My Blog

This blog is for me, it’s my sketch pad where I think things through and work things out. Having worked ‘stuff’ out I think it’s good to declare it, so I am sending it to you. Hopefully you will also find it useful.

Latest Posts

The first rule of my business is ……

14th September 2017

Do everything ‘On Purpose’ and the second rule of my business is follow through. When a prospective customer asks me to work with them my instinctive first response is to question: what’s it for, what’s the point, what’s the purpose, why are you looking to do this work and what business result are you seeking…

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Developing as a leader – free of charge

10th August 2017

Sometimes my brief includes helping someone develop as a leader – to hone their thinking, behavior and leadership skills. It may be an incumbent executive who has a vision and wants to get people on board or a rising star who has come unstuck or a brilliant performer with a seemingly annoying tendency or to…

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Brand and culture – two sides of the same coin

9th August 2017

Years ago, talking with a CEO he kept referring to brand and culture – curious I asked him to distinguish between the two. He said – “our brand is our reputation, how we are experienced in the world. Culture is how we do things round here. And how we do things round here directly affects…

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Being Theresa May

12th June 2017

Empathy is putting yourself in another persons shoes, this is what I imagine it’s like for Theresa May 48 hours or so on from her General Election result. “What have I done? It seemed like a good idea at the time, to call a snap election, but it has gone massively wrong. I feel shattered,…

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What’s possible?

25th April 2017

If we put all the knowledge in the World into a circle it would be a massive circle. If I then think about the extent of my knowledge, what I know, it would be an almost infinitesimally small segment of that circle. Then take into account that most of what I know is probably my…

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John and I needed to talk

17th April 2017

John is a busy bloke and so am I. He wanted to talk with me so we scheduled a call for two weeks hence at three o’clock. I called exactly on time though he wasn’t there. He rang me back the day after though I was running a workshop. I tried him the day after and…

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Emails, meetings and travelling

4th April 2017

Business people tell me most of their time is spent on e mails or in meetings or travelling. I’ve been reflecting on this and have some ideas: Emails In 1997 I was given my first company laptop. Within a matter of months emails had taken over my life. They were supposed to help me, were…

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Thrashing around getting nowhere fast – an alternative perspective on management

15th March 2017

As a swimming machine a dolphin is about sixty five percent efficient, Michael Phelps arguably the greatest human swimmer of all time is about eight percent. Ninety two percent of his effort is lost to friction and turbulence. This post is about management not swimming though stick with me, there is a connection. As a…

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Learning to dance – a story

7th March 2017

Ten years ago Luis decided he would learn to dance. Along with three friends he hired a room did some stretching exercises, played a YouTube video of professional dancers and tried to copy them. Initially his “lessons” would last an hour and follow the same format. As the years went by he extended the hire…

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If I was in charge I’d get people joined up

27th February 2017

For those working hard right in the middle of an organisation it’s difficult to notice the gaps or overlaps or when things are not joined up. Here’s an example: you are in a busy café for lunch. You eventually catch the waiter’s attention and ask ‘excuse me, what’s soup of the day?’ He hesitates for…

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