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.
Don’t look down
A few months ago I wrote: "The first step to the UK solving their economic problems is to admit it has one", within which I noted: ..if we look to the longer term (and this has been going on for at least 15 years, many economists would say that core total UK...
Don’t look down
Once a country gets rich, it’s very hard for it to screw things up so badly that it gets poor. Britain is really putting in…
Can Business be Beautiful and Profitable?
This image was embedded in the award given to each member of a seminal Leadership Growth Programme. More in this article. Business can be Beautiful. Today I share an excerpt from a post from Alan Moore of beautiful.business, featured recently in "Is yours, could yours...
How do you go from Good, to Great, to Elite?
In terms of you maximising potential for yourself and those you serve, what does it take to go from "Good" to "Great"? Beyond that, what does it take to go from "Great" to "Elite"? Or, as Josh Waitzkin puts it, what does it take to move from good, to great, to among...
Coaching? I do not think it means what you think it means.
“You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means” ~ Inigo Montoya, swordsman and revenge obsessive, from The…
Be the CEO of your own Time and Energy
CEOs are responsible for the performance (and, one would hope they recognise) and the wellbeing of all the people in their team. Often, though, they…
Antarctica for a conference? Hell Yeah !
Antarctica? Conference? Hell YEAH! I’m going. Absolutely. Hell YEAH! Why Hell Yeah though? To answer that, let me take you back to a trip I…
Is yours, could yours be a Beautiful Business?
Is yours a Beautiful Business? If not, could yours be a Beautiful Business? If the question intrigues you read on, and if you connect to it at the end of this piece, let's talk. Soon. Recently I was introduced to Alan Moore, founder of Beautiful.Business and writer of...
What if you could never fire anyone?
Now, what if you could never fire anybody in your organisation, every, under any circumstances? What would you do differently? This is more than a thought experiment, I am seriously asking you to consider this question. More and more organisations are fully or at...
How clean are your communications?
image from a SlideShare deck from OneFish TwoFish called "How to communicate values without telling people to 'live the values' " So, yesterday I wrote: "Be rid of Brilliant Jerks". I didn't say "Fire your Brilliant Jerks". So, how can you be rid of brilliant jerks...
Be rid of Brilliant Jerks
"Do not tolerate brilliant jerks. The cost to teamwork is too high." ~ Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix The Netflix "Culture Deck", updated in 2018 and hosted on their site prominently here , is full of gems of great clarity around the Netflix culture, including this one...
Learning to Pause
Today as I write this, I'm feeling pretty rough, caught one of those colds that fly through the system and knocks you for six for a few days. My oldest son is staying with me this summer. He recently retired as an elite athlete and, through that part of life's...
Solving problems by taking a walk
The other day, I felt inspired to write by my friend Morgan DaCosta coining the phrase: "Coaching by Walking Around" This was a "level up" from the idea of Management by Walking Around, part of the essence of which is to walk randomly around and be present to those...
Leadership, Maria Callas, Meraki
Meraki is the modern greek term that translates to: "to do something with soul, creativity, or love; when you leave a piece of yourself in the work." Maria Callas, also Greek, is my favourite opera singer of all time, and one would call her a Meraklis. A Meraklis is...