Articles – Page 2 – LBC Wise Counsel

Packing away the moments that make up some great days

Paul Gilbert April 17, 2022

Packing away one of our LBCambridge residential events, as we did again last Tuesday evening, is a time when reflection and exhaustion compete quietly for my attention. The banners are…

Ambition is the shape of you

Paul Gilbert April 10, 2022

What is ambition? What is its shape and colour? What is ambition’s energy force? How does it compel you? I am fascinated by the word and how it alters our…

My hobbyhorse is not at the races

Paul Gilbert April 3, 2022

It’s easy for me to rise from my armchair residency, to climb on board my hobbyhorse of choice and pontificate. As a mere commentator, it should also be easier for…

27 March 1962

Paul Gilbert March 27, 2022

It was a Tuesday, and the date was 27 March 1962. The Shadows had the number-one record in the UK hit parade with “Wonderful Land” but in a maternity ward…

Everyday inspired by the Beauty of the Mountains

Jon Honeyford March 22, 2022

Last year I wrote about why booking too far in advance can be dangerous for your business, and this concept of margin so eloquently captures what I had recognized had…

We could be heroes

Paul Gilbert March 20, 2022

This is the story of what happened at an event on 17 and 18 March 2022 when I asked a few people to come together and reflect with me on…

Memories will always ache, but the pain will fade and our difference will be made

Paul Gilbert March 13, 2022

Today must still be navigated even with milk running low in the fridge, a looming meeting in the diary that fills the heart with dread and a car with an…

Read the room, see what is needed, and be the person who tries to meet the need

Paul Gilbert March 6, 2022

The world is not totally fucked up, but as we tenuously cling to the outer edges of our planet, it is easy to allow thoughts of helplessness and despair to…

An armada of love in small boats of hope

Paul Gilbert February 27, 2022

It is hard to write, say or do anything at the moment and not feel that it will be inadequate or trivial in the face of what we can all…

Broken ribs

Paul Gilbert February 20, 2022

One day, a long time ago, the school bell rang and within seconds the corridor was its normal state of total chaos. Kids running into each other and by each…

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

Paul Gilbert February 13, 2022

Last week a contributor to BBC Radio 4’s “thought for the day” shared a few words that stayed with me and it felt good to reflect on them for a…

The blank page

Paul Gilbert February 6, 2022

I love the blank page; it makes me pause. I love that it is full of possibilities. I love that before the keys make their mark there is a moment…

Admiring “opponents”

Paul Gilbert February 3, 2022

I am a left of centre, liberal-minded, social democrat. I was a Labour Party member for most of my adult life, and in the 2015 General Election I had the…

In quiet praise of our inner introvert

Paul Gilbert January 30, 2022

Some of the qualities of leadership I most admire are revealed in the small knowing moments where to have noticed and to have cared come together and a small change…

For all of us, carrying our story

Paul Gilbert January 23, 2022

I do not have to manage through the symptoms or emotional impact of the menopause. I am not black. I do not have a broad regional accent in a room…

The Prime Minister, the waiter and the C-Suite breaker

Paul Gilbert January 16, 2022

A workplace culture is observable. It always happens in plain sight, and the most important people in maintaining a dysfunctional culture are those who enable the harm to continue. It…

The unfamiliar path

Paul Gilbert January 9, 2022

It’s January, and another year (thank goodness). Wherever you are and however you feel, I hope this year unfolds with kindness and care. I am long past wanting to heap…

A review – The Great Post Office Scandal by Nick Wallis

Paul Gilbert January 1, 2022

Nick Wallis has written what feels like the most important book I have ever read. “The Great Post Office Scandal” begins with a short foreword by Seema Misra, a victim…

The last note

Paul Gilbert December 5, 2021

This is my last blog of 2021 and it is a more personal reflection than I am typically comfortable to post, however I would like to tell you a little…

Twelve gifts of leadership

Paul Gilbert November 28, 2021

In the last few days, I have heard stories from and about all kinds of leaders. I have heard about ignorant and hurtful leadership, of confusing and missing-the-point leadership, but…

Time to be the bold architects of our future, not the tenants of our past

Paul Gilbert November 21, 2021

As we tentatively move into a new age of seeing the world as something to be nurtured and not exploited, and as we need to find more certain and comprehensive…

Let your talent and potential wrap their arms around you

Paul Gilbert November 14, 2021

The ideal career appears to be a highly curated timeline of elegantly held roles, on an always upwards trajectory, with greater and greater reward on each and every gilded step.…

“Let those who feel the breath of sadness, sit down next to me”

Paul Gilbert November 7, 2021

My friend wanted to tell me about something that was happening at his work. Let’s call him James. He is responsible for delivering a significant project and had a talented…

This one is for Jane

Paul Gilbert October 31, 2021

What should we expect of the most senior lawyer employed in a business, or charity, or public institution in the UK? She is called Jane and she is a thoroughly…

A butterfly landing on your shoulder

Paul Gilbert October 24, 2021

As summer allows us to slip from her grasp, we turn up our collars and look to find our way through the cooler mists and softer lights of autumn. I…

The baleful ballad of John Cocksure

Paul Gilbert October 17, 2021

“I fundamentally disagree” said John Cocksure, shaking his head in the exaggerated manner of someone comfortable in the limelight of their own making. He then lolled backwards on his chair,…

Muffling the sound of hate and self-regard

Paul Gilbert October 10, 2021

There were a number of reasons why I came away from social media earlier this year. In part, filling my mind with the relentless sadness and struggles of the world…

A guided tour of our potential

Paul Gilbert October 3, 2021

There are signs of recovery, with an accompanying sense of normality, in the conversations I am having with people going for new roles and being excited about the possibilities of…

Going away, to come back

Paul Gilbert September 26, 2021

I wonder if these keys work. My laptop is open, and a blank page awaits, I have not written a blog for a few weeks now. I can hear the…

Thank you for being with me and my words

Paul Gilbert July 10, 2021

A letter between friends is a rather old-fashioned idea, but one that still carries a sense of something a little more thoughtful, personal and caring. The act of writing a…

Counting is not what counts

Paul Gilbert July 4, 2021

Legal Department metrics? I am not that bothered. Count what you like, present it how you like, extrapolate it all you like, the things we count have largely been chosen…

The need for speed

Paul Gilbert June 27, 2021

The need for speed pervades all we do. We are bombarded with advertising and influencers wanting us to lose weight fast and be beach ready in 14 days. Or the…

Forgotten but not gone

Paul Gilbert June 19, 2021

Social media is an odd place. It has been, and often still is, a cheerful distraction, full of insight and generosity; and it can be an extraordinary force for good.…

“Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die.” A few days ago, I wrote about the Post Office scandal: https://www.lbcwisecounsel.com/resources/articles/article/resigning-is-not-enough/#.YMPSLKhKhPY I made clear my view…

Resigning is not enough

Paul Gilbert June 8, 2021

…The Captain then made her usual pre-flight announcement. As she handed over to the cabin-crew she reminded us that her colleagues “are here for your comfort, but mostly for your…

You are amazing

Paul Gilbert June 6, 2021

You do know you are amazing? A story in the making, full of joy, sadness, hope and vulnerability. An inspiration, even if you feel small and incomplete. How do I…

May I think about it?

Paul Gilbert May 30, 2021

It was just another ordinary day. I was probably three weeks into my first General Counsel role. The calls and messages of support and congratulations had passed. This call was…

The small boy in the queue…

Paul Gilbert May 22, 2021

On Tuesday 18 May 1993 I left home in the chilled darkness that hangs in the air before the dawn chorus. When I arrived in North London, at the home…

Make the case and do it your way

Paul Gilbert May 15, 2021

It was probably about four years ago deep into a parched rainless summer. After a stiflingly hot, slow Tube ride and then a longer walk than was ideal in a…

Earlier, Now, Tomorrow, Later.

Paul Gilbert May 9, 2021

Earlier We were all standing slightly apart from each other on Tuesday. A quietly shuffling group of people, and a cold wind forcing hands to be pushed deep into coat…

A further reflection on the Post Office scandal and the three ages of an in-house lawyer

Paul Gilbert May 2, 2021

I have observed and worked with in-house lawyers ever since my very first day as an in-house lawyer on Monday 2 January 1989. Then I was a wet-behind-the-ears new recruit…

The Post Office scandal – a note to your Board

Paul Gilbert April 26, 2021

In the light of the Post Office prosecutions scandal, this is the email I hope every in-house legal team will consider sending to their Board and Executive colleagues now: “Dear…

We can decide not to be innovative

Paul Gilbert April 25, 2021

Being innovative is a really bad idea in most situations. In most situations relying on tried and tested is best. I accept entirely that if you had been on Apollo…

A space to place the times we shared

Paul Gilbert April 19, 2021

A dear and precious friend of mine has lost his dad very recently. In a year, and in a world, of so many sad things, one more sad thing might…

A small moment carried on a kind thought

Paul Gilbert April 17, 2021

When I was seven and in Mrs Davies’s class at St John’s primary school, I wrote a story about our family caravan holiday. I mentioned the sand sculptures on Weymouth…

Going quietly

Paul Gilbert April 11, 2021

There is a constant conundrum for introverts on social media. Some days all I see is the din of opinion, the puffery of self-promotion and a constant strident flow of…

Build it well

Paul Gilbert April 4, 2021

Now. A place I have built made from all my gone befores. On a clear day, now is the place from where I see opportunity blowing on the winds of…

“Why are you striving?”

Paul Gilbert March 28, 2021

Occasionally I hear myself say something in the course of a conversation, and I think “that sounds quite good, I should write it down”. What usually happens then, of course,…

I sometimes wear a mask

Paul Gilbert March 21, 2021

As the sun shines and daffodils appear, with all the talk of vaccines and our current lockdown lifting, I think I am allowed to blink into the Spring light with…

A time to reflect, but also to play my part

Paul Gilbert March 14, 2021

Last week marked International Women’s Day and a few days later in London a young woman’s life was taken at the hands of a violent man. It is easy to…

It’s about time

Paul Gilbert March 7, 2021

This note is on time. If it’s not too late. Time, for me, has never been an ever-expanding universe that I can fill with whatever I like. I suspect time…

All that glisters is not sold

Paul Gilbert February 28, 2021

If you hang around for as long as I have, you will notice how big ideas come and go, and come again. Like us, they are all just passing through.…

A workshop without content

Paul Gilbert February 21, 2021

I ran a workshop last week that had no content and it went quite well. We talked about listening, about poetry, and about places and spaces that gave us peace.…

Small thoughts in search of a big idea

Paul Gilbert February 14, 2021

In the UK we are coming up to a year. Hope is tiptoeing around our anxiety trying not to wake our tired fears. Thoughts dart between future plans and painful…

What counts?

Paul Gilbert February 7, 2021

What value do you bring to your role? What is the value of your contribution? Is the value you bring the value that is being measured? The things we tend…

The first rule of leadership…

Paul Gilbert January 31, 2021

I have had a few calls this week, and three comments stand out. The first was a lawyer describing the time she was “let go” by her law firm at…

When words catch the winds of change

Paul Gilbert January 24, 2021

When words catch the winds of change, we do not just hear them, but we feel them too. It has been a more comfortable week for rhetoric. Bombast, aggression, unkindness…

Call yourself a lawyer?

Paul Gilbert January 20, 2021

I do not often write about lawyers being lawyers. I write about them mostly as leaders, managers, colleagues and humans. However, occasionally I like to write about what it means…

Thinking of you

Paul Gilbert January 17, 2021

Four years ago this month my father died. It was not sudden; he had been very poorly for some time. Thankfully, the end for him was peaceful and at home.…

…because hope alone is not the answer

Paul Gilbert January 10, 2021

Is it possible for things to get any worse? Asking for a friend… I recently stubbed a toe on the corner of my bed. Not the big toe, but the…