Bridget Riley, "After The Bridge at Courbevoie" "Perception constitutes our awareness of what it is to be human, indeed what it is to be alive."Bridget Riley This week I visited the Hayward Gallery to see the Bridget Riley exhibition. Her huge abstract paintings of...
"Price is what you pay; Value is what you get"Warren Buffett Today let me tell you a story about a time when I nearly paid the price of focussing solely on lowest cost rather than investing in value until I had a sudden moment where I realised that investing an extra...
Image by Carl Richards of Behavior Gap a master of simplifying #OpenLeadership is simple. It is a practice of embracing change as constant, encouraging individual thought, relying on intuition more than data, fluidity more than hierarchy, trust more than fear, and...
The new triple bottom line - see "Leading from Purpose" In 2020 I will be writing regular posts featuring businesses that are truly Purpose-led and are highly and sustainably successful. This is all part of a mission to build bridges to CEOs, and specifically to...
One day last week I was at theRSA for a meeting and the coffee cup they gave me was this one. Today a quick tip/reminder of a simple technique to get to the source of any issue or problem. Simply ask WHY five times. This technique was developed by Toyota as part of...
"He who avoids shadow avoids what is the glory of art"Leonardo Da Vinci What can leaders and businesses learn from art, artists, and also those who design art exhibitions? I often quote Da Vinci with "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". Last week I viewed an...
"He simply picked us and joined us"Seth Godin on Chip Conley This week Chip Conley and his friend Seth Godin are collaborating on a series of mini-blogs on Chip's "Wisdom Well" site. This week I was also on a video call with a client who is looking to mine their...
"Showing up on time is one of the greatest liberating acts you can give yourself"Tom Hanks, in his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, Jan 6, 2020 I like to be on time. In fact, I like to be early. Being early has power in many ways Early is on time, on time is...
Image credit: Getty Images “Before you play two notes, learn how to play one. And don’t play one unless you’ve got a reason to play it.”Mark Hollis Last week I came across a recent article on Mark Hollis, front man of Talk Talk, who passed away in early 2019, titled...
This morning the latest periodic #OpenLeadership newsletter was sent out to subscribers, entitled: "Could you go slower?". It is a "long read" that I wrote over the holiday period, I hope you enjoy it. For today's daily post, though, I did things a little differently...
On this site, I mean 😉 I'm doing the holiday season differently, taking a few days overseas on a break from today. I also just wrote a LONG read newsletter to go into the #OpenLeadership archive after it goes out on Monday, January 6th. If you'd like to receive then,...
In this last week of the year, I have been writing some simple daily musings on themes such as slowing down (here and here) and being patient (here and here). Today, inspired (as I often am) by the thoughts of my friend Chip Conley, I reflect on what happens when we...
Yesterday I mused about patience in "Being Patient can be a Practice", musing that, at this quiet time between Christmas and New Year: "I find myself struggling today to “do nothing” and, on a broader sense, to “be patient” and allow time for things to emerge and...
How to do a reference check: “What feedback could you give me to be the best manager for her I could be?” "Awesome thread. Humility, Open-Ness and Confidence. A powerful combination in service of others." My thoughts when I retweeted a thread about receiving a...
Liminal is relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process. Chip Conley has inspired me for many years, but recently for the first time he has also been my editor, for yesterday's guest post on the new "Wisdom Well" of daily writings from the Modern Elder...
Do you know how to slow down safely? Be careful how you slow down - you don't want to crash and get sick. Have you, or anyone you know, ever "crashed" as you stop for the Christmas Holidays? Got sick as soon as you stopped work, then suffered through the start of the...
What will you do differently in 2020? Today I'll help you muse on that, hoping to inspire your innate curiosity for self and your business. As we come to the end of the year, rather than wait until January to think about this, I recommend you start thinking about this...
What are you afraid of, and what does it mean for how Present you can be if you are Fearful versus without fear? Warning, going deep with this post! Please bear with me, I hope the "payoff" at the end is of value to you. Jerry Colonna, Non-Attachment and Fear This...
Be a better human by being open, vulnerable and supportive of your people, which will make you a better leader. Teachings from Jerry Colonna. Yesterday evening I had the great pleasure of being at an intimate gathering at the H Club to hear from Jerry Colonna, hosted...
Among the most common themes that I find come up for leaders is their beliefs around money. Today sharing a twitter thread from a man who I first talked to about this topic when we met on snowshoes on a mountain in the Alps. Tom Nixon is a wise man in many ways, his...
Today I arrived back in London early morning on an overnight flight from Cayman. It was a beautiful and sunny winter's day. I'd arranged to meet up with someone, they then had to be somewhere else in town for their next meet up. We made the most of the day by taking...
Think for a moment about your Vision for yourself, your business or organisation. For those with a focus on the UK, where the General Election just happened, perhaps you may be reflecting on your own Vision for country, economy, society. Now, these all typically have...
It is time to enter not into the GTD mode, but the GSD mode, elevating to the GSD mindset that is so appropriate for them at this time. A good friend of mine has spent their life making sure they had everything in their head all the time at any time. As you can...
Ten years ago, in their first step as a company, Holstee’s founders, Dave, Mike and Fabian, sat together on the steps of Union Square in New York to write down how they define success. The goal was to create something they could reflect back on if they ever felt stuck...
Yesterday I wrote: "Flux and intense curiosity", linking to an annual post from Tom Whitwell of Flux called "52 things I learned in 2019". The 52nd and last thing he had learned was: Asking ‘What questions to do you have for me?’ can be dramatically more effective...
I am certain that intense curiosity is an essential attribute for #OpenLeadership. Recently I was pointed towards an amazing annual post by my eclectically brilliant friend Steve Moore. As he put it: "Read Tom’s annual post. You will learn more in the ten minutes it...
"..making plans for the future is of use only to people who are capable of living completely in the present."Alan Watts My life is structured in what is often a seamless blend, so when someone asks me "what do you do?" and they are really asking "what is your job",...
Rock balancing, February 2019, Baja Earlier this year I had the amazing experience of rock balancing in Baja at the Modern Elder Academy. My experience, was, odd as it may sound, the rocks taught me something, the value of having ever deeper Presence. Chip Conley puts...
The Lumineers - O2 Arena, Nov 27, 2019 On Wednesday, November 27th, I wrote a "long read" called "Transferring Enthusiasm", the essence of which is that when you have a live audience, to focus not on sharing data, information or knowledge, but simply to transfer your...
From the back cover of the Kilkenomics brochure, November 2019 It is time business to embrace purpose. I've focussed for years on the idea that by putting Purpose, People and Planet ahead of Profit, businesses will "Do well by doing good". Small may be beautiful in...
My "long read" for you yesterday was on: "Transferring Enthusiasm", inspired by insight from a long conversation with a wise friend. Another wise friend is Chip Conley, author of "Wisdom and Work" and, like my friend who inspired yesterday's post, is both wise and...
Propagating viral ideas all starts with transferring enthusiasm. This week I embraced my good fortune in spending a thoughtful two hours in the company of a wise elder, someone I exchange emails with and occasionally meet up with. Much of our conversation centred...
If you wish to attract the best people, opportunities, clients, partners towards you, "be what you wish to attract". Yesterday I was officiating at the ISL Swim Meet at one of my favourite buildings, the London Aquatic Centre. Having arrived several hours early and...
Adam Peaty at the ISL Chip Conley often reminds us to learn a new skill every year that has nothing to do with what we do for work. This skill is what we do that is different. For me, one thing I do that is different is that I have been passionate about being a...
How do you know when something is ready? is done? it is time to stop refining and tweaking? One of the services I love to provide to clients is to support them around developing their strategy, through which we focus on the story of the vision, what they want to...
There is wisdom in a minute of intensely focused contemplation. Today sharing a post from Ed Duggar, a wise human I had the good fortune of meeting last year through "mi hermana", Rosie von Lila as we all came together in NYC to support one of her "What Comes Now"...