Monday of this week was World Mental Health Day. It was really encouraging to see the number of LinkedIn posts from leaders across my network championing the need to understand and support people who are experiencing poor mental health. There’s no doubt that our experiences in the workplace can have a big impact on our mental well-being and leaders, quite rightly, are becoming ever more aware of the role they play in this. At the same time, however, all too ...
This month a lot of my focus has been on leading major change. That’s because several of my coaching clients are doing that right now and it’s been a significant part of our work together. Three of these Managing Directors are dealing with major change that is not of their making. We often think that CEOs and Managing Directors are the instigators of change but, of course, that is often far from the reality. With the three Managing Directors I’ve ...
The last few months in the UK may have been holiday season but it doesn’t feel like life really eased up this year. We’ve been experiencing some significant changes with increasing cost of living already hitting many people hard, unsettled international and national politics bring uncertainty and, of course, so recently the death of Queen Elizabeth II. We thought we’d left behind the word ‘unprecedented’ with the pandemic, but I still see it used as an accurate description about many ...
On 1st June this year, Francois-Marie Dibon became the Guinness World Record Holder for completing the most bungee jumps in 24 hours. A quite astounding feat which saw him completing a jump approximately every two minutes. Achieving 700 jumps, he smashed the previous record of a mere 430. To realise his goal, Dibon had to overcome a childhood fear of heights, deal with motion sickness and spend 25 hours a week in the gym. He also had to build a ...
‘It’s chaos everywhere’ : Two airport fights erupt within 10 minutes says passenger (The Independent) ‘Pound falls to two-year low as political uncertainty adds to gloomy economy’ (Sky News) ‘Prawn cocktail shortage could ruin Christmas as UK nears pre-Brexit quota’ (The Mirror) Three of the headlines in my newsfeed today (Tuesday 12th July) as I prepare to write this email. I knew I shouldn’t have checked! Headlines focus on negativity because it builds sales. Human beings are drawn to negative ...
I’m a practical person and I don’t like a lot of the metaphorical speak that’s around in business: how about all the people who ‘reach out’ to you? Or the ‘journey’ you’re on? And I’m tired reading about people who have ‘opened up’ about a topic. But there’s one that I do like and use a lot. It’s the metaphorical need to set boundaries (if you hate that one and I’ve just sent you screaming for cover – bear with ...