Blogs
Merge things together differently
Reading my daughters research for a project I came across this idea and loved it - firstly that your brain wants to select or reject information and ideas. Secondly if you don't allow the brain to reject something and can actually keep two things in your brain...
Can courageous leadership really lead to market leadership?
In this series, Alison Glynn-Baker explores Mandy Holloway's book Inspiring Courageous Leaders. She will be working through a chapter in each blog. We encourage you to read Inspiring Courageous Leaders if you haven’t already, and contribute to the conversation. The...
Try smiling more often everyday
In the words of a great woman: Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. - Mother Teresa So in the spirit of grateful April I have decided to smile MORE often each day. I am sure there are plenty more things I...
Find a positive trait
As part of the Grateful in April campaign we were asked to think about a positive trait in someone we had felt angered by. This sparked me to think about how different some of our business meetings could be if we walked in with such positive thoughts and feelings for...
Attitude of Gratitude
I have just joined a campaign for the month of April - its called Grateful in April - and I love it's essence. Far too many of us focus on the negative and spend too little time and energy on what we can be grateful for. As I lie in my bed with a very sore back it is...
Chaos in your soul
How fascinating reading a quote from Hussein "......you need chaos in your soul to create a shining star" ....... What a lovely expression and what a powerful message. For many of us we do everything to avoid chaos and yet if we were to embrace it and be open to it...
Start improving the world now
I love grabbing inspiring quotes and making business sense of them - so lets look at this inspiring quote from Ms Frank: "How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." It takes most business people a...
Great spirit conquers all
What an insightful man Einstein was and I loved his sentiment when he shared with us that: "Great spirits have always faced violent opposition from mediocre minds." This captures the essence of what so often happens between the populations of emerging and existing...
Every little bit of effort counts
Reading this quote from Margaret Mead reminded me also of a story shared by Anita Roddick - founder and CEO of The Body Shop - she shared how you can make a difference no matter how small! She asked her readers to think of one mosquito in a tent and the impact it has....
Courage to speak up
Winston Churchill said: "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen". How very true and how very hard to do. Knowing when to speak and when to listen requires strong wisdom and judgement courage to speak and...
Recover with grace
Unleashing your courage means you will experience setbacks. The true courageous leader knows it is how you respond to these setbacks that is crucial. Take responsibility for what you create, own what you created and proceed with grace. As Maggie Thatcher was known to...
Challenging is the strong core
Working with a wonderful group of participants we explored the difference between challenging, betrayal and loyalty when it comes to building a high performing team. On the flipchart I drew a big U shape and right through the middle of this U I drew dotted lines and...
Living in the Present
How very interesting it has been introducing a new puppy into our family. For each of us we have learned to focus on the present and take joy from the here and now. I recall doing this when the girls were little too - and I reflect now on how important it is as a...
Dare to Dream
Courageous leaders dare to dream; they dare to be idealistic and bring passion to realise these dreams. There are too many gray, trivial, mundane things going on in our current business environment - we need leaders who dare to dream and who dare to make change the...
Don’t surrender to conformity
I was reading the other day and came across this quote from Irving Wallace: "To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity. " I love the essence of his words and it got me thinking about the...
Distinguish facts from opinions
Too many leaders confuse opinion with facts - especially those with strong opinions who seem to shout down other opinions! My recent research found me exploring the "linguistic trap" - where we treat our opinions as facts and we do this through the language we use and...
The Courage to be Yourself
Reading this quote from Anais Nin created beautiful imagery: " And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." In my experience of coaching many senior people aspiring to their penultimate career transition...
How Curious
When developing leaders I invite them to respond to challenges and situations that don’t fit the “norm” with an expression of “how curious” and I love how Amanda Gore expresses this in one of her speaking engagements – she uses “that’s interesting” – and I love the...
Standing Still
At our recent Courageous Leaders Facilitator Community meeting one of our facilitators - Jonathan- shared an interesting insight from his latest research.....that standing still is the new going backwards. We all resoundingly went "oh yes"! Courageous Leaders know...