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Insights

People are my library, my writing inspired by what I learn: ideas, inspiration, wisdom, and sometimes some eclectic whimsy for good measure, all centred around #OpenLeadership. At the heart of all of this is that I write to share learnings and to discover my thoughts. Over the years i have written (mostly) daily, over 2000 posts and 1,000,000 words (that last part blows my mind, tbh!). Enjoy browsing.

Choosing art that has meaning

Choosing art that has meaning

Six months into a new house and my study is coming together, so it feels like the time to choose which artwork to put on the walls, for which I always have an emphasis on choosing art and objects in my sight line that have meaning to me. I love the work of Hugh McLeod...

Babies can teach us about Love versus Fear

Babies can teach us about Love versus Fear

This weekend I met my new tiny wee nephew. There is nothing like when a wee baby smiles up at you, nothing at all. The purity of a tiny child is something to behold. It makes me think of love, and fear. Babies cry, sure, but for only three reasons. Cold, wet, hungry....

Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors

Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors

In 1955, Jonas Salk unveiled a vaccine for poliomyelitis, an infectious disease that can cause paralysis. He did not patent the vaccine, he gave it to the world. When asked by the renowned journalist Edward R. Murrow about the idea of patenting a vaccine, Salk...

Do you have a Digital Will? (and how to create one)

Do you have a Digital Will? (and how to create one)

Highlighting the importance of setting up a Digital Will and a few tips on how to do this. I've lost my contacts!" The iPhone became widely used about ten years ago, a few years after Facebook. For several years after that, I can think of one particular friend who...

Pausing to Read

Pausing to Read

I used to read voraciously, devouring at least a book a week. However, in recent years, particularly since I started posting every day nearly four years ago, I get into the rhythm of reading books far less often. In this, I have had a tendency to judge myself for not...

To play it safe or closer to the edge?

To play it safe or closer to the edge?

There is no growth without stretching, so if we play it safe all the time, we remain the same, we don't grow. The same applies to our impact on others. Do we want to always play it safe, to have comfortable conversations? Or, on occasion at least, do we want to move...

How to make a difference rather than simply making a point

How to make a difference rather than simply making a point

The key to storytelling to not only make a point but make a difference is all in telling the right story in the right way to make the right point to be truly in service of the person with whom you are sharing it. As I have written around multiple times (and yes, by...

Which is better? Repetition? or Variety?

Which is better? Repetition? or Variety?

Do you prefer all your M&Ms the same colour? or love the variety? Do you prefer repetition or variety? Yesterday I took the same Sunday ride route, tracking my heart rate and performance against the previous week to assess how my performance had changed. Of...

I’ve forgotten how to travel

I’ve forgotten how to travel

This weekend I've spent literally hours preparing for an upcoming trip to Cayman. Yes, the amount of paperwork and tests now needed to travel in the age of Covid has added to this, but it occurred to me this morning that I've forgotten how to travel. A few short years...

Pausing, Together, Patiently

Pausing, Together, Patiently

Yesterday I was on a group call around the theme of "the Power of Pausing". As I listened to the esteemed panellists, I recognised that their themes were all around pausing as individuals. It occurred to me that we can also choose to pause, together. I then thought of...

If you want to change the world start with yourself

If you want to change the world start with yourself

"What do you have a burning desire to change in the world?" This was a question posed last week in a workshop I participated in. What came to me was: If you want to change the world, start with yourself.Gandhi Whatever we seek to change external to ourselves is and...

Creating a Healthy Tension through setting your Values

Creating a Healthy Tension through setting your Values

The four core attributes for #OpenLeadership The graphic illustrates the four core attributes or values of a leader who wishes to choose #OpenLeadership. Now let us look at how these create a healthy tension by taking them into two sets of two BRAVE and HUNGRY...