Whatever happened to saying "I'm Sorry"? Almost every day around the world, we are seeing people in senior at the top of government acting in ways that clearly require a full and sincere apology. We simply never seem to get one though. As part of this, I have two...
Don't force it. It is better to look at a problem fresh in the morning than force it late in the evening. So here I sit on Friday evening, determined to write Saturday morning's daily blog before I "switch off" for the workweek. As I sit and think about writing, I...
Like many, I am thinking a lot about what our world will look like once we are on the other side of the pandemic. Will countries retrench to being more local or more global? From vacations to travel in general to supply chains, there is much consideration to...
Here there be dragons. Pirates, Dragons and going off the map This week I was on a great and highly interactive zoom event hosted by the Reinventing Work network. The guest speaker was my friend Alex Barker of Be More Pirate, who highlighted some of the core ways in...
"Jaws" is a classic film, despite the fact that the film-makers faced a flaw in that their mechanical shark was both not very realistic and also often didn't work when they needed it. Faced with this "flaw", though, they turned it into a feature. Did you realise, for...
Since the pandemic accelerated into lockdown around two months ago, I've been providing many thirty-minute sounding board calls to support individuals with clarity around one or more leadership questions they are focussed on in that moment. This morning I'm musing on...
Reminder to self. Stick to a routine. Wake up, get up, get going. Almost every day I bounce out of bed before my alarm goes off at 7am. In fact, as the days have moved from late winter to early summer in the over two months of lockdown, the sun has woken me earlier...
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching. "Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching" This phrase has been very much on my mind in the last week or two. Right now we all (yes, me too) face some frustration as we remain at home,...
Keep calm because this too shall pass “If you feel sure you have over-communicated your message to your people to the point where they are bored of hearing it from you…. you are probably about halfway there.”From the post: "Repeat after me. Repeat your message" I...
A New Acronym: FOGB - Fear of Going Back. Focus on going forward to release fears of going back. Most of us have heard of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Some of us, particularly introverts, have heard of JOMO (JOY of Missing Out). Very recently, as we look towards...
AirBnB is leading from purpose and building trust. From "Leading with Purpose" on the Open Leadership section of the site Over the last three days, my daily posts have focussed on Trust and an underlying issue of people not trusting their leaders in government at this...
People are intrinsically good. Those who know me and follow me know that I am deeply grounded in experience, numbers, facts, science, as well as decades of first-hand experience in business and leadership. Today, I share one message for you to consider from all of...
Trusting people is the only way for any government to get through the pandemic, to "dance" as a society and as an economy through to the other side, whatever that may look like. Control is not the answer. Trust is. The "hammer" phase was all about simple messaging and...
Today a meandering musing around Creative Destruction and then three questions I'd love for you to consider for yourself to enrich your life after lockdown. Why focus on Creative Destruction? My professional focus is as a Sounding Board for Leaders. Leadership is...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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! 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 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...
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...
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...
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...
“Henry Ford’s reaction to a consultant who questioned why he paid {note, this was in the 1930s} $50,000 a year to someone who spent most of his time with his feet on his desk. “Because a few years ago that man came up with something that saved me $2,000,000,” he...
How The Plattery is doing the right thing with Vital Meals. the latest evolution of Vital Meals by The Plattery, April 22, 2020 I've been posting on Twitter, and occasionally on my daily blog, examples of businesses #DoingTheRightThing. Also, my friend Darryl...
This week I was talking to a client in Cayman about a challenge they were facing at looking at a strategy for post-pandemic. I listened, then reflected that within that challenge I could see several opportunities. They were grateful, though for a moment, then...
I'm not someone writing about all the things any of us "coulda, woulda, shoulda" done in the lockdown. No, I'm simply asking you to consider: "what have I learned so far?" about yourself. Three things I've learned: I thrive through somehow having clarity in times of...
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."Winston Churchill, The Lord Mayor's Luncheon, Mansion House, November 10, 1942 This line feels so right for where we are right now. For full context of the...
Connected Working What will work look like as the world gradually returns to increasing degrees of normalcy? Language is powerful. Today thanks to my friend Gordon Bull for prompting me to consider new language for us to consider when framing the questions to ask of...
How can we do things better online? Only two months ago I was introduced to Tortoise Media by a client in the West Coast of the USA, a Tortoise founder member. That same day I joined as a member then attended a "ThinkIn" at their newsroom in central London that...
Different businesses and sectors will be impacted by the current lockdown differently. today I focus on those that know their business will be solid and bounce back strongly yet are feeling a slowdown impacting them. At the start of this as I opened up my diary, I was...
After lockdown, will you go back to the office, or start working remotely? Last week I wrote about working from three time frames through the current environment: What Comes NowWhat Comes NextWhat Comes in the Future For many of us, we have been in lockdown anything...
Now more than ever, we need bravery in our leaders. Senninger's learning zone model Yesterday, in "Innovation is simple", I wrote: As we emerge from the current lockdown, there will be decades worth of opportunities to innovate opening up in a matter of week and...