George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright and political activist said, “the single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place”

This is so true! How often do we delude ourselves thinking we have been clear and others have understood our communication - when it's patently not the case

When we think of being a great communicator or having great 'people skills', we often think of words such as empathy, story telling and even personality. In truth, despite being what appear to be super successful communicators, many of us struggle to communicate mindfully these days, especially when it comes to communicating with people who are different from ourselves. People with different skill-sets, different backgrounds, different cultures and different age groups to ourselves

This is important because being able to communicate well with people who are different from ourselves paves the way for diverse perspectives and learning. Multiple ideas breed creativity, they p...

Our conversations have major implications – at work, at home, in our whole life. In today’s world, we have all the power of instant global communication, yet ironically, very few of us are actually able to communicate in a way which brings change, growth and thriving

In fact, look around, it’s actually shameful, we have all the gear, yet no idea how to actually communicate. Sure, right now everyone’s a super fast ‘communicator’, replying to messages instantly to show how ‘on it’ we are, making people laugh with our TikToks, wowing with our altered reality photography, catchy captions and punchy comments. Yet, at the same time a disturbing trend is clear – polarisation, sensationalism, and extremism are drowning out reasoned debate, compromise, and consensus-building

Our communication may be slick and quick, but often, it is narcissistic, narrow minded, and let’s be honest, cowardly

What we all really need right now is courage, this does not mean the courage to leave anonymous commen...

Guess how many different types of apps you have on your phone. Do you know the answer?

On average, we have 80 apps on our phones, and each day, we interact with at least 9-10 different types of apps. This means that for most of us, we have more regular interactions with different types of apps than we have regular interactions with different types of people! 

As humans, we are a social species, meaning one of our deepest-wired behaviours is building a social group or network - but how diverse is your network and why in truth is this diversity important?
 
The thing is, at a time when a lot of us are worrying about the impact of AI, a way to feel confident, strong and thrive with AI is to remind ourselves of what differentiates us as humans from apps and computers. Humans use the brain's computing power, memory, and ability to think, whereas AI-powered machines rely on data and specific instructions fed into the system. A way to thrive in a time of AI is to focus on building the skills...

High performance in work today is no longer all about industry expertise and financial savvy. What businesses want today are leaders with strong people skills

For a long time, whenever companies wanted to hire a key role or leader, they were looking for somebody with technical expertise, superior administrative skills, and a track record of successfully managing budgets. That now feels very out of touch, so much has changed during the past two decades that companies can no longer assume that people with traditional managerial pedigrees will be their highest performers. Today businesses desire to recruit people who are able to motivate diverse, technologically savvy, and often global workforces; who can deal effectively with complex stakeholders; and who can rapidly and effectively apply their skills in a new company, in what may be an unfamiliar industry, and typically with peers they have never met before

Frankly, it’s getting harder and less savvy to rely on traditional indicators ...

If you are an ambitious and determined leader of people, you will no doubt be aware of the latest leadership challenge to get your energy, talent and leadership skills focussed on. Quiet quitting

The importance of improving our people’s engagement and energy has increased focus with the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy releasing the Surgeon General’s Framework for Mental Health & Well-Being in the Workplace. The Surgeon General’s message released with this framework is powerful. It is a signal to leaders and employers that it is time to stop asking questions about whether employee well-being is their responsibility. There are 5 areas which are called out, protection from harm, connection and community, work-life harmony, mattering at work and opportunity for growth

A recent Gallop poll also found that over 50% of the US workforce are disengaged. This may well be a shocking statistic, yet when you remove your own ‘too busy, too burnt out, too ambitious’ spectacles and look around...

Here’s something that makes us smile ...

Did you know that research shows that if we put as much effort into building strong connections with people as the effort we put into our diet and exercise (the gyms, the equipment, the outfits, the diets, the vitamin supplements, the list goes on …) we may actually live longer…

In fact, studies show that the positive influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking or alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors, such as physical inactivity and even obesity (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010)

So, taking some time to focus on others, building our connections in genuine ways, may well be one of the most important ways of increasing our wellbeing

And yet, it’s one thing to understand the importance of social connections, but what if we don’t feel super confident in our ability to connect with people, our people skills? Where does that ...

Honestly, this is one of the trickiest things really – increasingly we are realising the importance of social connections – having strong relationships with people both at work and at home is a bigger indicator of overall health than any other factor

In fact, social connection can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy, and actually improve our immune systems. Studies show that the positive influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking or alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors,such as physical inactivity and even obesity (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010)

So, if we put as much effort into building strong connections with people as the effort we put into our diet and exercise (the gyms, the equipment, the outfits, the diets, the vitamin supplements, the list goes on …) we may actually live longer. How sh...