or are you like our household, where everyone expects “someone else” to deal with it?
Navigating the High Achiever’s Quest for Greener Grass
I want to dive into a topic that might resonate with many high achievers. You know that constant itch to find the 'next big thing'? It turns out that it might not be as simple as it seems, and there’s a deeper issue at play.
Penelope’s Story
Your life is a playground
Life in a nutshell
All successful life-changing events require us to go through the cycle of competency.
Work, a place to thrive or struggle?
As a high performer the workplace has been a rewarding, thrilling and awful place for me. I have epic tales that are simply the result of a lack of understanding regarding my differences, and of how to get the best out of me. For years I turned these epic tales into experiences of shame and regret.
Workplace Conflict Through My Eyes: High Performers Acting Out or Simply Misunderstood?
Workplace Conflict Through My Eyes: High Performers Acting Out or Simply Misunderstood?
Rosie’s story
During my teens, I naively thought that my lack of self-worth was due to poor parenting. (Sorry Mum and Dad.) This led me to believe that to ensure my children could led magnificent lives, all I had to do was never let my children feel the way I did.
Caring for High Performers
While developed for everyone, Genius You is particularly powerful for a certain group that I’m currently learning to identify.
Decoding Burnout and the Mind: My Journey as a Transformation Strategist
Navigating the realm of high performers here in New Zealand, I’ve observed a fascinating and concerning pattern. Many high-performing Kiwis, me included, have faced the pitfalls of burnout and an unsettling urge to change jobs frequently.
Understanding The Mind with Simone Ellen Keller
Stephen Martin, from Virtual Innovation http://www.virtualinnovation.co.nz, has been helping people with Neurodiversity for a long time! His podcast, The Truth about Dyslexia and all the work that he does is commendable, because it means for the ones who are following behind, Stephen has already forged a path.
Genius You turned TEN this year!
That’s more than 3,000 days that my mind has been obsessed with creating this programme. That’s over 400 people that I’ve worked with and 17 iterations of the process that I’ve developed. All with the same purpose – to create a programme that allows people to be as brilliant as they wish.
ADHD, handicap, or just the beginning of an amazing adventure?
As someone diagnosed with ADHD later in life, I understand the importance of realising that the diagnosis is just the beginning of a transformative journey. Now I see it as part of my mission to help individuals who discover their ADHD well into adulthood, because I know firsthand that the diagnosis is not the end of the road. It is the starting point.
Friday Fascination Interview
The sign of a great interview is asking questions that the interviewee must think about. Kate Nankivell from Force of Nature, https://forceofnature.co.nz/ is fantastic at this, which is why Friday Fascination is the perfect name for her recent series of LinkedIn lives. My favourite question was, what was my proudest milestone?……
Why lack of know-how is at the root of burnout
Burnout is at an all-time high, even among us New Zealanders. I’ve recently come across a global survey conducted by Future Forum, and it’s revealed a distressing trend. Many of us are overworking ourselves and striving to achieve lofty ambitions, only to fall short in the end.
One of my favourite things in the world is hearing the stories of Genius You in action.
This story speaks to many things; When you’re attempting to please others or be perceived in a certain way, you can’t always be the person you need to be. In this case, a fantastic mother recognises that if she wants her daughter to be prepared for the future, she needs to teach her how to […]
How to show better restraint in a trigger moment
In the area of leadership and public responsibility, instances of individuals succumbing to moments of intense emotion are not isolated incidents. The pressures and expectations placed upon those in such roles can often lead to expressions of anger and frustration.
How to overcome a child’s defiance
As a parent, I understand how confronting and disempowering it can be when a child refuses to follow our instructions or those of their teachers. Most of us tend to revert to some form of punishment to get compliance. However, I believe that there is another way to approach this situation. Instead of seeing a child’s defiance as a bad thing, we can view it as a legitimate form of learning for the child.
Men need permission to use their emotions, as well as women
Male suicide and depression rates could be drastically reduced—and men could get more out of their relationships—if they were permitted to use their emotions the same way as women. Men are twice as likely to commit suicide as women, and that needs to change.
How to survive the Christmas nightmare of family gatherings
Christmas is called the crazy season for most people because underlining the traffic and the stress is a layer of heightened emotion and expectations that don’t match reality which leads to family blow-outs, hurt and anger--particularly when you pull a bunch of people together at family gatherings.
Why do we prioritise physical health over mental health?
The top skill Kiwi workers will need to develop in the workplace now and in the future is a healthy mind.
Hospitality workers on the frontline of social trauma
It’s unlikely that unfavourable working conditions like low pay, demanding schedules, and even a drop in immigration, are solely to blame for growing staff shortages in the hospitality sector. Those conditions have always existed and did not deter people in the past.
Inflicting Shame And Pain (on Bullies) Won’t Solve NZ’s Bullying Problem
Sagas such as that of Labour MP Gaurav Sharma and other stories about bullies and bullying will continue to make headlines in New Zealand until people are taught the mental skills they need to protect themselves—and for as long as we continue to shame, expel, and punish the bullies themselves.
Purposeful work
I went to a wonderful presentation on Friday, that was put on by @CreativeMorningsAKL. It’s a clever initiative that is enjoyed around the world.
Self-belief
Self-belief is knowing that we can do something with confidence and conviction. It’s that important quality that allows us to bat away self-doubt and rise to the occasion.
Well-being
Most of us would agree that ‘well-being’ is doing the things that are good for us, regardless of our personal perspectives, cultural beliefs and our physical and mental condition.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is a state of being. A way to exist that comes with many benefits.
Personal Development
Personal Development is seen by many as a young industry. I beg to differ.
Q&A with Rosie - From Anger to Excitement
Rosie was angry at the world, unhappy and fearful of people. Her way of reducing anger was to stay away from people. In fact, she was prepared to go and live in a cave with her beloved dog.
Giving Amy Wings
Becoming a parent is hard. While the love that we feel for our children surpasses the challenge a million times over, what a ride. At every stage there’s another challenge. Hey, you could call it the ultimate tool in self-development as it gives us every opportunity to grow.
Healing a family
This case study is about devastation and healing. The devastation that occurs in relationships when we don’t understand how our mind works, and how we can heal this when we have a process that teaches us how.
Carlie’s liberation
All Genius You stories are special but this one is particularly poignant as it involves the challenge of overcoming abuse.
Untangling Louise
This case study speaks to the Genius You principle that our raw ingredients are remarkable, it’s the way we learn how we use them that’s the problem.
To the women of New Zealand
Helen Clark, icon, legend, heroine.. claims in the documentary ‘My year with Helen’ that women need more self belief.
Developing a new framework of Self-Understanding
Think about the thing that you are best at. Something that dazzles even yourself when you do or achieve it.
Learning how to lead with self!
Who calls the shots in your life? How do you decide what’s important and what’s not? Who or what leads the way?
Wayne the Farmer Ferguson
Genius You is designed to work for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a hairdresser, prince, teacher, husband, business owner or checkout operator, Genius You is for you.
Learning how to use emotions
2020 – the year of clarity, the year that prompted us to focus on the things that really matter and the year that Genius You stood on its own two feet.
A new job for a gem of a woman!
There’s this thing that happens at Genius You. A process that liberates and is mind-blowingly effective at getting us what we want. I call it defence smashing.
Why is Genius You so powerful?
Genius You has been an effective programme for a long time. It has helped heaps of people to achieve self-understanding and lead them through a change process that has delivered positive outcomes.