I started exploring elderhood a few years back (two pieces of writing on elderhood from 2022 are here and here) and then stopped, for some reason. It’s back on my radar again. Maybe because I turned 60 in the summer. Maybe because I spent the…
I’ve been exploring hope with groups of people at my regular Acts of Love for Tough Times, talking about hope as a form of love that’s necessary for these tough-and-getting-tougher times we’re in. Things like: • Is there a difference between hope and optimism? •…
In organisations today we spend a lot of time dealing with complex problems, trying to solve complex problems. Many of us are trying to change something and find ourselves stuck at some point and don’t know what to do next. Things feel blocked or difficult….
What could you do now that would make you even 2% more comfortable? I often ask this at the start of an online workshop, or a coaching session. My husband, Dom, is an ex Royal Marine (although ‘no such things as an ex-Marine, he laughs). …
In this blog, I wonder out loud about considering OD as a ‘healing’ role. It’s often considered as part of the helping professions. Does that include a role in healing? The definition of healing: ‘to make whole again’ and often includes a therapeutic component as…
As a consultant, brought in to help change an organisational system in some way, I can often get frustrated with that system. There’s one thing I increasingly do that helps me that. And that’s apply some of the things I do when I’m irritated or…
Some recent posts have been on the theme of detachment, and this continues that theme. I’m reminding myself here of the practices I use that help me keep a bigger perspective. Heifetz talked about the importance of leaving the dance floor and heading up to…
My work is all with people. Up close and mostly personal. And you know what’s coming. I see many people on the edge of burnout and overwhelm, not least through over-attending to the demands and needs of their job and families. At a more macro…
I’ve just started a series of interviews with senior leaders exploring love in their leadership. One of the questions I ask is a version of ‘what has shaped you to enable you to talk about love in relation to your leadership’. Or sometimes ‘how did…
