In the face of exhaustion, despair, pessimism and apathy, what role does hope play? How can we connect ourselves and others to the felt sense and a belief that tomorrow could be better than today? How is cultivating a sense of hope a responsibility of…
I wrote this post for International Women’s Day 2021, for Deeper Leaders, a group of colleagues advocating for a kinder, fairer and more sustainable world. Not fee-earning, we simply look for ways where we can promote these values in ways that are practical and useful…
In January 2021, here’s what I’m hearing over and over again in my coaching and in my group work: I’m working 7am – 8pm and it’s still not enough I’m doing two people’s jobs and they still keep giving me more work It’s overwhelming and…
Do you know the poem Self Portrait by David Whyte? It doesn’t matter what the world thinks is right or wrong, he says, because I want to know about you, what really matters in you and for you. For example: I want to know if…
Exploring love and sacrifice … If asked, I imagine that you might define or describe love as being about others – meeting the needs of others, putting others first. I’ve written before about love being a form of expansion, a reaching out to and for…
I don’t know about you, but these last 10 months have felt more like more hard work than delight. More tight than loose. More pressure than relaxation. More laundry than ecstasy. When I talk with people in organisations the theme I get is about surviving-not-thriving…
Care. What does that bring up for you? Women’s work, maybe? Not really part of the role of leadership? In my 2018 research, when I asked people what love meant to them, the most-used word was care. You know that I’m not a fan, right,…
Some years ago, I was working with a coaching/OD practice supervisor. She was over 70, and had a fabulously eclectic life and career that included being a mother, a nun and an academic. She taught me a lot. But one thing in particular sticks. ‘Never…
What creates loving cultures in our organisations? What enables the conditions for love to thrive? In my world of leadership development – and looking to develop our capacity to love – this post explores what the idea of eldership might offer us. Whether we leaders…
