The peripheral; extravagance; and paradox: Whistler reflections by Renée Koch

agility, Complexity and adaptive leadership, General musings, Guest blogs, Innovation, Metaphor

I asked my friend Renée Koch, who was a faculty member at the Whistler Retreat earlier this year, to contribute a guest blog reflecting on her experience and learning at the retreat and beyond. I love her focus on the peripheral; extravagance; and paradox. What struck me is how the notion of extravagance again challenges […]

Befriending uncertainty

Change, General musings, Learning Out Loud, Meaning and purpose

Having just returned from one journey into the unknown (visiting Sweden for the first time), I am preparing to enter the unknown once again as I pack for a residential Tavistock working conference that starts today. Having been through this experience before, I am torn between excitement about what I will learn, and a profound sense […]

Finding our way together

General musings, Methods and practices

In a recent post, Jeff Goins describes that moment when the so-called “imposter syndrome” prevents a writer from publishing his work. I could relate to that feeling … I often find myself agonising about whether or not something I’ve written is “worthy of publishing”. Typically it sounds like “Who am I to write about this? I’m […]

A short chronicle of 2016

agility, Change, Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Cynefin, General musings, Methods and practices, sensemaker, Uncategorized

I always admire those writers who have the discipline to publish consistently regardless of circumstance. I tend to write in spurts. I find that when I become really busy with projects and speaking engagements, my writing suffers. So in case you were wondering why I've been so quiet, I thought I'd write a short update […]

What I learned from speaking at TedX

General musings, Meaning and purpose, Narrative

Last year, while browsing my LinkedIn feed I came across TedX Pretoria's call for speakers. On the spur of the moment, I decided to nominate myself, never really considering the consequences if I was actually accepted. A couple of weeks later I received the email that my nomination had been successful, and promptly had a "what were you […]

Reflections on consulting

General musings, Uncategorized

In a recent Acumen (GIBS Business School's magazine) there was a pretty scathing piece on consulting with the heading: Consultants or Insultants? The author's basic premise is that aside from a limited number of tech projects, no self-respecting executive can ever justify the use of expensive consultants and that more often than not they only […]

Don't allow others (or yourself) to should on you!

Boundaries, General musings, Meaning and purpose

I've been reflecting on how often we allow other people's (and society in general's) 'shoulds' to influence our choices and even our identity. Now I have to say up-front, some 'shoulds' are legitimate, for example, everyone should respect life and not go around murdering other people, and it's probably best not to cheat on your […]

A monster that devours itself: a capitalist's parable?

General musings, Leadership, Meaning and purpose

Erisychton (Er-is-ya-thon), according to Ovid's tales from Greek mythology was a wealthy timber merchant and Thessalian King. He was a greedy man who thought only about profit. To him, nothing was sacred. The goddess Demeter had a sacred grove with a special tree beloved by the gods. Prayers of the faithful were tied to the […]

Courage

Engagement, General musings, Healthy organizations, Leadership, Strengths

“The original definition of ‘courage’ . . . is from the Latin word ‘cor,’ meaning ‘heart.’ And the original definition was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart. And so these folks had, very simply, the courage to be imperfect. They had the compassion to be kind to themselves first, and then to others, because, as it turns out, we can’t […]

Why another blog?

Engagement, General musings

Although I've been actively blogging on www.narrativelab.co.za for several years, I've never felt the need for a personal blog. Now that I have decided to spread my wings and explore the world beyond TNL, I find that I have quite a bit to say. I've been a business consultant now for for more than 12 […]

Blog - Category: General musings