Some years ago, a good (and older than me) friend was fond of saying ‘the older I get, the less I know.’ Usually, it followed some unexpected and illogical incident or inquiry. At the time I found the statement a little puzzling. How could we know less, surely with age we know more? And yet...
Maybe ‘un-gifting’ sounds a bit strange as we enter the season of gifting. Yet it might be just what we need. From personal experience, we tend to hold on to things too long. Ideas, ways of working, our expertise, career milestones. They give identity. At times they’re lifebelts. But what if these tethers have got...
Our conditioning dictates that the goal is the thing, not the process of getting there. I’m as caught in this groove as the next person. So, we might just pause (even though there’s stuff to do) and think about what we’re missing out on in this goal rush. And the impact of that. In being...
You may recognise this phrase if you’ve ever done a slightly edgier personal development programme. From experience, when the activity is explained it can make the heart quail (mine did/does), at least a little (even for those who can dance, though proficiency isn’t the point). Yet, slowly, embarrassed shuffling becomes something freer, more essential, as...
You are doing battle every day. Sometimes it can feel like a constructive use of energy. Sometimes it can feel hopeless. How often do we stop to really ask ourselves just what we are battling for? Heroes, knights and mercenaries all had/have their reasons for their battles. As leaders we are more than mindless cogs...
When the original 13 colonies merged to form a single US nation the founding fathers adopted the motto E Pluribus Unum – out of the many, one. Notwithstanding the challenges the US and all of us around the world face from division and polarisation isn’t this motto – which speaks so powerfully and inspiringly to...
We speak of communities of practice, and some organisations will have a group or communities dedicated to people related themes such as diversity, LBGTQ+ or faith and yet we rarely think about community as the backbone of the organism. Yes, there will potentially be share of mind dedicated to the culture and yet even that...
Generosity. It may seem a little old fashioned, out of kilter with the pace of our world, the attention needed to get things done. Yet it is a quality and an energy that is transformative. Being generous with our time and attention elevates not only the quality and openness of our conversations but also the...
As leaders we all hope to be visionary, don’t we? To aspire and inspire. We are fortunate in our interconnected world to have a window on the efforts of other visionary leaders, their impact and example. We can also discern, for ourselves, any gap between rhetoric and reality. A few days ago I was reminded...
If we are honest with ourselves, we know that most complex problems cannot be solved in isolation by one person. For sure the world is blessed with an occasional genius able to cut through and bring to our awareness a new way to see the world or the issues we are dealing with. However in...