The benefits of learning about corporate pollution
As environmentalists dig deeper into the causes and consequences of waste and pollution, more and more people are beginning to understand how their actions and habits leave a long-term footprint on the future of the planet. While each individual has a role here, corporations are the ones that play the biggest part. Different industries have […]
Time for a chat?
Have you noticed how communication, even between friends, can become a minefield of miscommunication, indecision, confusion, indecisiveness and decision avoidance? Take the modern process for arranging a night out with a friend: It might begin with a simple text along the lines of “How are you? It’s been too long!” But how quickly it descends […]
Tuesday Insight: Remembering Anne Frank
Sunday was Holocaust Memorial Day, a day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered by the Nazis, and in genocides since in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Most of us have some awareness of the holocaust and/or other genocides and have heard the numbers involved. To take the most obvious example, during World […]
Why I want to be more Charlie in 2019!
Sometimes, when I’ve had absolutely enough of Brexit (who hasn’t), I hand ownership of my laptop over to my dog, Charlie, who lightens the mood with a few posts of his own on Facebook. His spelling isn’t always what it should be, but his observations on life can be profound. 😉 Take today’s for example, when […]
Individualism vs Collectivism
On Saturday, The Guardian reported a generational divide on the question of whether we should pay more tax to finance, amongst other things, the NHS. For me, it highlighted the great challenge of the human condition – the eternal conflict between what’s best for us individually, and what’s best for us collectively. When we’re young […]
Why we need to engage head AND hearts!
What happens when we ‘tell’ people how to behave, but we don’t engage them emotionally? And, in those circumstances, what happens when people no longer feel they need to conform to the ‘rules’, or society gives them an anonymous platform in which to ‘relax’? A few weeks ago I provided a link to the film […]
The Costliest Business Mistakes You Can Make
While it’s no secret that making mistakes are merely a part of business, some errors create significantly more damage than others. As an entrepreneur, it’s critical that you can distinguish between taking calculated risks and choosing downright foolish decisions. Hiring The Wrong People When first starting out, it’s typical for eager business owners to simply […]
How Much Can You Afford To Spend On Marketing?
How do you determine and allocate your marketing budget? Should you consider these dreaded expenses, or should you perceive them as lucrative investments? Who do you hire to manage the job and how do you determine what money goes where? There’s no doubt that talking about the dollars associated with marketing makes even some of […]
Why Manchester is great for startups
The city of Manchester is well known for being one of the wettest places in the UK, and perhaps on the planet. However, there is far more to this city than its incessant rainy weather, and those entrepreneurs who are looking to set up a business may find it has a lot to offer. In […]
7 Reasons You Didn’t Get Hired For That Job
In the midst of looking for a new job? Are you applying, sending in resumes, and interviewing- only to be ignored by potential employers? Securing employment in competitive industries can be frustrating, especially when you aren’t sure what went wrong. Let’s get into some of the top reasons employers skip over you- and move onto your competition. […]
Training and Hostage Negotiations – Similar?
Recently, I had the opportunity to hear from some great speakers at Connect, London. One of these was Simon Horton, author of ‘The Leaders Guide to Negotiation’. Simon knows a thing or two about negotiation. He has trained hostage negotiators and he gave us a brief insight into the essential steps followed in those critical […]
Three Ways to Support LGBT Staff in the Workplace
Stonewall, Britain’s leading charity for lesbian, gay, bi and trans equality, published a recent report revealing worrying trends in discrimination throughout the workplaces of Britain. The research, which was made public in April 2018, showed that “more than a third of LGBT staff (35 per cent) have hidden that they are LGBT at work for […]
Why We Need to Teach Students About Skilled Trades
When most well-intentioned parents and teachers talk about the future with adolescents, they discuss university majors, 4-year plans, and student loan debt. They teeter between the infamous STEM road and the notorious liberal arts path. Yes, for many students in modern America, it’s not a matter of if you attend college- it’s a matter of which one you attend. […]
3 Reasons Why Introverts Make Great Leaders
Nearly six years ago, Forbes ran an important article arguing that anywhere between one-third to one-half of American adults classify as introverts. In a world that tends to reward the loudest voice in the room, it was a revelation for us, well, quieter types. Since then, we’ve all taken various personality tests, agonizing over our Myers-Briggs […]
Supermarkets, Plastic and Stress Management!
Do you, like me, sometimes feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the challenges facing the world? I felt like this last week when I visited our local Waitrose to get the ingredients for a dinner party. Over the last few months we’ve been trying really hard to reduce single-use plastic at home – replacing […]
#TogetherAgainstHate – Has Training Failed?
I wonder how many of you were watching Gogglebox on Friday (a guilty pleasure) and witnessed what Channel 4 did in the interval. If you didn’t, I urget you to take a moment to watch it now, even though you might find it shocking. I felt an enormous well of gratitude to Channel 4 and their advertising […]
How to Do SEO (When You Have No Time To Do It)
Ready for some real talk? Research shows that 71% (and up to 92%) of all search traffic clicks occur on the first page of Google. Click-bait title aside, learning how to engage, implement, and master the intricacies of SEO is vital for all businesses. After all, if you aren’t anywhere close to that first page, how do […]
How Freelancing Introverts Can Find Connection
The work of a freelancer is exciting and dynamic; you don’t know what the day is going to look like, and, most of the time, you don’t know what the weekly or monthly paycheck is going to look like, either (though this can certainly not be exciting. I feel fortunate to experience the best of both […]
The Name of the Game
As you might have guessed, this insight has been inspired by ABBA. I have unashamedly loved ABBA since I was 5. Even when I was enough of a Rock Chick for Bruce Dickinson to ask me to be in one of his videos (long, but true, story), I still loved ABBA. I have enjoyed watching […]
Seeing the Problem
Imagine the scene, the trainer is opening a training session for L&D professionals and explaining what to do if the fire alarm goes off. Trainer: “The fire exit is there” (points to the door). Trainer: “If the fire alarm goes off, head through the door and go that way“ (points left).Trainer: “You’ll see an archway, so head […]
