My Library
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.
There are no new ideas
Recently on LinkedIn, a post by my dear friend Alex Barker (previous podcast guest on WhatComesNextLive here) brought up the quote from Audre Lorde: "There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt." Alex then went on to say: There is a...
There are no new ideas
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them
Trust is at the heart of every relationship in life, personal and professional. How do we build trust? Sometimes we need to take a lot of time and patience to build trust, we analyse, assess, look for evidence and proof points. Sometimes, though, perhaps Hemingway's...
All things come to those who wait
Today, on a quiet and grey winter Sunday morning, I am taking a "slow day". I know myself to be someone instinctive and intuitive, who often moves fast from decision to action, that when I "light the blue touch paper" I move fast and people move fast and act fast in...
Keep the road under the show
Today a reflection from a learning from the latest Facilitation Shindig in London on the phrase: Keep the road under the show The photo above is from the 2018 movie of Mortal Engines, the Philip Reeves book series. In Mortal Engines, Reeves created a dystopian world...
Exploring Beauty – John O’Donohue
Yesterday I wrote: "CEO Pay and Ugly Leadership" in which I shared the words of Alan Moore: “Beautiful Businesses Leaders respond to a higher order calling of service to a greater good. Their leadership is framed by values and informed by purpose.” To act on that...
CEO Pay and Ugly Leadership
"Beautiful Leadership is a choice, so is Ugly Leadership" I wrote these words recently in: "Be careful of toxic language" Two days in "Our Clarion Call to Beautiful Leaders and Makers", I shared Alan Moore's thoughts on Beauty in Leadership and Business, including:...
Be so good they can’t ignore you
Today I'm recommending to you to choose to "be so good they can't ignore you", and to back that up by having people in your life, including mentors, that believe in you even more than you believe in yourself "Be so good they can't ignore you" ~ Steve Martin Steve...
Our Clarion Call to Beautiful Leaders and Makers
A walk in Snowdonia: Image by Julian Calverley Over the last several months I've begun a collaboration with Alan Moore. This has, as a first step, extended to a nascent "Beautiful Community". Thsi will be the first "pebble in the pond" creating a ripple that will...
At risk versus taking risks
Risk. Understanding Risk is core to Leadership Today some simple thoughts around what Risk means to us individually rather than as leaders of organisations. Specifically, around what it feels like to be "at risk" and how that impacts our ability and willingness to...
Belief and Mentoring
I love the sentiment in that picture above. "It would be a stretch for others to believe in you at a level higher than yourself. Your mentors are an exception." Today I've just had two mentoring conversations and so feel like musing on the power of belief in mentoring...
Context, your personal “one-word theme”
My first post of the year was "What is your one-word theme for 2019?" Since I wrote that, several people have told me they will use that to support them in landing on their own theme for 2019. With that in mind, I felt to share some related thoughts from a prior post...
Ma – thinking about the space between
Ma – thinking about the space between. Thanks to @alansmlxl for his thoughts on Ma, as well as Stevie Ray Vaughn and @nilerodgers
Be careful of toxic language
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~Maya Angelou For the last several years the UK government has operated their immigration policy under a two-word term: "Hostile Environment". This started out as being designed to make it difficult...