Inside my mantra that ‘culture is how people do things on repeat’ sits a secret. While every person’s choices and behaviour matter. Not everyone carries the same influence. And before you jump to leadership. Which, yes, leaves a mark. There are others in less visible roles who, whatever room they...
Finding related wisdom from people poles apart is always a nice surprise. And it’s hard to come up with two more divergent types than witty finance wizard Charlie Munger and rebellious rock star Nick Cave. Cue my happy dance when a quote from each man recently crossed my path. And their lessons reverberate into how...
There’s a shaky, slightly blurry 2009 video showing a guy dancing alone ona grassy hill at the Sasquatch Music Festival. After a few minutes, first one person, then two, join him. And soon a crowd is exuberantly jumping around to the music. Author Robert Cialdini calls this ‘social proof’, and his weighty tome...
Over a cup of tea one morning I was reading an article by The Good Place actor and activist Jameela Jamil when a passage stopped me mid-sip. She said, "We abuse the concept of “boundaries” to justify not showing up for each other anymore, to no longer working through hard or stressful things. We just...
In 1871 Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke said (and I’m quoting the modern version), “No plan can survive first contact with the enemy.” And while the planning stakes in organisations are rarely life and death, I think the sentiment holds true. Yet people still develop elaborate plans to try and change...
In a past episode of his podcast Making Sense, Sam Harris talked to author and NY Times columnist David Brooks about his book The Road to Character. The episode was titled ‘On Becoming a Better Person’* and my ears perked up when it landed on promises. David commented, Self-improvement is part of being an...
On a Thursday evening in April 2020 the sounds of banging pots and pans, claps and cheers echoed around empty streets across the United Kingdom. On doorsteps and leaning out windows people acknowledged the health workers and others on the frontlines of the pandemic. Recognising that by doing their jobs,...
Choices are chances. Go this way or that. Do this, not that. On repeat, hundreds of daily moments where your actions say, ‘this is who I am’. Intrinsic to work. They get shaped by the processes, policies and protocols powering every enterprise. And in the rumble of the everyday doing, become...
“I have to believe in the place where I work.” Bam. There it was. In a neatly turned nutshell, my client had revealed how to improve a culture. Not motivate me with a world-changing mission. Not inspire me to great feats or pay me a gazillion dollars. Simply show me I...
There’s a not-so-subtle warning woven into work around culture. That you need a citadel to protect you from plundering outsiders. The word “citadel” was first used in English in the 14th century. Referring to the fortified towers and walls that protected mediaeval towns and were a refuge for civilians in the...