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Breaking through to the next level of Leadership

“First rule of leadership – everything is your fault.” Wise words from Hopper (A Bug’s Life). We have all worked with great leaders and been inspired by them and then there have been those whose leadership style can be described at best as being modelled on that of Vlad the Impaler. Leadership is about inspiring […]

Do higher incentives lower performance?

The drive to do things for their own sake and because they matter is the best way to motivate people. In a high-energy and amusing talk, career analyst and former speech write to Al Gore Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional […]

Who are the great leaders of the 21st Century?

Who are the great leaders of the 21st Century?  The world is full of leadership programs, but the best way to learn how to lead might be right under your nose. In this clear, candid talk, Roselinde Torres describes 25 years observing truly great leaders at work, and shares the three simple but crucial questions would-be […]

The Art of Performance Poetry

Sarah Kay is a spoken word poet and the founder of project VOICE – an organisation that uses spoken word poetry to improve literacy and empower people. Her TED talk is an enchanting combination of performance and public speaking delivered with captivating honesty.  It is a beautifully crafted and meticulously prepared simple message.  It is […]

What your words say about you

What do you do in a recombobulation zone?   Do you ever suffer from affluenza? Have you ever taken a legsie?  Or is the whole lot just one big omnishambles? The English language is ever-changing – t’was ever thus and t’will always be and with that change comes a rich seam of linguistic inventiveness. And confusion. […]

The Power of Vulnerability

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage and authenticity and poses the following question in an insightful and inspirational talk: How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our […]

Want to be happy? Be grateful.

If you are very clear about your key message or core theme and you have given detailed thought to what you are going to say, then all you really need to do is tell your story simply and sincerely.  Brother David Steindl-Rast does just that. All too often, the first port of call when preparing […]

Game changing Body Language

You don’t have to watch Strictly Come Dancing for too long before you hear some hapless celebrity being critiqued for their ‘top line.’ It’s done for good reason as the results are instant.  What they are saying is, quite simply, stand up straight and be ‘open’. In a situation where you need to be noticed and remembered […]

Presenting data and being interesting

All too often, presenters hide behind the brick walls of never-ending numbers and charts under the erroneous impression that this is just what their audience wants. It isn’t. What audiences want is to be engaged, stimulated and changed in some way.  Audiences do not appreciate the force-feeding approach to facts and statistics and will generally […]

PowerPoint clichés and the global economy

There are some 30 million PP presentations created every day according to scientist John Bohannon.  How many of those presentations are actually engaging in any way?  Think about the amount of billable hours wasted in the interminable mire of monotonous slides.  We all agree.  It is rare to come out of a presentation and say […]