I recall a story, possibly apocryphal, about President Obama who had (has) the capacity to give his undivided attention to the person or situation at hand regardless of the thousands of spinning plates moving around him. In the story he was on the campaign trail and literally moving at pace, yet managed to stop and...
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, while imagination embraces the entire world.” – Albert Einstein We place enormous value on concrete knowledge, treating it as the primary measure of intelligence. But knowledge has a fundamental limitation: it is static. It can only take us so far. Knowing that the UK has...
In a world filled with noise and motion it can be hard to find those moments to just ‘be’. Having said that even when those moments of stillness or quiet present themselves it’s very likely that we are habituated not to really spot them because we have become so used to engaging with the constant...
We spend so much of our day, our lives grappling with the practicalities of life. We are often focused on making things happen, getting through the quagmire of obstacles and challenges and not surprisingly feeling buoyed when we see some indication of progress or change in the desired direction. As leaders we are rewarded for...
A walk in nature often leaves us awed at the beauty of creation. The perfection of leaves, of trees, of flowers. The springiness of some grasses. The perfume of flowers. The rustling of life unseen. The occasional scampering across our path of squirrel or rabbit, maybe even the shy stillness of a deer. In these...
The discovery of fire is generally thought to date back to between 300,000 and 400,000 years ago, though archaeologists have unearthed possible traces of campfires that flickered 1 million years ago. Whatever the discovery date fire has transformed human existence and has continued at the heart of that experience through time. We might consider all...
In all groups, large or small, one of the defining characteristics of the impact that group can have is the degree of alignment that exists with their purpose. We all know that any overarching ‘statement’ or unifying mantra can feel a bit like wallpaper after a while, becoming less potent and, ultimately, invisible. There’s always...
We’ve all experienced this either within ourselves or in/from another…the light-filled, radiatory energy that flows out when someone is deeply aligned with a sense of purpose. The clarity of their communication, the livingness of their ideas and creative expression, the connection that is created with others and others’ ideas and contributions. As leaders we hope...
It’s fair to say that each day we face something of an onslaught of catastrophes, human failings, micro and macro obstacles to ‘getting things done’ or finding joy in our world today. We’d be forgiven for descending into a pit of despair and yet some part of us knows that won’t help anything either. That...
When it comes to the different intelligences we rely on, most of us lean most heavily on our rational intelligence, our left brain thinking using analysis, data, concrete facts and tangible evidence. Society, education, the workplace and even family life trains us in this way. As we gain more life experience, we likely add to...