Are you a manager needing to have a performance conversation with a member of staff? A financial services adviser dealing with the new requirements of RDR and needing to make up front fee agreements? Running a cross site team where emotions are heightened? All these scenarios provoke your inner chimp! A guilty pleasure I must … Read more

As the New Year begins we hope that you enjoy and recognise your successes and personal progress over the last year (which not enough of us take the time to do).  We also hope that you join us in helping yourselves and organisations to make marginal gains to bring big differences. Paul Young and I are inspired … Read more

What an attractive promise – identify your strengths and then concentrate on utilising them to their full extent, ignoring your weaknesses. Many clients I see now talk enthusiastically (due to some wonderful marketing of certain products) about using strengths and not concentrating on weaknesses. The belief is that we spend too much time focusing on … Read more

Jess Ennis the poster girl of the 2012 athletics, who performed supremely and struck gold at the Olympics. A strong talented woman with a host of talent in a variety of disciplines — and a backup staff to support her. The Times newspaper on 6th August wrote a superb article on how she managed her … Read more

There are many definitions of leadership and people struggle to define what precisely it is. Bennis and Nanus two writers and academics said “…leadership is the most studied and least understood topic of any in the social sciences,…Leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but who is nowhere to be seen” So … Read more

In my home country we finished a long weekend of pomp and pageantry to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. She is said to embody a sense of responsibility, duty and service. In sport when you wear your national jersey you are seen as the custodian of that jersey for a period of time before it passes to … Read more

In the splendid interview I mentioned in the previous blog, ‘celebrating talent’, Bruce Springsteen talks about throwing out 40 songs he had spent a year writing for a new album before he created the smash hit ‘Wrecking Ball’. He spent a year creating what appealed to him and he liked but felt the songs were … Read more

I am delighted to be working in Dallas again, a place of many good memories and great events. A colleague gave me a copy of ‘Rolling Stone’ to read the March interview with Bruce Springsteen (which I highly recommend). I really enjoyed the interview by Jon Stewart, which seemed to provide so much insight – … Read more

A number of years ago companies realised that dealing with customers meant using ‘moments of truth’ well. These were essentially emotional exchanges where the organisation could impact the emotions of a customer in a positive and predictable way. The same ‘moments of truth’ frequently happen with those we work with. Most managers and leaders appreciate … Read more

In honour of International Women’s Day we would like to acknowledge just a few of the women leaders we have worked with over the past twelve months who we owe a debt of gratitude towards and/or admire their leadership capabilities and resilience. Misty Shatto, now at Alcon USA Heidi Badelek and Sarah Wilkinson amongst many … Read more