Monthly Morsels

We were very privileged to provide a whole team training day for a furniture company, which was entitled ‘Working with Pride’. This firm certainly could be proud, having designed and made beautiful bespoke furniture for Buckingham Palace and Dover Castle. In researching the topic, I found an interesting aspect about pride. Pride appears to have […]

A sign seen in a Paris hotel elevator said Please leave your values at the front desk How easily we can change the meaning of a message by a small misinterpretation. This can happen even in our own language. In terms of leadership, there is a more serious aspect to consider. Do you leave your

What do Genghis Khan, Lawrence of Arabia, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Allan Leighton and Sir Richard Branson have in common? They were/are all successful leaders, but with very different leadership styles. They all had a strong determination to deliver. They have all had impact in their time. A recent interim report by the Chartered

In the ‘spirit’ of New Year’s Eve, you may have made some resolutions, or you may have agreed goals at your appraisal. In the cold light of reality, how long will you keep them up? Here are  8 tips to maintain your motivation to succeed. Start with the end in sight Set yourself a SMARTA

On the recent ‘Dealing with Difficult People’ course we ran, there was a great aha moment. Quite early on in the day, one delegate realised she actually is the ‘difficult’ person. This is something that is not always easy to accept. I remember the first time I ran this course; I made the mistake of

If you have done the ‘graveyard’ slot, you will know it is rarely a good time for creativity. Last Wednesday in Oxford, I was on after lunch at a seminar for fifteen women. The topic was creative thinking! They needed to be energised and find their child like state. ‘Genius is the ability to retrieve

Last Friday, I gave a joint talk at the BusinessXChange Co-Operation Event with Rebecca Fordham (Real People Solutions HR) on coping with pressure at work. It ended with a relaxation technique, which went really well until someone’s mobile phone went off at a critical moment. Thank you to whoever that was for demonstrating the pressure

On the Speaking as a Leader course we held last week at the beautiful venue of Stanton Manor, we had some great  delegates. One of the exercises they found most challenging was defining the difference between leadership  and management. They are not alone. If you go on the internet and search under leadership, there are over 14 million hits;

Will ‘Brown Sugar’ make a good leadership combination and what can they learn from each other? It will be interesting to see what comes of this match, if they get the time to deliver anything. They both know what bankruptcy is about and how to fire your team members. They both seem to know what

Success is different things to different people, and not everyone bases success on the pounds in the bank. (Just as well in the current climate!) I was saddened to hear people  at a recent seminar saying that success was based on profit, and people were driven either by fear or greed. Isn’t this the sort

‘The legacy you leave is the life you lead’ John Kouzes, award winning author of The Leadership Challenge With the G20 summit and world leaders on parade, it is an apt time to consider the concepts of legacy. Defined as ‘material or immaterial thing handed down by predecessor‘, I believe for leadership, it has become

Spring is in the air, and thoughts turn to spring cleaning. (Well some do!) It is a time of new birth. In work,  it is an ideal time to clean out the ‘habits’ cupboard. As Mahatma Gandhi once said: “Your beliefs become your thoughts Your thoughts become your words Your words become your actions Your

‘The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing’ Walt Disney Good intentions are difficult to maintain unless there is the will to succeed. When the pressure is on us, it is easy to slip back to old ways. Here are 5 ways to help keep the motivation through change, whether for yourself or

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves” Carl Jung Is there someone in your team or a customer that always seems to get up your nose? Have you ever stopped to wonder why? If we take a long hard look at why someone irritates us, it can often