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.
Going Green and Hypocrisy
This is my current Pawprint, which shows that my carbon footprint is approaching three times the average. I like to think I am "Green", but clearly I am a hypocrite! Over two years ago I wrote "What's your Pawprint?" and this was mine, which felt better, but then this...
Going Green and Hypocrisy
I am continuing to be a hypocrite on going green on a personal level, though I’m at least honest about this form of hypocrisy.
None of us is bulletproof – advice for founders
I had lunch recently with an investor who expressed frustration about founders of startups and scale-ups. They are not a fund partner, nor VC or from the Private Equity world. No, they actually built a business of value and lived it for the whole journey through to an...
Recapturing the power of intuition
"Our world seems like a heap of fragments and it is hard to see how they cohere. Wisdom has been replaced by knowledge and knowledge has been replaced by information. Pieces of data. Chunks of data." Iain McGilchrist, author of "The Divided Mind", speaking in the...
Setting your personal context
Today let me put it to you that, in many years and thousands upon thousands of hours as a coach, the single most powerful tool for coaching is Context. Today I'll talk specifically about the power for an individual of setting a personal context and three focal areas...
Writing I Love – Eppur Si Muove
“Writing I Love” is an occasional series on this site. Sometimes a book, sometimes a poem, a quote, sometimes simply a line.
Your playing small does not serve the world
So, to that beautiful quote, but first, to “repetition, repetition, repetition”. I work with leaders around the world and often around communicating and engaging their…
Leadership lessons – from an orchestra conductor
We met recently for breakfast in Glasgow and afterwards he sent me this hysterical clip of Mr Bean as a conductor, then later shared some…
Identify the source driving innovation
If we look into the past for the true source of innovations, I wonder, by considering innovation in such a way, what we could learn…
What do your people need? Lessons from natural disasters
Recently I read an article on how Starbucks responded to Hurricane Irma hitting the USA. In the piece, it referenced Maslow's hierarchy of needs. This catapulted me back 14 years to one of the most powerful leadership and personal experiences of my life, the aftermath...
Managing Energy – learning from comedians
One of the simplest and most powerful tools I've learned for leaders is to focus on the "three tenets of leadership" Set (and Hold) the Context Manage the Energy Coach, Don’t Play Recently one of my brothers came down to London and we watched Kevin Bridges do a comedy...
Ferguson and Cantona – Vulnerability and Strength
Eric Cantona's famous pose of celebration after his greatest goal Eric Cantona played for Manchester United from 1992-1997. One of the greatest football players I have ever seen. Majestic, commanding, sublimely skilled. A leader, a talisman, a game-changer. He was...
Noticing beauty
A theme building on this site is the power of Beauty. Today, a contribution from Kay Scorah, which has me musing on beauty and how it links with the power of noticing. "First, let me be still and find the beauty that lies within me. Then, be open, and let me take the...
The power of beautiful moments
Today a story about the power of beautiful moments, such as the one in the photo Earlier this week, as I wrote about here, I took time out to go to the country, to slow down, and simply to walk with a friend and walk his dog. Prior to that day, I'd been feeling a bit...