Crafting conversations for deeper connection

It takes skill and intention to treat others with the consideration they desire, and in today’s world, this understanding and effort have never been more important. At the heart of meaningful interactions and relationships is the recognition that everyone desires to be seen and heard – to be acknowledged and valued not just for what…

Welcome to the green room

I was recently talking to someone and found myself using the green room as an analogy for a period of waiting. Green rooms came into being in the world of theatre; they are rooms backstage where performers hang out while they’re waiting to perform, sort of like a theatrical lounge room. I used to be…

On deflated footballs and ugly ducklings

I wish I’d taken my phone with me on my walk beside Merri Creek early this morning. I would have liked to get a couple of photos. One was of a cyclist who had zipped his whippet snugly into his backpack. The idea pleased me: I feel that all cyclists should have a whippet in…

Check if feedback is what they really want

Making creative work can be a lonely business, certainly for people working by themselves on a book or composition or artwork or some other solo enterprise, but even for people who are a part of a small team of collaborators who are just – ‘just’? – seeing the same people and hearing the same voices…

Moving On

A reflection one year on from Surviving bullying in the workplace   I was crouching in the corner of the living room last week and it dawned on me that my old workplace was perhaps the most insincere place I had ever been in, let alone worked in. I wasn’t crouching, crying or scared. I…

The perks of being unavailable

“The perks of being unavailable” is the title [1] of a podcast episode in the series, What’s Essential by Greg McKeown. Greg and his work came to my attention last year when I read his book: Essentialism, The discipline of doing less. A key takeaway for me from the book was about boundaries. In particular,…

Surviving bullying in the workplace

Apparently, I am difficult. Apparently, people at work ‘walk on eggshells’ around me. Apparently, it’s ‘my way or the highway’, that my team are scared of me, that my clients find me inflexible. That I appear detached at work meetings and do not hang about for drinks and socialise at, or after work. That I…

The power of one word to feel better

Yesterday I had the pleasure of listening to Bill. And not an eye in the room was tear-free! Bill’s an incredible human. He’s successfully recovered from a stroke. Now saying this doesn’t mean it was easy. It’s been a five-year journey and it continues. The particular story Bill shared was a powerful reminder of how…

Signals that it’s time to take stock

Work can play a big part in our lives. Our work can become a place for which we lose energy, interest and will. What are the signals that it’s time to take stock and see if you need to leave the path you are on, or do something different while walking your current path?  …

Navigating the space between gigs

One of the times we need to be courageous, compassionate and connected in the world of work and business is when we are ‘between gigs’. In a world of work where our identity is often strongly tied to the title and workplace we currently inhabit – to have neither can seem to have lost status…