A TALK SHOULD CHANGE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
10 August 2026
How many talks can you remember a week after hearing them? Fewer still change what you do. A good speaker may hold an audience for an hour. A great one leaves them with something that lasts: a different perspective, a useful question and the confidence... read more
WHO POLICES THE POLICE?
3 August 2026
An official review has exposed a crisis at the top of policing in England and Wales. Since 2018, the IOPC has received 107 referrals involving chief officers and opened 78 investigations. Forty seven concerned chief constables or equivalents, although... read more
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE CHECK-IN
29 July 2026
Today, the new Prime Minister announced technical education routes giving 14-year-olds earlier access to skills training, work experience and links with employers. It is a welcome recognition that young people need more than a purely academic route into... read more
BEYOND 10 THINGS
10 July 2026
HOW TEN HELPS LEADERS AND ORGANISATIONS TURN INSIGHT INTO ACTION Every week, 10 THINGS, explores leadership, life and the things that matter most. Each edition explains what happened and why leaders should care. There is, however,... read more
Carry on regardless
10 June 2026
One in four adults will experience some form of mental health challenge each year. Yet despite the growing awareness of wellbeing, many people still find themselves waiting for help, unable to access it or simply uncomfortable asking for it. Over... read more
Why I choose optimism
10 May 2026
Many years ago, as part of my MSc, I spent time studying optimism. Since then, life has given me plenty of opportunities to put the theory to the test. Some of those experiences have been rewarding, some painful, and a few downright exhausting. Yet... read more
When survival starts choosing for us
10 April 2026
Many of the qualities we admire in leaders are not learned in boardrooms, classrooms or leadership seminars. More often than not, they are forged much earlier in life through adversity, uncertainty and the quiet determination to keep going when... read more
A Royal Navy with no warships
10 March 2026
When I joined the Royal Navy in 1978, Britain was still a maritime power in every meaningful sense of the phrase. The Cold War was at its height. The Soviet fleet roamed the oceans and the Royal Navy maintained a constant global presence. Ships deployed... read more
When fear becomes a strategy
12 September 2025
Labour swept to power in 2024 with 412 seats. Just a year later, poll-of-polls suggest they could slump to 119, while Reform rockets from 5 seats to a projected 368 - enough to form a government. The Conservatives? Reduced to just 36 MPs. If a week is a... read more
Power, performance and the price of peace
15 August 2025
I’ve been in enough negotiation rooms - at sea, in boardrooms, and now watching politics with a wary eye - to know one thing: the real work of leadership rarely looks dramatic. True breakthroughs usually happen behind closed doors, after the cameras... read more