l17H91h0zJU3Qd7j0q06

We’ve just moved house. Which means we’ve spent months in and out of conversations with estate agents. Lots of them. And here’s what surprised absolutely no one. Most of them struggled to be honest. I know, shocking, eh? 😉 I have a very effective inbuilt bullsh*t detector and tolerating being lied to really isn’t my forté. Not in leadership. Not in business. Not when you’re standing in my living room telling me that you can absolutely sell my house for the best price by this time tomorrow and yes, of course, you operate differently from all the other estate agents in this area… bla bla bla. Agent after agent came in selling themselves. Their services, their stats, their shiny promises, … Read more

I want to be honest. I’m feeling pretty disheartened about leadership in this country right now. You’ll know if you’ve ever worked with me that I’m a firm believer that culture starts at the top. So when I watch the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition shouting across the Commons, name calling, point scoring and their own benches jeering, gesticulating and generally being obnoxious, I can’t help thinking: is this really the example we want our country to follow? When Kemi Badenoch took a personal swipe at Rachel Reeves after the budget, it didn’t feel like challenging ideas. It felt like proving who could land the sharpest dig. Imagine that in your boardroom. Someone proposes a direction for … Read more

When I used to work for a global financial services company, I was sent on a “team build.” Two days of quad bikes, trust falls, and… alcohol. Picture this: we were literally lifting each other up and passing bodies through random holes in a wall, more points for the higher holes, obviously. (If you were heavier and could only be lifted through the lower one, there was a lovely side effect of shaming.) Then came the “bonding,” code for seeing who could stay up latest, drink most, and still make it to breakfast before the bacon was cleared away. And the second morning? An even earlier start to “test our ability to operate under pressure.” In what way, pray tell, … Read more

…until you realise the mess you’re in is exactly because you’re not using them. If I had a pound for every time someone’s rolled their eyes at the mention of company values, I’d be running leadership retreats in the Maldives by now. You can almost feel the collective eye roll when you mention values in a workplace. Fluffy. Pointless. A tick-box exercise to keep facilitators in work. After working with a gazillion* leaders, here’s the pattern that’s impossible to ignore: *at the last count ✅ Organisations who take the time to define values that actually reflect the culture they want, not some corporate bingo buzzwords, and then anchor those values to clear, observable behaviours, have higher retention, happier teams, and … Read more

We need to talk. Literally. I’ve had so many conversations (ok, arguments) with my kids about using their phones to do the most shocking thing of all… Actually call someone. You know, a real, human-to-human, live, in-the-moment conversation. They resist it. I’ve always blamed it on the generational thing, thinking this just affects people whose year of birth starts with a 2. But honestly? It’s not just them. Somewhere along the line, we all decided that typing was safer/easier/quicker/more convenient than talking. Instead of picking up the phone, we fire off an email (or a Teams message, Slack ping, insert-your-platform-here). Written words will always lack the tone, nuance, and connection of an actual conversation. Especially when there’s conflict. You know … Read more