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We spend a lot of time talking about uncertainty. But I'm beginning to think loss of agency might be just as bad. I've got a couple of things going on at the moment that depend entirely on people and processes I can't really control. Until they're resolved, my ability to plan travel, meetings and other commitments is restricted. When I was employed, those things went with the territory. There was always a risk of holidays being cancelled or your diary being taken over by thin

I'm fascinated by the words we use when we talk about rules. Not just the rules themselves, but the metaphors and assumptions wrapped around them. One expression I keep coming back to is, '𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵.' We say it all the time. But we almost never say, '𝘐’𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯.' The phrase 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 has a physical origin: drawing a line through something to remove it as an option. In that context, you can't rule things in, you can onl

One thing I've learned from travelling for work is that services and products often solve problems they’re not primarily there to solve. Coffee shops become my office, hotel ironing boards become my standing desk and my laptop becomes a powerbank for my battery-hungry phone. During this weekend’s heatwave, my overnight train from Munich to Cologne became a climate refuge. The journey mattered, but the aircon mattered even more. Now, I regularly travel by overnight train, so t

This week, I ran one of my usual rail experiments. Instead of travelling between London and Munich via Brussels, I went via Paris. The idea was simple: remind myself what the alternative feels like. And sometimes it’s nice to have a different view from the carriage window. Since I’d chosen the last possible overnight connection, there was always a risk of something going wrong. And it really did. Nothing major, but one thing led to another and the original plan was well and t

Well, for my presentation, anyway. Not because I’m against the rule, but because it doesn’t work for me. For most people, it encourages them to speak candidly because it protects them: their ideas can be shared, but not their identity. In my case, the Chatham House Rule poses a problem; I work for myself. My ideas and ways of thinking are the best marketing tool for what I do. I want them out there, and I want them associated with me. So I now begin any presentation I give at

Earlier today, I joined EQS Group's Daniel Wedge and Vodafone’s Emily Webberley for a webinar on why people don’t speak up. And we hit a classic compliance conundrum: what does good look like when it comes to speak up? Because the answer isn’t obvious. More reports sounds like a good thing. People know what to do, trust the process, and believe something will happen if they raise an issue. Or is it a bad sign because there’s a lot going wrong? Fewer reports could be good beca

Recently, I’ve been paying more attention to how I feel before, during and after I present. There’s a clear predictable pattern: • The night before I sleep badly because my mind is racing with ideas — often those which turn out to be the best-received parts of my session • Right before I go on stage, I need a few moments to gather myself and calm my nerves • Mid-talk, my inner-voice unhelpfully shows up: 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶? • Afterwards, I

This week, two clients asked if I could help promote internal events I’m delivering for them. In both cases, I said '𝘺𝘦𝘴'. One of the benefits of a flexible fee structure is that when clients pay me more, I can also spend time on things like publicity, not just delivery. We discussed the potential channels and agreed on a teaser video and a digital poster. Both gave me complete creative freedom to do what I wanted with the formats; not something I take for granted in heav

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 from 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀. German 𝘞𝘦𝘪𝘩𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘵𝘴𝘮𝘢̈𝘳𝘬𝘵𝘦 are in full swing and if you order a mulled wine, it’ll come in a proper mug or glass. You pay 𝘗𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢 deposit which you get back if you return it. Except…lots of people don’t. Legally, you’re required to return it; you’ve bought the mulled wine, not the mug. But up to 50% of mugs are estimated not to make it back. Stallholders expect this and since the

Today, I discovered — thanks to etiquette expert William Hanson , who was arrested for this at Geneva Airport — that presentation clickers with built-in laser pointers are banned in Switzerland. Now, I often speak there, and I used to work for a Swiss bank, so it’s not unfamiliar territory. And yet, I had 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 this was a thing. A few years ago, I learned that being a professional speaker means being your own AV department. Laptop? Check. HDMI adapter? Of course. C

Most Out Of Office messages are painfully dull. '𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭,' might be factually correct, but it doesn’t tell me anything about you. That’s a missed opportunity. Because your OOO doesn’t just have to be a holding message, it can be a valuable piece of marketing real estate; a micro-window into how you work or how you think. And in my case, what I'm doing when I’m not replying as quickly as I usual

Once again, a nicely presented data dump turned a year of small, often forgettable actions into one emotional story. Wrapped isn't especially accurate; it cuts off in November and ‘listening age’ is clearly a stab in the dark. You might not always recognise yourself in it, but it 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴, because it 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 true enough to provoke a reaction. And that’s where things get interesting, not just for individuals, but for anyone thinking about behaviour, identity and risk. Her

Not because ‘why’ doesn’t matter — it absolutely does — but because in many real-world situations, it’s simply not the most useful place to start. Yesterday, I re-posted a story about a restaurant that used a text message to explain its dress code. Fine in principle, but the message arrived after people were already on their way. Too late to be helpful, whatever the intention. In the comments, someone offered a perfectly sensible technical explanation for why the message wa

That word is 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘣𝘢𝘳. Literally, it means 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦: more aptly, 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 or 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. It’s typically used as a negative to describe those who don’t conform to expected norms. The kind of people who ask awkward questions, derail agendas, and don’t ‘fit in’. That might seem like an odd thing to celebrate in a compliance context. But it’s what makes my work effective. I'm not 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘣𝘢𝘳 when

On Saturday, I wrote a post about oven clocks. (Yes, really.) My point was that when the clocks go back — like they did in Europe this weekend — most people don’t bother changing the oven clock. Because it feels like hassle for no benefit. That's a neat little behavioural reminder: if something seems pointless or awkward, we’re less likely to do it, even if we technically '𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥.' I linked that idea to compliance: if a rule feels unnecessary or requires excess effort,

In Europe the clocks went back last night, and once again, our phones, laptops, and smart devices quietly did the right thing. No prompting. No effort. No fuss. Everything else? The microwave. That wall clock. Still both likely to be blissfully out of sync. And let’s be honest, most of us will just leave them. We’ll squint, shrug, and mentally add an hour. Because it’s fine. It’s not worth the effort. That small act of 'can’t be bothered' says everything about human nature. W

I asked GenAI to create an image of a watch showing 𝟴:𝟭𝟱. It gave me 𝟭𝟬:𝟭𝟬. So I tried again. And again. And again. Six separate attempts. All showing the 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 time. And it’s not just 8:15; try asking for any time, and you’ll probably still get 10:10. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? Because GenAI isn’t pulling from real life. It’s pulling from what it’s 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵, and for watches, that’s not photos of 'real' people wearing them, it’s ads. As Richard Shotton explains in 𝗧𝗵

When event organisers ask for a bio, I always double-check why. The last thing I want is for them to introduce me by reading it out loud. Sure, my past roles matter — they’ve shaped how I think — but if people only listen because of my CV, I’ve already lost them. A bio’s fine for the 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦 (though even then, I like it to hint at 𝘸𝘩𝘺 the audience should listen, not just where I’ve worked). But when it comes to the 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, I say: '𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩

People were surprised I’d built new slides overnight to connect the previous day’s discussions to my topic. Surprised I’d had time. ...

The most valuable thing I got from my time at UBS wasn’t the money, though that was nice. It was the freedom — taken, though not always...