Fifty years ago the UK was about nationalised industries and state control. Leaders found their best selves through outward-bound development – physical challenges often in heavy drizzle and muddy ground. Over the past few years the UK has been moving back to nationalisation. Rail has gone first. Then steel. Maybe water will be next then...
Daily we take positions on the information we receive. Where there are gaps we might explore further. Often it is easier to fill with assumption. The source of the information also has an impact – do we trust it or not? Is it real or not? Once we’ve crossed these not insignificant tests off we...
You may have seen this too, receiving utility bills that regularly change the period you’re being billed for (28 days and then 165 days on a recent bill) making any comparison of consumption on a like for like (year on year) basis obscure and difficult. In a world which is complex enough, transparency is important...
The past week has been one of new experience. Some planned medical stuff shifted/reduced the boundaries of what’s physically possible, thankfully temporarily. In this discomfort zone (and acknowledging an awful lot of help in the ‘baby’ stages of recovery) it has been about relearning how to be in my environment and with each stage of...
Difference. It’s easy to spot and easy to reject. If we broaden our thinking to the 8.3 billion, and rising, unique individuals on this planet that’s a lot of difference. Difference gets in the way from the macro – nation to nation – to the micro – one person to another. And it isn’t just...
In executive coaching, as we peel back the layers of the onion with a client, we often discover that one of those layers is linked to what has been coined ‘imposter syndrome’ — the fear of being ‘found out’ or not being good enough to do the job. In a world where the list of...
You’ll probably have heard the phrase ‘vacuum of vision’ being used over recent weeks. I came across it in a brilliant perspective piece from Richard Huntington in Management Today on the state of not just our current political leadership but also within our businesses. I think it’s worth a read. Of course, a deficit of...
Every day I’m reminded, like you probably are, that the ‘rules’ in life have changed. How we communicate. How we interact. How we make choices. How we get things done. Sometimes the convention, and its changed state, are less obvious. We only realise the nature of its replacement when we’ve transgressed and usually suffer some...
Looking in, acting out When issues arise asking ourselves if we’re the problem can be useful. After giving it due thought we might be shocked with the answer – discovering we’re the blockage. Not by design, of course. But whether inadvertent or not a blockage is a blockage and something we must clear. How did...
Having watched King Charles’ address the US Congress earlier this week has led me to reflect on the nature of courage and its essentiality in leadership and life. A quality of the heart, it is a quiet sort of power supply that carries us into the most difficult situations – places we probably wouldn’t choose...