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Andy Murray’s retirement announcement last week has provided some great material for me to demonstrate a number of points in this week’s mutterings. He is one of those individuals who polarises opinion and, as a result, gives us an insight into the unique nature of individuals perspectives and responses.

But I want to talk about one post that showed up on my facebook feed. I’ve sanitised the language (and corrected some linguistic errors) but it was this

“Poor old Andy Murray breaking his ...

So here we go again. Head first into  the Christmas break, a few Alka Seltzers on New Years day and off we go again. 

I’ve been writing frantically getting the ideas for my new book down in first draft (I’ll be asking some of you to have a read at the end of January so let me know if you’d be interested to sit on the review panel). The ideas have been coming easily, even if the ...

When it comes to being a sales ninja there really is no such thing as a stupid question…..

Many years ago I got a telemarketing appointment to go and see the Indian owner of an Aromatherapy manufacturing business. It turned out to be quite a fractious affair.

The owner sat opposite me with his son, also involved in the business, sat just to my right. As we began to talk it became apparent that the owner was not exactly happy about my ...

One of my clients challenged me to write something that could be shared with employees about motivation. They have had a few employees leave and, during exit interviews, indicate that they hadn’t been happy about aspects of their role or the general way the business was being run. So I have written a little something for you to share with all your employees, if you dare……

The employee code

I spent most of my working life as an employee of someone. From ...

Lyn – “Who has upset you now Alan?” 

Alan Partridge – “Just people”

This has been an interesting week. A theme has been emerging and it feels like an old friend…the performance and attitiude of individuals in the team.   So I thought I would share and expand on a few ideas (most of which will be familiar if you have read the book).

Firstly though you need to own the problem. You need to be willing ...

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by” – Douglas Adams

Over my years as a corporate leader and as a business coach I’ve used deadlines and timescales as a tool of management. Yet the only difference it normally made was to change the nature of the excuses for why it got missed.

Deadlines work really well when you have control of all of the variables and potential distractions that might impede progress within a time frame. But the ...

Change in itself is not a cause for concern. Whatever forces of change are unleashed on your business will either create opportunities or problems. It is the potential for problems that gets us excitable. In this third short blog on change I want to focus on the nature of problems. 

But in order to really help you, as you read this article, I want you to make a list of whats ...