The Waterboys - doing what they do! I've written many posts on this site around the theme of Movies with Meaning, I've written about nature, architecture and more, as there are so many areas of life that inspire and that I truly feel are critical to our wellbeing,...
OpenLeadership
Context and choosing your team
Am working on building a tribe to work on a brave and different project that looks at business and leadership through the lens of beauty. Thanks to Susan Aktemel for posting this on Twitter the other day. I saw Susan speak at the Entrepreneurial Summit at Gleneagles...
Beautiful Leadership – We are all connected
Following on from yesterday's article: "Beautiful Leadership - Shining Eyes", after writing that article I found myself listening to some movie soundtrack pieces and then the end title from Cloud Atlas came on. Today I'll take the final thought from the TED talk by...
Beautiful Leadership – Shining Eyes
You can see from the front pages of this site that I look to work with visionary leaders to see beyond their vision, to "work with them to bring out their unique gifts." Benjamin Zander is a legendary classical music conductor, he sees his role as "to awaken...
Profitable, difficult or important
Is being a parent Profitable? No. Is being a parent Difficult? Sometimes, sure. Is being a parent Important? Absolutely. To me, it is the most important and valuable work I've ever or will ever do. As I write this post the last of my three sons has headed out of...
Lukewarm is no good
This week was "Roald Dahl day", celebrating and honouring his unique genius. This quote circulated and moved me. On the #BeMoreYou page on this site, I give an expression of what I offer to clients, to #BeMoreYou, and express that as: Be Hungry Be Humble Be Brave Be...
Don’t be more than one hilltop ahead
What can Don Quixote teach us about leadership? Reflecting that you don’t climb Everest in one go. You have staging camps to acclimatise, assess the conditions before moving on. Same in business. — Sacha Romanovitch (@romanovsun) September 13, 2018 Today I saw this...
Being aligned with who you are
This week I went to the cinema in the UK with my oldest son. During the previews, there was one for the new movie "Bohemian Rhapsody", a biopic about the amazing Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. As a teenager I saw Queen live twice, then along with basically the...
Beautiful words – aestivate
I love the power of language, and of well-chosen words. A little over a month ago, I wrote a post bringing together a number of the words and short phrases I've mused on over time on this site with links to those posts. That post is called "Beautiful words bring...
When will you next recharge…yourself?
Thanks to Monique Valcour for sharing this, with the tagline: Recharge yourself with nature The thing is, here in the Northern Hemisphere, there is a real "back to school" energy which means that for those who were able to slow down over the summer and recharge...
What can I do less of for you?
image credit itsquiz Recently I was on a coaching call with a client in a senior leadership role. On our last call, they told me of two questions they ask whenever they check in with one of their team. Simple, yet brilliant in that simplicity and how they support the...
Beauty, serendipity, music, grace, power
Today I am returning to the theme of beauty, as behind the scenes ideas are marinating with myself and others on transformative leadership programmes. I'm truly enjoying developing these ideas with Alan Moore, who I wrote about earlier in "Is yours, could yours be a...
How to be a Master Mentor in Midlife
{I love the generational symbolism of this image. Thanks Chip !} Today, for the third day in a row, I find myself sharing guest posts. Coming off the summer, the "back to school" energy sees collaborative energy flowing all around me, is it the same for you? I have a...
The compass matters more than the calendar
Image credit : Lewis Howes - Leadership Compass Today a guest post from my friend Jeff Raker of Level Up Leadership. Jeff is a wonderful guy and a top swimming official in the USA. We met a number of years ago through world of international swim officials. When not...
Premium means Premium
**Guest posts welcome at any time, I love to collaborate and to share learnings!** Today a guest post from friend and past colleague, Alan Wick. Alan is a great coach, passionate about empowering entrepreneurs. He listens and talks softly, and at the same time...
How would you cross the muddy pond?
A story today around one of my favourite leadership phrases: A leader is someone other choose to follow The picture above is of quite the unattractive muddy pond, huh? Now imagine you are a squad of young soldiers on army training. It is cold, wet, you've been out in...
Seeing gaps and learning from others
The view from the Eurostar area at Gare du Nord, and beyond those trains is the Thalys fast train and about 15 more platforms and then 8 mentor lines underground. Loved most of my life in the Americas, European rail infrastructure so different. Impressive....
Ed Percival – my greatest mentor in life
Ed Percival. Yoda, Obi-Wan, #BeMoreYou, Shaman, Discordian Pope. Last week Chip Conley posed a question to our Modern Elder group of: "What are the best qualities of a mentor and who's been your best mentor in life so far?" The second part of that question is easy for...
Elite Lessons – Making failure possible
In order to make failure possible, you first have to try, to commit, to go where it may scare or even terrify you, to be vulnerable, to say "this might not work" and do it anyway. Very recently I was disappointed to witness this first hand in someone. They were...
Inigo Montoya – Masterclass on introducing yourself
Such a fun meme that went viral a while back, and now my post on this theme is by far the most viewed on this daily blog on leadership. Hmm, so now let me try this out, using the example of introducing myself to someone I am being referred to by an existing client,...
Ichi-Go Ichi-E : No ordinary moments
Quite a view, isn't it? In my life, I've travelled to around 70 countries, but still, my favourite city is Edinburgh. This week I was up there from London for an overnight business visit with a friend and collaborator and stayed the night before the meeting with him...
Outdoor Storytelling
Over the last year, as part of the English-based school curriculum in his school in the Cayman Islands, my 14-year-old son has been studying WW2 history, and specifically the D-Day landings. Last week I took him and his brothers there to learn more. I chose a tour...
Elite Lessons – Consistency over Innovation
This photo of and quote from the great Eddy Merckx hangs in a frame behind the spinning instructor's bike at Revolutions in the Cayman Islands. As I sit writing on a wet Sunday morning nursing a sore Achilles tendon, I'm missing my regular Sunday morning ride and...
Movies with Meaning – Life is Beautiful
Between October 2017 and June 2018, I published weekly posts of three Movies with Meaning. The full list of movies over that time is featured here. Since June 2018 I have chosen to publish a post about movies only as the spirit takes me. As I write this post today, it...
Lessons from Music: Curiosity and Growth
Growth mindset is key to leadership. Curiosity is key to leadership In my youth I learned and played musical instruments, yet somehow got in my mind that I couldn't improve, couldn't grow to a level that would satisfy me. I then lost my curiosity and sense of wonder...
Only enough Structure to allow Flow
"Only enough Structure to allow Flow" This is a personal mantra for me now and is the reason why the two photos above could happen. I used to be known to plan life with great detail, packing the diary days, weeks,...
Can Business be Beautiful and Profitable?
This image was embedded in the award given to each member of a seminal Leadership Growth Programme. More in this article. Business can be Beautiful. Today I share an excerpt from a post from Alan Moore of beautiful.business, featured recently in "Is yours, could yours...
Coaching? I do not think it means what you think it means.
“You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means” ~ Inigo Montoya, swordsman and revenge obsessive, from The…
Be the CEO of your own Time and Energy
CEOs are responsible for the performance (and, one would hope they recognise) and the wellbeing of all the people in their team. Often, though, they…
Antarctica for a conference? Hell Yeah !
Antarctica? Conference? Hell YEAH! I’m going. Absolutely. Hell YEAH! Why Hell Yeah though? To answer that, let me take you back to a trip I…
Is yours, could yours be a Beautiful Business?
Is yours a Beautiful Business? If not, could yours be a Beautiful Business? If the question intrigues you read on, and if you connect to it at the end of this piece, let's talk. Soon. Recently I was introduced to Alan Moore, founder of Beautiful.Business and writer of...
What if you could never fire anyone?
Now, what if you could never fire anybody in your organisation, every, under any circumstances? What would you do differently? This is more than a thought experiment, I am seriously asking you to consider this question. More and more organisations are fully or at...
How clean are your communications?
image from a SlideShare deck from OneFish TwoFish called "How to communicate values without telling people to 'live the values' " So, yesterday I wrote: "Be rid of Brilliant Jerks". I didn't say "Fire your Brilliant Jerks". So, how can you be rid of brilliant jerks...
Be rid of Brilliant Jerks
"Do not tolerate brilliant jerks. The cost to teamwork is too high." ~ Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix The Netflix "Culture Deck", updated in 2018 and hosted on their site prominently here , is full of gems of great clarity around the Netflix culture, including this one...
Solving problems by taking a walk
The other day, I felt inspired to write by my friend Morgan DaCosta coining the phrase: "Coaching by Walking Around" This was a "level up" from the idea of Management by Walking Around, part of the essence of which is to walk randomly around and be present to those...
Leadership, Maria Callas, Meraki
Meraki is the modern greek term that translates to: "to do something with soul, creativity, or love; when you leave a piece of yourself in the work." Maria Callas, also Greek, is my favourite opera singer of all time, and one would call her a Meraklis. A Meraklis is...