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.
The best teams make more mistakes
The best teams make more mistakes. Yes. Counter-intuitive but true. An earlier post on this site is: "To have fewer conflicts, disagree more" and focussed on the tool in the image above, called the Breakdown Recovery Model. I learned this model from Travis Carson of...
The best teams make more mistakes
The best teams make more mistakes. We must be unafraid to admit mistakes and to commit to improve in the future.
Raise your expectations, there is no bar!
Raise the expectations you have for yourself and your business. There is no bar. Image from earlier post: "Growth Mindset and Pole Vaulting" As we move through this pandemic, I'm seeing more and more countries making comparisons to other countries. I'm very proud of...
Mark Moments
Make time to mark moments that matter to you. Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President and Kamala Harris the Vice-President. a Field of Flags replacing inauguration crowds At 12pm local time on Thursday, January 20th, as per the twentieth amendment to the...
Q: What’s Next? A: Amanda Gorman
So, with much emotion, two days ago I watched the inauguration, far more emotional than I realised I would be. Two moments stood out for me. First, hearing the words Madam Vice-President spoken with such great emphasis by Amanda Gorman. After hundreds of years,...
The Hill we Climb
Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in history, shared her poem, The Hill we Climb, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. For there is always light,if only we’re brave enough to see it.If only we’re brave enough to be it.Amanda Gorman, The Hill we Climb...
Make progress
Perfection is the enemy of progress We live in deeply uncertain times, so it is unsurprising and understandable that I hear some people putting off any kind of strategising, planning or acting for themselves personally or for their business. However, rather than...
Should you work for a big corporation or a social enterprise?
Should you work for a big corporation or a social enterprise? Scale for Impact model, from the article "Leading from Purpose" Imagine you are deciding what your next career role might be. Now, imagine both of these are valid and available choices: Join a...
Mission Command personified
British Army Mission Command: Don’t tell your people how to do their job, simply make clear what the Mission is and empower them to step up and achieve it. How could you speed up the process of Covid testing drivers to get them through a bottleneck and keep supply...
Be more Polar Bear, do more nothing
Mornin' to you! How is your Sunday looking? Big plans? Here in London, as regular readers will know, we are locked down for, well, the next couple of months or so I'd figure, so I have no plans, nothing I have to do today. Now, when it comes to my work with leaders, I...
Trust your people, smash the clocks
Take care of your people , I wrote yesterday, reflections from a call with a CEO who had focussed on that one thing since the pandemic had begun, a focus that has been key to their business entering 2021 thriving. In that discussion it felt clear that this was only...
Take care of your people
Companies: Take care of your people. This week I had a catch up call with a past client, a CEO who I hadn't spoken to since early in the pandemic. They and their business have come through things well, largely due to foundations laid year before at multiple levels....
You might think…but really…
Alison Macondray, "Genius extractor" You might think that podcasts are often too long and too meandering to be of interest and value, but really, if you look, you can find that some are shorter, perhaps thirty minutes long, and full of stimulating, entertaining,...
Think longer term than the next guy
Sir Angus Grossart Inspired by Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger and an avid student of them as I am, I often use the phrase: one of the easiest ways to make money is to think longer term than the next guy With that I often refer to "patient capital" and am, my bias I...