“Good Morning!” said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat. “What do you mean?” he said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that… Read More Hello to you . . .
“That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air … Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.” Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose― Wallace… Read More That new term feeling . . .
In more than a couple of decades of working in leadership and management development, and in coaching, it seems that the subject of holding difficult conversations continues to be a theme. It might even remain top of my list of things leaders want to know how to do better, and that coachees say they struggle… Read More Choosing your battles . . .
Feeling bored? At work, or at home? Dr Sandi Mann, a senior lecturer in occupational psychology, suggests that boredom is a much-aligned emotion that we might benefit from embracing, rather than ignoring. See The hidden benefits of boredom.
Where will your opportunity to speak up come from today? “I don’t care for the applause one gets by saying what others are thinking; I want actually to change people’s thoughts. Power over people’s minds is the main personal desire of my life; and this sort of power is not acquired by saying popular things.”… Read More You can go your own way . . .
Next time you’re holding that difficult conversation with a colleague, or trying to develop a member of your team, or coaching someone, I just wonder, could this help … “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think” (Socrates) It’s a value I certainly try to hold on to every time I work… Read More I wonder . . .
“Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence” (Leonardo Da Vinci). Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Angus Deaton has launched a 5-year, £2.5 million study aimed at understanding inequality in terms not just of income, but also of health, wealth and opportunity (see The IFS Deaton Review). It’s an ambitious project, the breadth and depth of which… Read More Silence is not golden . . .
Read this: ‘Reattaching for convenience’: nine passive-aggressive email phrases that must end now‘. And now re-read that email you’re about to send.
I came across the Please, write to me initiative, aimed mainly at doctors working in outpatient clinics, encouraging them to write letters that are easier for patients to understand. And in encouraging the avoidance of Latin terms, acronyms and convoluted language that might not be understood by anyone outside the medical profession, the principles of… Read More What do you prescribe?
Imposter Syndrome is rife. I meet people regularly who claim they have it. It’s a complex phenomenon about self-doubt and incongruence and courage. And frequently it seems I come across an example of a famous person who admits to succumbing to it. Today I learnt that Maya Angelou once said that she feared being uncovered… Read More Have you got it?
ChristineWilkinsonCoaching 