When you think of a successful leader who springs to mind? Mahatma Gandhi? Nelson Mandela? Or Barrack Obama perhaps? And what are the traits you most associate with those people? Resilience? Charisma? The ability to bounce back from failure and bring people along with them? I’ve written before about listening as an under-rated leadership skill,…
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I did my first tandem skydive two weeks ago. When I told people – which I did a lot because I was seeking sponsorship for Alzheimer’s Society –they said, “You must be mad!” or “I just couldn’t do that”. The truth is I was sooooo excited about it. To prepare, I visualised feeling intoxicated by…
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Leadership theory and practise is continually evolving. But do we spend enough time looking to the past and seeing what lessons can be extrapolated? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on 31st July 2017 prompted me reflect deeply on what the past can teach us. I was honoured to attend the ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of…
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If I told you I had the answers to successfully running your legal practice while reclaiming your sanity, what would you think? Those solutions were hard-won during my time running my own niche PI law firm, an experience which took me to the edge in terms of my physical and mental health, so I know…
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I recently walked St Cuthbert’s Way, an ancient pilgrimage route from Melrose in the Scottish Borders to Lindisfarne on the Northumberland coast. The challenge was seventy miles in five days, four days of 16 miles and the last day of six miles, which was tide-dependent. The other challenge was eight women walking together, some who…
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In the battle to complete your New Year’s Resolutions this year, the only way to win is by training your elephant. So what do I mean? Well, the elephant and rider is an analogy to describe the way the brain operates.* So which part is which? The smallest part of our brain, including the limbic…
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Does work make you unhappy, or is unhappiness at work merely a symptom of something bigger? Is it time to challenge some of the out-dated attitudes to work in order to save our mental health? When will we reach a tipping point so that what the research tells us about the link between happiness and…
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Gratitude has become a bit of a buzzword in 2018, with beautifully-designed journals presented as the perfect Christmas gifts and #gratitude turning up 15m results on Instagram alone. But with seemingly ever-busier lives and precious little time, energy or enthusiasm to spare, is it really something we should make space for? What kind of benefits…
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