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.
What possibilities may lie beyond resistance?
Last week I was at the Craigberoch Decelerator on the Isle of Bute. One of the sessions was held in a gorgeous community space by a church, a room bathed in light with an elevated position and windows on three sides looking out to the bay beyond. The purpose of the...
What possibilities may lie beyond resistance?
I had worked through any resistance I had. I even have a phrase for this that popped into my head: “What possibilities may lie beyond…
Focus on Now and on the Future
Taking some time to look out past "what comes next" to "what comes in the future" may also support you and your energy in the present. So many people writing to give you advice on what to do, often going into great specifics. Recognise that I'm also doing the former,...
Watch out for feeling flat
How do you cope when you are feeling flat? As I listen and observe in calls and (online, these days) meetings with leaders around the world, I am always watchful for shifts and disconnects between what we are doing and how we are feeling. Throughout the pandemic...
People will value expertise
From Benedict Evans on Twitter, May 3, 2020 Though to some this may seem contradictory given the rise of populist leaders in recent years, I have felt over the last few weeks and months that one of the shifts that is already emerging is that people will value...
How might this clarify what we value?
What do you value? “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.”Henry David Thoreau In the surreal "groundhog day" that is waking up each morning in lockdown, Sunday mornings still feel a little different to me, a different...
Not For Sale
This is a time of great opportunity for those willing to look at what has historically been "not for sale". Cayman Kai At the North-Eastern tip of the North Sound of Grand Cayman is the popular vacation home area of Cayman Kai. It has been a property hotspot for...
Patience and Expectations
We have expectations and need to have patience to achieve them. Day five of taking blood thinners for DVT and no noticeable change in pain. Ok, so the Doctor told me it would take 1-2 weeks before I noticed a difference, yet I'm still feeling impatient. Also, six...
Find balance for yourself and your team
Working to find balance for yourself and your team, not being only either "on" or "off". About five weeks ago the UK government announced that they would fund staff put on furlough. Whilst I was really pleased to see them put people first in this way, the "on/off"...
Ouch!
Ouch! When you have limitations, do you complain or go with the flow? When you have limitations imposed on you, do you complain, resist, protest? Or, instead, do you go with the flow and work with what you've got in the moment? I write every day, EVERY day. Today,...
Embrace working with what you’ve got
Embrace your limitations and work with what you've got. Another personal blog, the third in three days since I first went to the hospital with a pain in my leg, with learnings around "working with what you've got". To recap, on Sunday morning I went to a major...
Feeling and sharing Gratitude
Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. Yesterday morning I wrote "Mind the Awareness Gap" before going to the Emergency room to get tested for DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) in my leg. Turned out I had...
Mind the awareness gap
Where are your gaps in awareness, and how can you improve them? I sit here early on a Sunday morning writing this, then will steel myself to visit the emergency room at my local major London hospital. I like to think of myself as a pretty aware person in different...
Thinking beyond the Map
More on this in the post: "The map is not the territory" Today's post is inspired by a great conversation with the Piratical Alex Barker (I really look forward to her new book in September) around leading at the edges of the map, and follows yesterday's post advising...