Yesterday's post was called "Give less advice". My friend Bruce Peters read it, then emailed me: "Have you considered "no advice" Or advice is prohibited approach? Wisdom Circles in the Quaker tradition set an example, perhaps?" Sage man, that Bruce. If, as I often...
Only one part of my current "pile of books" to read Do you have a "pile of books?" Mine never seems to get anywhere near "manageable", as I simply keep buying more and more to read. This pile is only the ones that are loosely to do with business and leadership, there...
Recently I wrote: "Beautiful Leadership – Purpose and the Corporation" in which I talked about what I called a new triple bottom line of Purpose, People, Planet. I fundamentally believe the world needs new ways of considering what is prosperity. For today, I am simply...
I love what I do and have found, over time and practice, that I have developed a level of mastery at being a sounding board, with the key to that having little to do with knowledge and experience around leadership and business, it is far more to do with the ability to...
This week I am at the Modern Elder Academy at a week-long workshop entitled "The Psychology of Presence". This is a week I am taking to "deepen my practice" in my work. What do I do? Fundamentally I listen, ask questions, reflect, sometimes (only sometimes) advise,...
Last month, in my post for Christmas Day, I wrote "Happiness and Gratitude". That post featured the beautiful TED talk of David Steindl-Rast. Today a brief story of a moment of presence, around his use of the phrase: Stop, Look, Go David's TED talk is about the secret...
Sometimes life can feel too much. Speed, complexity, demands, deadlines, all can mount up and create a feeling of overwhelm in any of us. At such times, rather than trying to think our way out of it, to analyse to a solution, perhaps pause, get out, take a walk, be...
My writing is around leadership and is often focussed on how business leaders can "be more". Perhaps some may find this post title a little "woo woo" for them, but hey, to model the title, those aren't the audience I'm seeking. The people I want to meet, to reach, to...
Truly listening to others can be the greatest of gifts. Recently I wrote: "What is your one-word theme for 2019?". After writing this, I instinctively offered to a few groups the opportunity for them to have me support individuals with a one hour call to get to their...
As a Leader, should you be patient or impatient? Patient or impatient - with the speed your people and your business are moving at? Patient or impatient - with yourself, your family, your friends? Patient or impatient - with the speed of life and work in general? It...
I've just spent several days with family in Scotland and reminded of the power of simply being present for people. Today a simple leadership lesson on this from a military leader (shared by Tom Peters) and a reminder of the absolute presence of Marina Abramovic. No...
For this post to go out on Christmas Day, a time for gratitude, I am reflecting simply and concisely on Happiness and Gratitude, starting with this image, then the thoughts of the Dalai Lama on "Compassion as the source of happiness", and finally to share with you a...
Yesterday I wrote the second in a series of posts sharing my ideas around a way to reflect on the year that is coming to completion such that you can truly set up a theme to focus on for 2019. As part of reflecting on the year just past and before looking ahead to the...
"Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet" Robert Nesta Marley So tonight I was walking through London from one meeting to another, and as I saw these arches, this particular quote from the inestimable and incomparable Bob Marley came to mind. A cold and crisp...
Humility and what we choose to ground us. Ancient poetry is one for me, and you?
Listening for energy. Tai Jin, one of your most powerful tools to develop as a leader.
This weekend the annual Kilkenomics economics and comedy festival in the gorgeous tiny city of Kilkenny. I write this on a Sunday morning musing on diversity of thought and "how much is too much?". We learned that Andy Haldane (Chief Economist of the Bank of England)...
Conscious mental exercise. Stories around bringing consciousness to stretch and grow our mind in everyday situations.
Making a positive impact and (gasp) talking to people and making eye contact in London!
(c) Florian Radarte "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" also goes along with "a change is as good as a rest" I wrote some time ago in "Stop the “Busyness”": "Put simply, for leaders, less is more. Simple, yes? But how many of you just skipped over this and...
Quite the view, isn't it? I recently spent a week back in Cayman, where I had upwards of thirty meetings, talking with well over sixty people, including leading a four-hour session for a team of twenty-two. I worked out that in all that time I had less than two hours...
This week I am back in Cayman, with a full week of client meetings, a client workshop, meetings with friends, contacts, and, most of all, my boys. What occurs to me at this moment is the powerful combination of : Gratitude + Presence I do love Emotional Equations, yet...
"Nightswimming deserves a quiet night" ~ REM Leadership takes many forms, yet common to any style is the adage that "it is about what you do, not what you say". For those who model quiet leadership, it is absolutely in what they do, not what they say. This photo from...
Monday 1st October. It is 7:35am. I got out of bed at 5:30am in Edinburgh, then got a bus and then the train through to Glasgow. It is almost freezing, I am kicking myself for not bringing my winter coat. Even though it is early, people are walking at high speed...
"Our world seems like a heap of fragments and it is hard to see how they cohere. Wisdom has been replaced by knowledge and knowledge has been replaced by information. Pieces of data. Chunks of data." Iain McGilchrist, author of "The Divided Mind", speaking in the...
Today let me put it to you that, in many years and thousands upon thousands of hours as a coach, the single most powerful tool for coaching is Context. Today I'll talk specifically about the power for an individual of setting a personal context and three focal areas...
Today a story about the power of beautiful moments, such as the one in the photo Earlier this week, as I wrote about here, I took time out to go to the country, to slow down, and simply to walk with a friend and walk his dog. Prior to that day, I'd been feeling a bit...
Today a story about self-awareness, the value of slowing down, and walking the dog.
This week I was at my favourite recurring learning experience, a "Facilitation Shindig" led by the amazing Julie Drybrough. This experience inspired today's post, about Mastery being about the ability to improvise and that ability coming from incessant practice....
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...
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...
"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,...
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...
"Live in the now to provide for the future" Exquisite. I love distilled beauty in writing, and gosh how much I love anything that can relate to leadership and business. This hits the mark on all levels for me! People are my library, and today I am most thankful for...
Taken after a photo shoot, looking over the Thames to Temple. London is such a city of both tradition and permanence as well as dynamism and growth. Yesterday I had a wonderful experience with a highly creative photographer, Simon Edwards, as we walked around London...
Some Scots for you in the title today. “Whit’s fur ye’ll no go by ye” Translation: What's for you will not go by you. My Scots grandmother or, in more recent times, a dear friend (also Scots, naturally!) would use this to remind me to have patience, to relax, to be...