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...
Restraint. It’s a hard quality to apply, especially for leaders when taking action is both and expectation and the norm. Decisiveness is a much-admired leadership quality, driven by an instinct to intervene, to act and fox. For some this is seen as the proof of a leader. And yet we know leadership, like life, is...
“We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live.” Plato I’m returning to the topic of ethics with a deep sense of curiosity about what it means to discuss ‘how we ought to live’. Many of us will baulk at the idea of the word ‘ought’ in that it immediately curtails, or...
Optimism is dictionary-defined as an attitude or mind-set that things will turn out well. Some of us seem, naturally, to be wired more this way than others. Yet, given current events we might be finding its darker twin, pessimism, in greater supply. So, it was great to discover a different and really useful take in...
Before going any further it’s important to explain the idea behind the Law of Sacrifice. Its roots lie in the concept of ‘making sacred’ – embracing choices, making decisions that are for the higher good is one way in which we make something sacred. Sacred because acting for the good of the many, when it...
The idea of paying it forward has been on my mind this week, prompted by attending the 19th birthday celebration for global business giving movement B1G1. azzur has been a member since 2013 and makes a donation for every person who completes leadership or team development with us. Our giving aids education (unsurprisingly), empowering women,...
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...
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...
In business goodwill is typically seen as an intangible asset, created over time, related to a good name/reputation. Something in the ‘bank’ of value and for use in the future. In day to day living it is something more active – the kindness, compassion, help, friendliness we extend to others. And therein lies its power....
Along with thousands of other B Corps around the globe, we’re celebrating B Corp month and the commitment and action all are taking socially and environmentally to help build a better world. Of course, it isn’t about parties or holding this commitment top of mind for one month every year, rather dedication to be and...