In life and in leadership, you can edit, hone and distill your message constantly. "The first half of your life is focused more on accumulating: success, responsibilities, family, friends, hobbies, identities. A mid-life crisis is often about feeling weighed-down by...
This week I was complimented by a reader on sharing some incisive and concise ideas in my daily writing. That is wonderful to hear, as a) I can talk a lot when on a roll (!), and b) I love the Da Vinci adage of: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". The thing...
A while ago I wrote: "Do all CEOs “only care about profit”? No.." to address a commonly held (and understandable!) view that companies are only lead and managed around driving profits, often by working their people hard with limited concern for People, Planet or even...
What we see and do not see is a matter of our perspective. How many pillars are there? The answer is seven. Or, how many women can you see? Most see pillars, only some immediately see beyond to the women. This has me thinking about seeing what others don't see. This...
When we make predictions, what do they teach us? Six months ago I wrote: "WeWork and remembering lessons of the past", in which I both predicted the crashing downfall of WeWork, as well as musing on past lessons from market booms and busts, dating back to own my...
In 1978 a nondescript looking young man from Northern Ireland stepped on stage at the farewell concert of a group simply called, "The Band". When he opened his mouth to sing, he created an incredible moment in time. He created something out of this world. How? He...
John Muir I love hiking. I love walking for the purpose of exercise, of a heart rate over 100bpm for hours on end, of the feeling of walking fast and strongly for exercise. I also love to walk for a different reason, to walk to allow the process of walking to clear my...
What different game can you choose to play that will keep you energised during this transition? In my mid-20s I was on a steep learning curve as a competitive squash player in Cayman. I was at the club every evening after work and, in addition to coaching and formal...
“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.”David Whyte On occasion, I choose to muse here a little with my daily posts. Today I was captivated by this quote...
from WhereThereBeDragons Thanks to my friend and past client David Kirkaldy of Massive Group in Cayman. I wrote this post nearly a decade ago and was reminded of the idea of "Go where there be Dragons" by a tweet this week from Carl Richards. Though my old blogs from...
by Carl Richards I seem to have a theme of late flowing through writing and in the people I've been meeting. That theme is ENERGY and is showing up in different ways, as evinced in the blogs of the last week. Nearly two years ago I wrote a short post called: "Cogito...
Today I rode my bike. So what? Well, I hadn't done it in over two weeks. Yup, I'm a sounding board and coach, often my clients ask me to hold them accountable, yet I hadn't got my procrastinating self on my bike for over two weeks. I realise that procrastinating is a...
Coaching and Leadership require many types of listening: for words, tone of voice, body language, and energy. Recently I had the pleasure of spending an evening with a group of experienced coaches to explore and share learnings and experiences. As it was the first...
A few days ago, a tweet went around that I found striking in how it spoke about the importance of trusting someone you select to do a job. https://twitter.com/davetrott/status/1177932437676015619 I'll share the full story below, for now, my thought is simply that the...
Imagine all the people you lead as powerful balls of energy and light. The first law of thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to...
Flowers Sea Swim Cayman - one of the world's top Open Water races While in Cayman this week, I spent time at an event looking to build awareness and reputation for a burgeoning global industry. As I entered the event, one of the organisers recognised me and came over...
This week among my many Cayman meetings I met with a client who worked with me as their coach for years. They shared that they had a sense in Cayman at the moment of "stuck" from some people and businesses. Getting Stuck in old thinking and results Before my trip,...
I've been having an amazing week of CONNECTION in Cayman, full of wonderful meetings and time spent with my sons, with friends, clients, contacts. At one lovely lunch, a friend was asking me about what's next for me in life and work. I tried to find a word to explain...
The late, great Ed Percival This week in Cayman I find myself musing on Perspectives, on Legacy, on Context, all as I am here with my own Context this week of CONNECTION. After two meetings early in the week with a current client and a past client, I find myself...
This week I had a half-day meeting with a client leadership team in Cayman. With a lot happening for them, they were feeling a little "scattered". After talking through a download of much of that in some detail, we elevated the conversation and arrived at a Context...
Legacy Today's theme for me from the first day of meetings this week in Cayman. I started with an early meeting with a client who plans to move to their next exciting career opportunity after years in their current position. Their context for their work with me in...
This week I am back in Cayman, my home for more than half of my life, a country that remains my home, though I live in London now. On my first morning here, staying with friends, we spent hours and hours talking over so many things, as good friends do when they get...
Great Thunberg outside the Swedish Parliament starting her school strike, September 2018 Crisis One year ago this week Greta Thunberg sat, alone, outside the Swedish parliament, to begin her Climate Crisis strike. One year later, literally millions joined her across...
Recently I've been reminded about the power of being positive. I'm definitely energetic and an optimist, two traits I like to think are also grounded in pragmatism, including deep knowledge of business and finance as well as people and behaviour. Be positive, believe...
One evening this week I had the privilege as a GlobalScot to attend a "pitch coaching" event in London to support some Scottish businesses in honing their "pitch", with a specific focus around the London market. Before we started, I asked them specifically what they...
"Where are you on the spectrum? This could be a question that could spark all kinds of emotive reactions, particularly if the recipient sits in a space of feeling a stigma and block towards talking about anyone or anything that sits outside generalised "norms". To cut...
Simplicity is complexity resolved. Yesterday the Supreme Court of the UK began hearing a hugely high profile constitutional case, streamed live. Such a high profile case also attracts high calibre lawyers to act on behalf of both sides. On the first morning of the...
Iconic image of Grand Cayman (c) Courtney Platt This week I'm doing some "KYC" administration for my business in the Cayman Islands. Contrary to some simplistic media coverage around the world, such compliance is vigorously legislated, regulated and enforced, so there...
Measuring the Purpose of a Brand or Corporation such that, bridging to conventional measures such as shareholder return. "Doing good and doing well go hand in hand" After over 700 daily posts, I repeat themes here. I believe in business as a force for good, so one...
Yesterday was the 700th daily post in a row on this site, so today I'm taking a sabbatical. Today is a glorious late summer Sunday, so though I'm keeping the daily posting going with this, in effect I took the day off to relax outdoors. Ok, ok, clearly a one day...
Take time to appreciate one in a million moments. Recently it felt like summer was over in London, with grey, wet and colder weather. However, as Friday rolled around at the end of a long week, the weather warmed up and the sun came out. I look to practice what I...
Lack of diversity is a major business risk. Do I have your attention? To truly connect people to an idea such that they will take action, it is necessary to frame it in a way that impacts something that matters to them and their business. Risk is a keyword for...
Repeat your messages to communicate your belief in them, the business, the opportunity, the vision. "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...
Lessons learned from working with a master Feldenkrais practitioner . Yoda, a quintessential Master Over a year ago I injured my Achilles badly. No specific event, I simply was walking a lot that summer and it became injured and wouldn't heal. Months later, frustrated...
Pigeon: 'Ever heard of Text Messaging?' This is the 696th day in a row of posts on this site and, whilst I have a whole load of themes bubbling away for future long (and short) reads, I'd really like to hear from you. I wrote a piece a while ago called "Tell People...
Coaches do not give advice. What do I mean? Coaching = Asking, NOT Telling When a coach is actually in the role of a coach, when they are coaching, they do not give advice. Ever. However, coaches are also often asked to fill four other roles at times, those of mentor,...