One of the things I’ve noticed as restrictions on our day-to-day lives begin to ease is how noisy the world has become, or at least my sensitivity is heightened. Whichever, it’s had me thinking about noise at a number of levels…the noise, for example, the media created around our PM’s wedding – where it might...
We are all guilty of it…wilful blindness. Those times when we can see that something untoward is happening and yet somehow we turn away, don’t speak up, find ourselves ‘resigned’ to the situation even knowing it’s less than it should/could be. Margaret Heffernan has written on this subject and her Ted Talk is a salutary...
Two years ago hybrid probably conjured mental images of cars powered by both electricity and fossil fuel. More recently hybrid is the word on most leaders’ and employees’ lips as a descriptor for our workplaces going forward. What’s interesting here is that if we strip back to the basic meaning of hybrid – anything of...
Have you ever considered what it could look like to be truly joyful in your work. What if those who lead were committed to cultivating a joyful workplace. Joy isn’t a word we often hear associated with the world of work. In fact, so often it’s the opposite – sometimes a huge sigh, for others...
It has long been said that we in the UK do know how to bring a certain quality to important moments in the life of the Nation or the world. Of course, we have a lot of rich history and access to all sorts of symbols of pomp and circumstance to draw on given that...
For much of our lives we are focused on fulfilling our potential as individuals. We are taught to express our physical and intellectual talents especially. If we are lucky, we may be supported to express and fulfil our desires, our love and our ideals. Over time, we hopefully come to a place where we have...
I’ve spent over 40 years in the service industry, and this is both a blessing and at times a curse. It means that I’m acutely aware of the principles behind excellent service and the importance of the customer, and it also means that service failures I encounter along the way are tricky to tolerate. However,...
This week saw the inauguration of the 46th President of the USA and whilst the inauguration ceremony wasn’t what we have seen before it retained key anchor points of ritual and ceremony. The presence of former Presidents, the swearing in on the ‘family’ bible, the singing of the National Anthem by a national treasure and...
Though I don’t imagine President Biden fetched the items from storage himself it was interesting to note the leaders he reintroduced to the Oval Office on day one – busts of Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks and Robert F Kennedy, all prime movers in Civil Rights. The portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln...
I was reading an article in the Guardian a while ago reflecting on the need for everyone to move toward a ‘we’ mind-set rather than one of self interest if we are to navigate the global crises facing our world today. Aside from any political motives, it brings to the fore key principles that are...