© 2025 James Hardie – Course Correction Consulting Ltd. The EASE Framework™ is a proprietary model developed by James Hardie to support the creation of psychologically safe, empowered, and strategically aligned teams. All rights reserved.
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When things go wrong, whether in strategy, culture, or performance, it is often labelled a failure of leadership, a catch all. However, in reality, the underlying issues are more often misaligned priorities, ineffective systems, eroded trust, or environments where individuals are unclear about what good decision-making looks like.
Leadership is frequently blamed when organisations fall short. Leadership has been burdened with fixing everything. If your workaround is successful that may be seen as great leadership, if it fails then you broke the rules.
The implication here is that every problem is novel, which is not true. Sometimes the right process will do, no need for a crisis generated command response, no need for a complete change of everything.
When things go wrong, whether in strategy, culture, or performance, it is often labelled a failure of leadership, a catch all. However, in reality, the underlying issues are more often misaligned priorities, ineffective systems, eroded trust, or environments where individuals are unclear about what good decision-making looks like.
In my view, leadership begins (and is only really needed) where known solutions end. It is creative and adaptive in both chaos and complexity. For most matters, we require clear thinking, aligned expectations, a culture of mutual support, and maybe just a little seasoning of leadership to change minds.
Good practice, discipline, knowledge, experience, wisdom and the resulting trust becomes your currency when leadership is critical.
This is the idea behind the EASE Framework™. So, would you like to learn how to lead with EASE?
Read on, you may already be doing it. You probably are.
My name is James Hardie. I help people succeed by transforming complexity into clarity and helping teams become aligned, proactive, and psychologically safe.
In my career, I have flown aircraft, built teams, advised founders, supported leaders, and worked across every level of an organisation, from operational personnel to the boardroom.
I also teach self-defence and conflict survival, more recently focused on Physical Empowerment to women, including those who have experienced domestic violence.
That work deepened my respect for dignity, courage, and the quiet strength it takes to reclaim one’s environment. Real courage does not exist in the absence of fear, it exists because of it. You have every right to be afraid, and courage helps you do something about it and leadership may be part of what you need to succeed.
It also confirmed something I had sensed in my professional life: many people are willing and capable, but their environment does not always allow them to lead effectively at work, a place where leadership is put on a great pedestal by those in charge. One may ask why is that?
The Environment always wins. Change the environment so that you and your team win.
More recently, I completed a Master’s degree in Organisational Psychology and my dissertation was about leadership as a transferable skill for veterans in new civilian roles. This research required me to structure what I had observed over many years. People want to do good work. They need an environment that supports clarity, trust, and appropriate influence and also recognises their valuable experience. They do not always get treated fairly.
Leadership, when understood correctly, becomes a tool to shape that environment. It is not necessarily heroic. It should not be overwhelming. It is practical and disciplined, and some times it takes a little courage. Ideally it goes hand in hand with other skills and systems to bring improvement and change. It requires a combination of competence and clarity to manage creativity. It is most pure when you have no formal authority but are still getting things done and changing people's minds.
However, leadership is something that some would like to capture and define, to bottle, to suit their own ends. To assign to their own characters, perhaps to claim a special kind of leadership as their own.
"Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals. It can only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought practicing the stroke so often that at the crisis it is as natural as a reflex." T. E. Lawrence
Explore. Align. Support. Empower.
At first glance, it appears simple. In practice, it enables deep insights and effective action.
The EASE Framework is intended to help individuals and teams to lead from where they are, whether that is in the boardroom, in operations, with customers or in the midst of a challenging conversation.
This is not about radical reinvention or huge change. It is about systems thinking, human understanding, and deliberate improvement. A one-degree shift, applied consistently, can transform a culture over time.
Radical overhaul of culture is nearly impossible.
This newsletter is designed for those who want some space to think clearly, act with purpose, and influence their environment positively.
I want to help founders and leaders think better, lead with intention, and scale with strategy, through tools, teaching, and partnership rooted in real-world experience and psychology.
Each edition will present a grounded insight, a relatable story, and a practical tool or question. The aim is to support proactive leadership at every level, empower your team to outperform the competition.
For the first month, I will publish weekly. Thereafter, the cadence will move to monthly, allowing time to reflect and apply what is shared.
If you are seeking quick fixes or surface-level advice, this may not be the right space. I may be quite critical of some ideas, especially if they are absolutely certain others are wrong. However, if you are committed to thoughtful, cumulative progress and discussion, then I welcome you to this community and please do comment and ask questions, of me and each other.
In Edition 2, we will begin to 'Explore' and understand more of what EASE means, to regain situational awareness and master ourselves first. Where are we really? What are we not seeing?
Let us make leadership easier to understand, safer to practise, and more effective in its outcomes.
Let us lead with EASE.
If this message resonates, please subscribe and share it with someone else who cares about improving leadership at every level.