If you have a garden, yours, like mine, is probably looking more than sorry for itself after several weeks of heat. Faithful watering (watering can only) is keeping its fatigue at bay, hopefully. Pondering the garden has got me thinking that leadership is much akin to gardening, not least because it requires us to consciously...
As a football fan, immersed in the World Cup (albeit at a distance), teams are much on my mind. Sure, I’d love my home nation to succeed but my interest feels more elemental than the partisanship of fandom. We’ve witnessed some stellar football. Some big names stepping up in tight corners and saving the day....
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,...
I’ve had a few technology challenges this week, more specifically getting help with systems that won’t talk to each other. The frustration isn’t just with the systems, rather the lack of access to a real human being for a support conversation. We’ve all been there. Contrast this with a late delivery and several redirects to...
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...
Some people do of course…dance well in the unknown. Most of us have been conditioned to want a bit more certainty or control and so leading in the twist and turns of the reality we find today can be deeply unsettling. It can create almost a rigidity as we seek to hold on. We may...
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....
The glue that holds the world together is relationship…between humanity and nature, between nations and peoples. The relationships in organisations, in community groups. In families. Between friends. These are such a fundamental part of human existence that perhaps we give them less attention, put in less effort than they undoubtedly deserve. Relationships have been much...
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the call of surrender and how it brings the opportunity, indeed the requirement, to let go and accept what is. In the past few weeks, I have learnt even more. It cannot be half hearted, intellectually driven or conceptual. True surrender requires everything of us. It wants us...
For various reasons I’m being called on to surrender in my life. Not easy when you are used to taking responsibility, figuring things out, having an insight that guides. Surrender, at least for me can feel like giving up, giving in, being weak. And yet as I have sat with it more, I realise in...