Book Review – Oliver Burkeman’s “Four Thousand Weeks”

“Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals” by Oliver Burkeman offers a refreshing perspective on time management, challenging the relentless pursuit of productivity that dominates modern life. Burkeman begins with a sobering reminder: if we live to about 80, we… Continue reading

The trouble with Fish!

In 1998, Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen, two filmmakers and a motivational speaker published a book, Fish!, based on a film that they had made about the fish sellers in Seattle’s “Pike Place Fish Market”. It is a… Continue reading

BOOK REVIEW: The Leadership Coach (Teach Yourself)

This book came as a surprise at several levels. Firstly, I wasn’t expecting a “Teach Yourself” title. I’ve bought several TY books in the past and often been a little disappointed. They’ve been far more complex than I had wanted… Continue reading

Book Review: “Coaching Understood – A pragmatic inquiry into the coaching process” by Elaine Cox

Coaching Understood – A pragmatic inquiry into the coaching process Elaine Cox Sage 2013 ISBN 978-0-85702-826-6 £24.99 Coaching is an extraordinarily diverse field. Aside from the technical coaching environment, epitomised by sports coaches and personal trainers, it ranges from individuals… Continue reading

It’s all a question of attitude – a tribute to Zig Ziglar

One of a generation of motivational speakers, Zig Ziglar, died last week at the age of 86. When I began to perform myself in the late 1980s, it was often tapes by Ziglar that I would listen to as I… Continue reading

Business Book of the Week – Understanding the Small Business Sector – Storey

I’d like to draw your attention to a blog by Julian Thompson who is the director of projects at the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (the RSA). Julian has worked as a social researcher for 10 years.… Continue reading

Calling a halt to mindless change – 13 years on, have we learnt the lesson yet?

It was a sad day this week, when I learnt of the death of an old colleague, John Macdonald. This isn’t an obituary, there are times and places for those, but I would like to reflect on one of his… Continue reading

Business Book of the Week : The Net Delusion by Evgeny Morozov

Belarus-born researcher and blogger, Evgeny Morozov, works on the political effects of the internet. He is skeptical about the Internet’s ability to provoke change in authoritarian regimes. He points out that the internet is used as a powerful tool to… Continue reading

The Personal Branding Phenomenon – distinguish yourself

Book summary: The Personal Branding Phenomenon by Peter Montoya (2002) Back in 2003, this summary was sent to friends and colleagues on my personal email mailing list – as it was then! Recent conversations, led me to resurrect it, to… Continue reading

The Beauty of Diagrams – The Vitruvian Man – Art, Architecture, Anatomy combined mathematically

If you haven’t already seen it, you might like to watch the BBC documentary series, The Beauty of Diagrams. The first episode is on the drawing “The Vitruvian Man” by Leonardo da Vinci. It’s available on iplayer until 10pm on… Continue reading