What colour is the dress?

It seems the whole world was looking at one dress last week, and it was nothing to do with a celebrity on the red carpet. Just a basic question about a normal dress – ‘What colour is this dress?’ What I found really interesting about this was the debate: “It’s obviously white and gold”, “what […]

Commercial Creativity Alone Will Not Help Make the World a Better Place

Talk to some of the commercial brands and advertising people, and there’s a whiff of anxiety in the air. A recent invitation-only symposium in London attended by ICE, brought together senior players from a variety of global agencies and brands. Ostensibly it was set up to share ideas, celebrate achievement and showcase innovation driven by […]

Smokeless Does Not Mean Harmless

As most health professionals know, smokeless does not mean harmless. Despite this, there is often a view among users that smokeless tobacco products are a healthier option to cigarettes – or at worse, seen as beneficial to people’s health. Download a pdf version of this blog here In fact, the use of smokeless tobacco is […]

Change… According to Roald Dahl

It’s Roald Dahl’s birthday today and it got me thinking about some of the fantastic characters from his stories – we regularly read these to our daughter when she was younger and he was one of our favourite children’s authors. So, thinking about change and what it is according to Roald Dahl, here are a […]

How to overcome fear of change: Five steps to empower your workforce

The only constant is impermanence. We often have to change, either at home, at work or our social lives to adapt to the new situation or environment we find ourselves in. A few people welcome change but most can be a bit wary of it, to say the least. So, given that change is inevitable, […]

Olympics: a motivator for change?

The London 2012 Olympic Games are in full swing and at just over a week in, the gold medals for Team GB are already clocking up. However, many Briton’s are probably spending more time than usual sitting down, glued to a TV screen or watching online. I confess! I’m one of them – filled with […]

Leadership: What makes a good leader?

I was asked recently what I thought Leadership meant.  I think I may have waffled a bit in my response, but I wanted to share a few considered thoughts on what I think a good leader is, or is not. To be clear, leadership is not management.  Management is more akin to administration and keeping […]

Change: turning theory into reality

I recently read a blog by Forbes, highlighting six factors that can limit us doing the right thing, and instead, result in us doing the easy thing. I really liked the article which described some very powerful insights into why we behave the way we do, despite knowing we could do better. It got me thinking […]

Social mobility and aspirational change: one and the same?

Nick Clegg has “vowed to address the absolute scandal of Britain’s lack of social mobility and open up a society that is too closed and too static”.  This got me thinking about change and about personal growth. I think equality is a key driver but not the only one and the Guardian article quotes that […]

The Government’s Work Placement Scheme: Where’s the informed debate?

The last week has seen a fair bit of debate going on about the Government’s Work Placement Scheme, which is aimed at 16–24 year olds on JSA (Job Seekers Allowance) and is intended to get unemployed youngsters back into work.  Controversy is bubbling up from the Right to Work campaign – amongst others – claiming […]