Thoughts

Lately, I’ve been writing about creating space. I’ve realised that there are two forms of this practice that we need to master: ME space: Getting away. Taking time out. Retreating. Escaping. WE space: Creating space for others to pause, reflect, make sense and decide. Here’s another way of thinking about it: ME space = ‘leaving’, […]

When Naomi Osaka announced that she was not going to attend the post-match press conferences at this year’s French Open, she did me a favour. She shone a light on a status quo that I hadn’t really paid attention to before. That status quo was the requirement for professional tennis players to show up at […]

Last week I was in a session with my counsellor. Yes, I see a counsellor! He’s super-helpful to help me try to make sense of my life in a turbulent world. I was sharing with him how full-on life is right now and how it just feels non-stop. It’s like I’m always ‘on’. I’m on […]

I just watched Seven Years in Tibet. Brad Pitt stars as a headstrong mountaineer who becomes a prisoner-of-war in 1930’s Tibet. After multiple solo attempts, he escapes by teaming up with his fellow prisoners. When he’s out, he says “I’m going it alone” and runs off into the wilderness. Yet another movie upholding individual heroism. […]

When he was three years old, he was stung by a bee. His mother said “what a naughty bee!” And he replied “Mum, it’s OK. I think the bee thought I was a flower.” When she was 39 years old, she got a note from the tax department saying that she was due for a […]

Are you hearing a lot about ‘wellbeing’ at the moment? It is the flavour of the month or a fundamental strategy? I had conversations with two different client organisations last week, both centring on wellbeing. Their two lenses couldn’t have been more different. For one client, their wellbeing agenda was a list of activities that […]

I was in conversation over a drink with some good friends the other day, and the question came up “who’s been your greatest teacher?” Inevitably, we all initially gravitated towards people who have inspired us: an old boss, an old coach or an old school teacher. You know, the usual pat answers we give to […]

You may know that I’ve been learning Wing Foiling lately. It’s kind of like being on those America’s Cup boats but on a smaller scale. You’re riding a kind of surfboard with a hydrofoil attached underneath, flying above the water powered by a ‘wing’, or sail. It’s exhilarating, and the learning curve comes with lots […]

I remember being at school – I think I must have been about six years old – when a friend, David, suggested we follow a line of ants on the ground to see where they led to. So we started off. I picked one ant and followed it as it slowly wended its way across […]

Last week was a tough one.  I had a busy work schedule planned, including leading two full-day Change Makers workouts. Then, at the start of the week, my seventeen year old daughter got a sciatic nerve injury which left her in excruciating pain and unable to get out of bed, let alone walk, for the […]