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.
Land the plane
I’m “slow reading” (actually “slow listening”, on Audible) “The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. In fact, this is the fourth time I’ve posted one of the ideas I’ve found when dipping into this short book, the first time being over four months ago. (You can find those prior...
Land the plane
Consider how different your experience of the world might be if you engaged in every activity with the attention you might give to landing a…
When you focus on the past, that’s your ego
Last week, the Milwaukee Bucks won their first NBA title in 50 years, led by the stunning talent of 26-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now, watch this post-match interview for the full impact of such wisdom in one so young, which I capture in these anchors he shared:...
How could you flex your workday to work with nature?
How could you flex your day to work with nature? I started my day yesterday with an early morning bike ride Two days ago, as it has been for nearly a week, the temperature where I live crept up to nearly 30c (88f), with not a breath of wind and very high humidity. Ok,...
Pushing creativity to its practical limits
Operating Principles of the Santa Fé Institute - written by Comac McCarthy In a step by step methodology to build valuation in a company, I use an established model to raise the benchmark multiple for companies that is a seven-step process. This works best, fastest,...
How to know when Diversity and Inclusion is working
In November 2019, I attended an event outside London called BaseCamp. At this event, attended by around 100 people from a number of countries, we each selected a group to work within where we would focus on a particular global issue. I chose to be part of the group...
How to say yes
In an earlier post, I wrote: Up until about my late 30s, I took pride in saying “yes” to opportunities, absolutely filling my time relentlessly with variety and quantity of work. I used to call myself a “specialist generalist” as indeed I worked in so many countries,...
Hard work alone does not make you productive
What I thought would make me productive: hard work. What actually does: exercise, healthy eating, sleep, time off and hard work. Yesterday I wrote: "Working with (your) nature", talking about adapting to nature and the seasons, as well as being aware of and working...
Working with (your) nature
In addition to working with nature, I also recommend we each individually look at working with our own nature. This weekend in London it is HOT, likely around 30c peak temperatures. Hey, I love it, and it is important to work with it in this country with little or no...
I coach only those who are ready, are you?
I coach already thriving leaders ready to step more and more into Open Leadership. The #OpenLeadership model Occasionally I dip into Seth Godin's daily posts and select one to share. Last week he wrote the one below, where he notes: "It turns out that the people with...
Slow down to speed up later… keep doing it
Whilst I froze my Facebook account in 2016, I do still visit occasionally to keep up to date with the goings-on of friends and family, particularly back in Cayman, where it still seems widely used. The other day it popped up a "memory" for me of a post from a client...
Bastille Day – Think Independent Thoughts
Bonne Fête Nationale (as of the time of writing, I get that it publishes Jul 15th, sorry!) to my french family and friends. On this day that celebrates so much for France, one thought for me is simply this. Think Independent Thoughts. My "six most dangerous words in...
How can you keep rising up time after time?
Today's post is personal and in the moment. No leadership lessons today, simply sharing feelings of despair, yet also feeling wonder and awe in witnessing resilience. Out of the huts of history’s shameI riseUp from a past that’s rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean,...
Context is King
First, thank you to Sketchplanations for their latest visual: "Context is King", so concise, so clear. Last week I started working with a new C-Suite client. As I outlined to them, one of the first things to establish in our relationship is the Context for it, what,...