Our Thoughts
Achieving a goal, may not be the goal
After a star-filled sky helped me find perspective at the end 2020, I turned to philosophy for some more practical advice with which to stride into 2021. I read, and was enthused at the stoic tradition, and laid those books down with a single idea that kept looping in...
Re-treading Fear with Courage in 2020
The sky had draped a grey cloud over False Bay, Cape Town, and ash-green lines of marbled swell pulsed towards the shore. Standing on the beach, I imagined guiding my fibreglass board across the soft water, and was itching to get into the sea. The soft hue of dusk...
Moral Potency will shape our ‘better normal’
As the Covid-19 pandemic spun out of control, and a hurricane of germs blew across the globe, I watched a news clip of an Italian street artist musing on the state of his village. When asked how he was coping with his ghostly streets, he simply replied: ‘If I worry...
A Better Set of Lenses
By Steve Hall Let me tell you a story about Christian Cooper and Amy Cooper. They are not “The Coopers”, in fact they are unrelated in a host of different ways, but they share a surname and a recent incident in Central Park, New York. Christian is out bird watching....
When the world around you changes
We’ve all faced change in super-charged fashion and pace in 2020. Whether it’s been quarantined in our houses, dealing with homeschooling, or attempting to pivot our businesses towards relevance, there has been not a single, city dweller across the globe that has been...
The possibility to thrive in a crisis!
We celebrated our daughter's 1st birthday on the 1st of September 2008 and deeply appreciated how well we had embraced her into our lives. My wife had quit her consulting job to be a stay-at-home mom and I was entrenched in an exciting, high- prospect, software...
Sorry, I can’t navigate this crisis for you!
I’ll start by repeating what we already know. The world is awash with existential anxiety that floats as infectiously as the virus itself! We are all concerned with a sometimes niggling, often pounding, message of warning and impending danger. It’s scary and real, and...
How may our past becalm our thoughts of the future?
The world has ground to a halt and entered a prolonged and unexpected hibernation. We are all being forced to live in transition from an old world towards a new reality that requires deliberate translation of hope to practice. The climate crisis and Coronavirus will...
Why young graduates don’t need Leadership Development
One of the most rewarding periods of my early career was working with young adults in business. For almost 8 years, I had numerous opportunities to guide and mentor bright and ambitious professionals on multiple graduate development programmes. They were smart,...
2019 to 2020 – from Reflection to Intention
There is no doubt that without pausing to reflect, we struggle to name and bank our learning. At worst, we become consumed in negative emotion and irrational triggers. Sometimes we need to arrest these struggles and, at best, reset the balance of how we interpret and...
Believe in People – Resistance is Futile
For over a decade now, I still encounter leaders who want to fight about the merits of development. I remember my first conversation in this long-standing battle well. He was a construction sector executive, privileged by the industry's preference for white males. At...
Conscience and Convenience
By Ross Orwin It was a simple act of throwing a used light bulb into the dustbin that got me thinking. Why did I not put it aside to take to a place that offers a more appropriate disposal method? The place that I am referring to is one of our local grocery stores, so...
Leadership Development Should Change Lives
An eagle swooped across the double volume windows that had framed the distant, white-capped Rocky Mountains all week. That view hugged the silhouette of the man sitting before us all. We all took a deep breathe as he paused and pinched his forehead into a frown....
Smile – its contagious
Written by Tidal Pooler - Ian Kennedy (his debut contribution) It is so difficult to avoid the ever-depressing headlines that highlight the corruption, evils and disasters that plague our world. One doesn't have to look too far to be triggered into frustration and...
Are we consuming other people’s ideas. to avoid having our own?
In 2018 I attended a book launch by the founder of a leading professional speaker agency. As the event began, the host asked members of the audience to briefly introduce themselves. I had not heard of any of them, but everybody was a professional speaker – which meant...
Scientist to Artist – what did it take?
Fifteen years ago, when I migrated from one field of Psychology to another, I anchored my new world of work in Career Coaching. I had made a vocational jump myself and thought I would apply what I had learned to assist others. It was a deeply rewarding period of my...
The First Time I Fired a Client
My first job in People Development Consulting was almost 20 years ago. Soon after entering the field, I landed a role leading a consulting business. It was a bit like a start-up, but with a wealthy, big brother as an angel investor. I still have fond memories of that...
The End of Classroom-based Leadership Learning?
The Holy Grail of my work is to encourage and observe a sustainable, behavioural shift in people. It’s a very difficult daily pursuit and is influenced by so many seen and unseen variables. I am a firm believer that without a solid grasp of the human mind and its...
10 ways Leadership Development must change
A prominent business management journal put out a piece in the 1970s, outlining key leadership competencies for the modern age. In my own words, their research seemed to support that great leaders exert dominance; are often the loudest, most vocal person in the room;...
Dear President Ramaphosa, please Speak to us!
Dear President Ramaphosa Those first three words of this heading were almost my last. It feels somewhat presumptuous that you will receive and read this, but I have decided to write it nonetheless. It’s just a compulsion I have, straight from the heart and thus free...
Achieving a goal, may not be the goal
After a star-filled sky helped me find perspective at the end 2020, I turned to philosophy for some more practical advice with which to stride into 2021. I read, and was enthused at the stoic tradition, and laid those books down with a single idea that kept looping in...
Re-treading Fear with Courage in 2020
The sky had draped a grey cloud over False Bay, Cape Town, and ash-green lines of marbled swell pulsed towards the shore. Standing on the beach, I imagined guiding my fibreglass board across the soft water, and was itching to get into the sea. The soft hue of dusk...
Moral Potency will shape our ‘better normal’
As the Covid-19 pandemic spun out of control, and a hurricane of germs blew across the globe, I watched a news clip of an Italian street artist musing on the state of his village. When asked how he was coping with his ghostly streets, he simply replied: ‘If I worry...
A Better Set of Lenses
By Steve Hall Let me tell you a story about Christian Cooper and Amy Cooper. They are not “The Coopers”, in fact they are unrelated in a host of different ways, but they share a surname and a recent incident in Central Park, New York. Christian is out bird watching....
When the world around you changes
We’ve all faced change in super-charged fashion and pace in 2020. Whether it’s been quarantined in our houses, dealing with homeschooling, or attempting to pivot our businesses towards relevance, there has been not a single, city dweller across the globe that has been...
The possibility to thrive in a crisis!
We celebrated our daughter's 1st birthday on the 1st of September 2008 and deeply appreciated how well we had embraced her into our lives. My wife had quit her consulting job to be a stay-at-home mom and I was entrenched in an exciting, high- prospect, software...
Sorry, I can’t navigate this crisis for you!
I’ll start by repeating what we already know. The world is awash with existential anxiety that floats as infectiously as the virus itself! We are all concerned with a sometimes niggling, often pounding, message of warning and impending danger. It’s scary and real, and...
How may our past becalm our thoughts of the future?
The world has ground to a halt and entered a prolonged and unexpected hibernation. We are all being forced to live in transition from an old world towards a new reality that requires deliberate translation of hope to practice. The climate crisis and Coronavirus will...
Why young graduates don’t need Leadership Development
One of the most rewarding periods of my early career was working with young adults in business. For almost 8 years, I had numerous opportunities to guide and mentor bright and ambitious professionals on multiple graduate development programmes. They were smart,...
2019 to 2020 – from Reflection to Intention
There is no doubt that without pausing to reflect, we struggle to name and bank our learning. At worst, we become consumed in negative emotion and irrational triggers. Sometimes we need to arrest these struggles and, at best, reset the balance of how we interpret and...
Believe in People – Resistance is Futile
For over a decade now, I still encounter leaders who want to fight about the merits of development. I remember my first conversation in this long-standing battle well. He was a construction sector executive, privileged by the industry's preference for white males. At...
Conscience and Convenience
By Ross Orwin It was a simple act of throwing a used light bulb into the dustbin that got me thinking. Why did I not put it aside to take to a place that offers a more appropriate disposal method? The place that I am referring to is one of our local grocery stores, so...
Leadership Development Should Change Lives
An eagle swooped across the double volume windows that had framed the distant, white-capped Rocky Mountains all week. That view hugged the silhouette of the man sitting before us all. We all took a deep breathe as he paused and pinched his forehead into a frown....
Smile – its contagious
Written by Tidal Pooler - Ian Kennedy (his debut contribution) It is so difficult to avoid the ever-depressing headlines that highlight the corruption, evils and disasters that plague our world. One doesn't have to look too far to be triggered into frustration and...
Are we consuming other people’s ideas. to avoid having our own?
In 2018 I attended a book launch by the founder of a leading professional speaker agency. As the event began, the host asked members of the audience to briefly introduce themselves. I had not heard of any of them, but everybody was a professional speaker – which meant...
Scientist to Artist – what did it take?
Fifteen years ago, when I migrated from one field of Psychology to another, I anchored my new world of work in Career Coaching. I had made a vocational jump myself and thought I would apply what I had learned to assist others. It was a deeply rewarding period of my...
The First Time I Fired a Client
My first job in People Development Consulting was almost 20 years ago. Soon after entering the field, I landed a role leading a consulting business. It was a bit like a start-up, but with a wealthy, big brother as an angel investor. I still have fond memories of that...
The End of Classroom-based Leadership Learning?
The Holy Grail of my work is to encourage and observe a sustainable, behavioural shift in people. It’s a very difficult daily pursuit and is influenced by so many seen and unseen variables. I am a firm believer that without a solid grasp of the human mind and its...
10 ways Leadership Development must change
A prominent business management journal put out a piece in the 1970s, outlining key leadership competencies for the modern age. In my own words, their research seemed to support that great leaders exert dominance; are often the loudest, most vocal person in the room;...
Dear President Ramaphosa, please Speak to us!
Dear President Ramaphosa Those first three words of this heading were almost my last. It feels somewhat presumptuous that you will receive and read this, but I have decided to write it nonetheless. It’s just a compulsion I have, straight from the heart and thus free...