We are surrounded by crises big and small and the inclination to see them as something to be afraid of is strong – after all we have inbuilt fight and flight mechanisms for a reason and when we see the danger posed by many of the crises why wouldn’t we allow ourselves to feel fearful....
Choosing to step up and take responsibility is a powerful thing and something which, when done consciously and from a pure heart, brings forth great inner power which can also be very magnetic. If we consider the word responsibility itself, it is describing the ability to respond. At its highest level, to have the ability...
Taking a proportional response to something could feel very boring – as though we are devoid of strong opinion or clarity of thinking. It could seem like holding a balanced perspective means that nothing clear emerges. Many people see navigating an ‘and/and’ approach as a compromise, as an inability to step up and be counted...
Frederic Laloux, author of Reinventing Organisations wrote “an organization cannot evolve beyond its leadership’s stage of development.” This is a powerful and indeed significant statement when we consider our levels of investment in leadership. Investment not just in the obvious sense of ‘training’ but, in particular, in the deeper sense of what we really mean...
We are taught to build and create not destroy. We learn about continuous improvement, as step by step we refine an idea, a project, a programme, an offering. Our focus is on making things better and at one level that makes perfect sense. However sometimes, we need to destroy something in order to build the...
It can be very easy as a business to wax lyrical about customer service and the importance of customers within the psyche of the organisation. At the same time, as customers we all have endless anecdotes and stories about very poor service alongside the occasional great service. Despite the fact that often we see service...
Earlier this week we learned that The Oldie magazine wanted to name HM The Queen its ‘Oldie of the Year’, an honour she declined in quite brilliant fashion. The letter from her private secretary read: ‘Her Majesty believes you are as old as you feel, as such The Queen does not believe she meets the...
Leadership is a word we all use regularly – sometimes because we have a deep-felt sense of what it means and sometimes as an expression of power or authority or maybe responsibility and accountability. As anyone who has ever thought deeply about leadership will know it’s a concept and practice that has more definitions, dimensions...
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...
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...