How very Douglas Adams. Today's coffee companion is a leadership consultant. We talked about: our respective career histories the PlayCards the way in which playing cards allow people to interact with ideas differently the importance of playfulness in work leadership, and why Servant Leadership is such a strange term to use the importance of leaders … Continue reading 42nd of 100
Category: General
Today’s coffee companion is a Chief Operating Officer for a scale-up company involved with mental health support. We talked about: The dismal state of UK politics The challenges of rearing kids with ADHD The strange lack of contentment amongst Western migrant workers in the Middle East Country versus City living American startups buying up industries … Continue reading 40th of 100
This morning’s coffee companion is a consultant who helps clients to build better skills for innovation and networking. We talked about: The need for organisations to introduce playfulness to help innovation actually happen Our own peculiar career paths and the twists and turns we have both taken (Inevitably) the PlayCards The peculiar nature of academia, … Continue reading 38th of 100
This week I have learned: the delights of catching up with someone you haven't seen in a very long time. the importance of good planning when it comes to running workshops. Facilitation is one of my happy spaces, and it's particularly rewarding when a small amount of planned structure unlocks the conversations. how surprised you … Continue reading Weeknote 617 – facilitating
Today’s coffee partner is a Civil Servant who works in one of the bigger Whitehall departments. We talked about the challenges of being counter-cultural in organisations that thrive on continuity and the status quo. We talked about leadership development programmes and how they reinforce conformity and short-term thinking even if that’s not what the organisation … Continue reading 12th of 100
When electricity first emerged as a source of reliable power for industry, initially factories that had used mechanical sources of power retrofitted so that the complicated contraptions made of belts cams and axles that would allow motion to be distributed were powered by an electric motor. It took many years for the ways of working … Continue reading Automating stupid
Today's #100coffees coffee companion is a management coach who came from the world of marketing strategy. We talked about the importance of loose connections and how relationships that exist between people from different organisations are often stronger than those that exist between people within organisations - exploring a metaphor of organisations as families where just … Continue reading 6th of 100
Yes, that's not coffee. It's jasmine tea. I said from the outset that other beverages were available. Today's beverage came after a lovely Chinese meal in Paddington. The conversation was another thriller: My companion is currently working transforming an electoral authority, running national government elections. The scaling challenges are mind-blowing- usually the authority have around … Continue reading 2nd of 100
In 1739 the Grenoble inventor Jacques de Vaucanson unveiled his latest invention to the people of France. The Canard Digérateur, or Digesting Duck was a life-sized model of a waterbird that appeared to be able to take food in its beak from a human handler, and then miraculously poop it out of its other end. … Continue reading Fooled by the duck
The really big draw for me to join Equal Experts earlier this year was how it is managed. In my role, I don't have a manager. I don't have a performance review or annual targets. The business operates on the assumption that its employees are autonomous and able to get on with things without being … Continue reading 100 coffees*
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