“Dad, come and look at the TV” One of my daughters called me into the lounge to see a young woman being interviewed at the Burghley Horse Trials. “Isn’t she…
Walking doesn’t have to be purposeful. Walking could just be about noticing how the ground feels, how we notice the way our bodies move and how we respond to what…
The blank page is a place I love. Empty of judgement, quietly comfortable with whatever we want to bring and a place for private reflection. The first keystroke, like the…
The Post Office Scandal has created some amazing lawyer heroes (thank goodness) but also, depressingly, far too many lawyer villains. I don’t imagine that many lawyers set out to be…
Thank you for being with me as I have taken you around my exhibition. Your company has been so lovely and I am truly grateful for your support and encouragement.…
Each part of this exhibition has been a gentle request to pause in front of something I have placed there for your reflection and mine. Some of these things are…
A room of blessings feels like the best place in which to reflect as we move towards the end of the exhibition and this story. What could be better than…
I was in Singapore with a client in December 2019. We were discussing her new team structure and the small but important shifts in behaviour that would be needed as…
One of the reasons for inviting you into this exhibition was to create a pause. Mentoring is all about creating a pause. If we want to change something, or understand…
William is the General Counsel of the global media company, Conde Nast. He has spent most of his career helping creators continue to sustainably make and share content in a…
I first went to the elegant and somewhat imposing Law Society building on London’s Chancery Lane for my Admission Ceremony. I went with my dad (I was allowed to take…
We are familiar with the idea of exhibitions as places filled mostly with pictures and objects, but sometimes a curator will also place correspondence at the heart of things. The…
In any exhibition, however carefully it has been curated, there may come a point when we start to feel a little overloaded. Perhaps there is just too much information to…
In Nettleton Bottom, my life changed direction and I started on a journey without a destination. There was no status I sought or needed, no office politics to navigate, no…
The Golden Heart in Nettleton Bottom holds a special place in this story and in this exhibition. It was where I met Geoff Williams on a cool summer’s evening having…
We are making great progress through the exhibition and there are just a few more pictures to show you. There will be some very precious things to share, but first…
Earlier in this exhibition I showed you the story of leaving Cheltenham & Gloucester and moving to United Assurance, but how I got to C&G is the next picture I…
We have moved through a few of the exhibition rooms and settled for a while in the performance space, but it is time now to move somewhere else where we…
Training is about helping people to be more familiar and more comfortable, and ultimately more expert in the tasks they need to perform. It is about passing on knowledge and…
This next part of the exhibition will take a bit of explanation and introduction, and I need to take you into a different room. This is going to be less…
An exhibition should be more than just a series of pleasant pictures that say the same or similar things. An exhibition should carry us into a story so that we…
It nearly always starts with a short, almost inconsequential, text or private message on social media. “Dear Paul, you don’t know me, I am sorry to write to you out…
Introduction. It is the greatest unexplored gift that we possess, but its value is only shown when we share it with others. Its potential is in every word, deed and…
This is a time of year that arrives with mixed blessings for so many. A time when feelings about what has been lost push their way to the surface again;…
Last week I spent four days in North Cornwall. A place blessed in beauty all year round, but which in late November has a stripped back, brooding quality revealed in…
I try not to give advice, I try mostly to help people find their own way, rather than to follow mine. However, if there was one universal note I would…
Someone asked me last week “how do I fulfil my potential?” My answer may have lacked a little in hard-nosed strategy, and perhaps suggested that I had seen far too…
I was sat in the back of a large and comfortable car, picked up from the airport and now heading to an important meeting on a remote private estate. Once…
On Friday evening I was driving back from Cambridge after one of our residential alumni events with some of our friends who have completed our leadership programme or who have…
“You can be anything you want if you work hard enough” is one of the most demoralising, tin-eared and undermining self-help mantras ever contrived. I assume it is meant as…
I would like to share something with you that might transform the way you work (aka marketing-speak for something modest that might change things a little bit). This is a…
Like a needle pulling thread, our work with its joys, frustrations and some sadness will reveal a picture of our endeavours. A tapestry over time of effort, anxiety, pride and…
Life events challenge settled thinking. It is a cliché I know, but then that only serves to prove the point rather than to undermine it. I am not now going…
It is the time of year when I typically post a cheery picture of Queens’ College, Cambridge and mention that once again it is my good fortune to be back…
Earlier this week I spent a few late summer days in Budapest. The sun offered September warmth that meant the shady side of the street was not quite warm enough,…
Before Tim Berners-Lee said “This is for everyone” there were no emails, no internet and no Wi-Fi. The only hot spot was on my chin, usually after a cheap chocolate…
I am sometimes asked how I go about writing my blog. I usually start writing it on the Wednesday or Thursday before I post the blog on Sunday morning. Typically,…
This blog will not be for everyone. There is mention of poo, some swearing and my usual relentless oversimplification; one to swerve if you would prefer a quieter few minutes.…
When our train rattles though towns and countryside we can sometimes glimpse the world through the fences and trees that mark the line of the track. Fractions of reality, gone…
There is never a moment when you truly know if you are ready for leadership. There isn’t an exam or an interview; and there isn’t a permission you need to…
To follow well is an act of profound and selfless leadership. The follower’s role in the success of any organisation is often poorly appreciated and significantly misunderstood. It is never…
When the sun is setting on a role, and dark clouds cloak our view, what stories do we tell ourselves about the truth we thought we knew? When emperors have…
