OUR THINKING

I am in the mood for an argument. Yes, I want to pick a fight…slightly aggressive I know, but you know that feeling you have sometimes that things just aren’t right, that there is an injustice happening, a wrong that needs to be righted? …Well this happens to me a lot, it happened last week it […]

As a Leader, let me ask you … what colour is your Black Belt? A strange question? Well, yes, possibly. But humour me and lets see if it makes more sense, and importantly whether you can answer it confidently, by the end of this short article. For some nine years now I have been taking […]

Over the past few years it seems many within our HR senior ranks appear fixated to convince all who listen that HR should be fighting to lead, control & guide business strategy. Is this really an admirable ambition or perspective ? I am not so sure. In many ways this view infers an endemic incapability within business leaders to […]

It was the end of a long working day, longer than most, and pleasantly tired, I leave the office and walk along the river Seine at dusk towards my hotel. Its an early spring evening and its cool and the Eiffel Tower is flashing it’s staccato lights behind me telling all that at  7 o’clock […]

“Show me a busy fool my friend, and I will show you just a fool” His words hit home. Wisdom sometimes comes from the strangest of places don’t you find? This gem arrived via a Manchester taxi driver as we sat together in rush hour traffic on the way back home from another mid week […]

Fortune doesn’t favour the brave… I was reading another excellent blog by writer David D’ Souza, in which David shared his 10 ‘golden nuggets’ , his personal list of inspirational thoughts that had served him so well, so far in his life and particularly his career. A great list, (which you can see linked below) […]

Things we know: The sense of survival, along with the urges to reproduce and nurture are three of the most powerful motivating forces. Forces that govern much of what we as humans do, hope to do…or if all else fails, lie about doing. So when we come to building our working families around us, and in […]

  Please don’t read this. Its not for you. You’re already a Successful Leader, right? Move along, nothing for you here. No good can come of reading this, for your sort. Ok, maybe a quick look, ‘to help a friend’. But please, don’t tell them you got it from me. Thanks.   Success. An interesting word. […]

We all  know about managing Talent don’t we?…and we manage it very well , thanks for asking. No need to dwell on this point… We look after our High Potentials, we talk about them, (at least once a year) we put them into blank spaces on 9 box grids and debate at length their likelihood to take […]

It was a balmy Saturday afternoon when Sian, my 6 year old daughter reminded me that the simplest of things can often teach us the most powerful of lessons. This Summer’s challenge was clearly understood by most of the family. A father with a background in HR, coaching, and development had to teach his bright, […]

A number of years ago I was pulled into one of those “fun” management  group exercises with a very serious message, you may have played it. Asked to stand in two lines with your back to your partner, we were first each asked to make 3 changes about our dress, the game then being to turn […]

I was thrown a question this week by a friend who asked me what the trick was to getting his planned change programme  to seriously stick, he wondered just how he will get his people to really want the new world that he could see clearly. Now if I was one of those fancy US motivation gurus… I would […]

I have learned something recently and honestly, I feel cheated. Let me share what I now know. Before I do let me check – there are no sharp objects close to you, are there? No? Good. Carpe Diem, the latin phrase we know as “Seize the Day” thats occasionally thrown into our conversations, thought process and […]

  It’s the lounge at Manchester Airport, it’s 5am again, and I am sat with a motley crew of bleary eyed business travellers and the odd hyper child wearing Mickey Mouse ears attempting to coax their comotosed parent into a detailed plans of their upcoming Disney day for the 23 rd time….and I am finishing […]