I recently wrote "Slow Motion Multitasking", musing on the value of slowly moving between tasks and projects. Today a simpler thought around our choices around pace in this so, so fast moving world we live in, about the power of going slowly. I sense, from inspiration...
Microsoft just became the most valuable company in the world. This made big headlines, though very few people know the name of their CEO and few of the articles truly got into why his radically different style of humble leadership has been at the heart of that...
As I write this, today I was working with a CEO around where they plan to take their business in 2019. They have a big and bold transformative vision, and today it felt a little, well, too much for them to get from where they are to where they wish to go. I put to...
My definition of wisdom: "Wisdom is something concise that, once you hear it, you feel you always knew it" Today wisdom from Muhammad Ali, Alan Moore, and Seth Godin. In August 2018 I wrote: "Can Business be Beautiful and Profitable?" at a time when Alan Moore and I...
Interior of Sagrada Familia I love cathedrals and other major centres of worship, such as Sagrada Familia, Hagia Sophia, Durham Cathedral and many others. A key aspect of such buildings is that almost all of those who were part of their construction knew that they...
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.
As leaders, sometimes we push ourselves hard. Work hard, be busy, lead by example etc. We often then push our people to think, decide, do, deliver. In the #OpenLeadership model, I refer to this as #Warrior mode. It can work for a time yet ultimately depletes others....
This photo is of Dr Taylor Burrowes giving her TEDx Talk in Cayman in April 2014. I thought of Taylor today, somehow inspired by David Ross, a renaissance Kilmarnock man who posts every morning on Twitter as he wakes up about his face, hair and voice. Up. Face like an...
"Do work that you're proud of - work that matters for people who care. It's all about connection, empathy and making a difference." ~ Seth Godin Seth Godin inspired me to post daily. With well over 7,000 daily posts already he has moved way beyond the "marketing guru"...
Conscious mental exercise. Stories around bringing consciousness to stretch and grow our mind in everyday situations.
Not my circus, not my monkey. A mantra to avoid the Drama Triangle
Making a positive impact and (gasp) talking to people and making eye contact in London!
Monday morning. My first calls and meetings start in an hour and will continue until late, so I sit here with one task at hand, to write the daily post to go out tomorrow morning. Normally that feels great, except today, there is a problem. I have no idea what to...
(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...
My favourite business artist is Hugh McLeod, @hughcards on Twitter. Love this one. Change comes from feelings, not rationality. Feelings connect us to why we would choose to change. "When you get clear on the WHY, the HOW is easy" I see organisational change so often...
This week I brought you wisdom for Leadership from the sagest of sage bears (apologies to Paddington, who comes a close second), Winnie the Pooh. Today, I bring you the legend that is Eric Cantona, who I also wrote about...
"Awareness is the greatest agent for change" ~ Suki Laniado Smith "Leaders who focus on building both internal and external self-awareness...can learn to see themselves more clearly — and reap the many rewards that increased self-knowledge delivers" ~ Dr Tasha Eurich,...
The view from my friend and host's loft in Brooklyn a few hours ago, just after sunrise on a cold and crisp 4c / 39f degree morning. The inspiring view has me musing today on the power of changing and challenging your perspective. I just spent a week in Cayman and...
This week I've been home in Cayman. Seeing my boys, clients, friends. There are so many wonderful elements of living on that small island of only around 60,000 people, and at the same time, there is an element of "big fish, small pond" mindset, particularly when it...
When I was a teenager, occasionally at school someone (yes, sometimes that someone was me!) would let slip a swear word in class. The teacher would typically say something like "watch your language!". Interesting turn of phrase, now I think about it! Language is...
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...
At the Rio 2016 Olympics, swimmers were given free sets of "Beats" headphones. Brilliant product placement, as it had been realised that almost all swimmers like to close themselves off from the world before their race and do so in a cocoon of sound. Recently I...
Today two simple shares from some writing I love, from the poet Robert Frost. I've written many posts here on this site around "Writing I Love". Why do I do that on a site about #OpenLeadership. Simple. Leadership starts with "Self-Leadership". Beauty, whether in...
The Golden Rule states: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Platinum Rule: "Treat others the way they want to be treated." The Golden Rule is cited so often it seems like a wonderful and positive aspiration. However, the first time someone tells...
Soon I will be travelling for ten days to Cayman and the USA, blending seeing clients, family, friends. Whilst most of my active clients are on retainers, over the years I've built deep relationships with a number of clients who call me in periodically to support them...
I had lunch recently with an investor who expressed frustration about founders of startups and scale-ups. They are not a fund partner, nor VC or from the Private Equity world. No, they actually built a business of value and lived it for the whole journey through to an...
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...
“Writing I Love” is an occasional series on this site. Sometimes a book, sometimes a poem, a quote, sometimes simply a line.
So, to that beautiful quote, but first, to “repetition, repetition, repetition”. I work with leaders around the world and often around communicating and engaging their…
We met recently for breakfast in Glasgow and afterwards he sent me this hysterical clip of Mr Bean as a conductor, then later shared some…
If we look into the past for the true source of innovations, I wonder, by considering innovation in such a way, what we could learn…
I moved to the UK after nearly 28 years in the Caribbean and mostly focussed on the Americas. Yes, am a white male speaking English…
Are you considering investing in a coach for yourself, and/or for members of your team? If so, how are you going about selecting them? Are…
The #BeMoreYou page on this site is there to help leaders assess if I am the right person to support them and if they are the right person too. Words like bravery and transformation are peppered through the site, and this phrase from the page is apposite to today's...
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...