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.
Loving Complexity
Loving complexity allows others to find their solutions Today am sharing a learning around my work, one that may be valuable to readers in their leadership and their support of others. These wise words came from a friend and peer mentor in one of our regular sessions...
Loving Complexity
I love complexity and so listen for what is at the heart of the problem a client talks about, which then always seems to help…
Are you Creative or are you Productive?
Image by sketch2think from the thoughts of naval Are you creative or are you productive? The question is a trick one. Very little in life is a binary choice, an "either/or". Some may say: "the most creative people don't work to a schedule". Well, whilst I believe it...
Can fear be beneficial?
Apolo Ohno, Olympic Gold Medallist, yawning before the start of a race. This week I was part of a terrific group looking at how fear can hold entrepreneurs back from innovation. One person asked, around getting us to take action, to innovate: "can fear be helpful?" My...
Hello, is there anybody out there?
I love this chart. It shows the growth in visitors to this site over the last two and more years. It is wonderful to see that, simply through writing every day and sharing thoughts, more and more people are visiting the site and reading the posts. I also cross-post to...
We are all “on the spectrum”
(c) Sketchplanations One of the positives to come from Covid is that people are increasingly comfortable sharing their own mental health challenges, so creating space for others to share, to seek and offer support. We are all on the mental health spectrum. None of us...
Brevity is the soul of…
Sometimes I wax (so I hope) lyrical, other times I love brevity (as with this search link showing up numerous posts on my site on the subject of simplicity). If in doubt, make it shorter, and communicating visually can be the ultimate in brevity. Thanks to David...
Allowing the visual to explain
Sagrada Familia The funny thing is, over thirty-five years later, I feel that ever more. The most exquisite visual creations need no words to explain or validate them. The photo is of Sagrada Familia, my favourite manmade structure and one that has inspired me to...
Probably the best joke I’ve read all week
Curating a brilliant joke from the latest weekly newsletter from Nick Parker. Bleak, eh? Sunday morning, sitting at my desk (you know, the cool Victorian writing desk from earlier blogs?) at 10am watching the rain pour down outside on a bleak day that can't decide if...
What will be obvious looking back in six months time?
What will be obvious looking back in six months time? How many people in 2021 will be struggling with the first step of Maslow's hierarchy? Yesterday I was on a monthly session with a community where a question posed was: "What will be obvious looking back in six...
“Look after me next time”
Look after me next time. Bacon roll from OnARoll Yesterday I took some time out during the day to drive to a Homebase store to "click and collect" something for my new house. As I was about to leave, about 3pm, I saw a food truck in the car park. Smart, I thought,...
This is what positive leadership looks like
Celebrating the positive leadership of Dani Coleman, Director, Hazard Management Cayman Islands. Dani Coleman, Director, Hazard Management Cayman Islands What is the secret to being one of the leaders of a 70+ person, cross-agency National Emergency Operations Centre...
There’s No Algorithm For Wisdom
Wisdom Pyramid by Chip Conley There’s No Algorithm For Wisdom. “Who needs wisdom when we have such exquisite algorithms?” A young data scientist asked me this question when I was at Airbnb. I could tell he was half-serious, so I pulled out a pen and paper and...
Before…
First comes the moment that will, later, be remembered as before. I look forward to what comes next, then, in time, the after. On Sunday I moved into my new house. My fitness tracker said I climbed 112 flights of stairs that day. I certainly slept soundly! Yesterday,...