For the past few months I have been writing the first draft of my next book. It’s called “The Journey to Wonder”. It’s about the people who have been a huge influence on my life, on how I think, how I work and what I produce. Here is the chapter about Neil Young: The wild … Read more
I wrote about our approach to Rehearsal Days here a while back. In one of our early days together I showed the TED Talk by Brené Brown called “The Power of Vulnerability” (27 million views and still counting). I knew it was a powerful talk and I knew that it was deeply inspiring. I also … Read more
– a poem written yesterday for the new collection called “Blue: experiments in sound” which will be finished by the end of this month. Seemed appropriate to share it today… Blue was a big fan – the day Bowie died, he wore black, was on Facebook early that morning telling everyone how devastated he was and then… … Read more
It’s been a long time since that first time when I heard the music of Brian Eno and was completely captivated – and there began a lifetime obsession. We are talking the mid 70s. Of course, I had heard Roxy Music before that – but it was his solo work that really began the journey. … Read more
“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” -Stephen Covey I came across Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” quite late. In mid-career I was working for the NHS Modernisation Agency. This was a national organisation here in England which focused … Read more
So, I had read “Care of the Soul” by Thomas Moore and found it deeply moving. It was a book about the nurturing of our souls in a world that alienates us. Moore had been a Jesuit monk, and has a doctorate in religion, and further degrees in music and psychology. He worked for a … Read more
This week I have been recovering from an operation which has given me plenty of down time for reading. In just a couple of days I devoured a new biography of Robert Wyatt by Marcus O’Dair called “Different Every Time”. It’s a wonderful book – full of well researched insight into Robert Wyatt informed by … Read more
“In these troubled, uncertain times, we don’t need more command and control; we need better means to engage everyone’s intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise.“ From the first time I read the work of Margaret Wheatley back in 2003 when I read her first book, Leadership and the New Science, I was … Read more
I studied for a PhD in the 1990s and early 2000s. It took me seven years to complete it part-time. The host for this PhD was Manchester Business School. Inevitably I came across the work of Tom Peters – I had heard of his work much earlier when I read about the influence that “In … Read more
This is the first of a series on the people who have inspired me which I will be writing over the next few months. I hope you find it useful and look forward to your reactions. I can’t remember where I first came across the work of Michael Bungay Stanier. I suspect it was through … Read more