Articles

November 2011 has been an interesting month.  A month of near unremitting bad news, which featured the near collapse of the Euro (which will eventually happen), and 1 million 16-24 year olds out of work in the UK.  Against this backdrop, we have the City of London encouraging the Government to cut higher rates of income tax to encourage "entrepreneurial activity".  The BBC has got in on the act with a new series about money, which began by looking at the rise of wealth coaching.

Leaders who describe themselves as "authentic" are like sentences that start with, "To be honest" or "The truth be told." More often than not, they're warning signs of lies to come. Whenever big cheeses proclaim "authentic leadership" as their effective guiding principle, chances are they're not so authentic, and they may not be effective or principled either.

It is easy to associate with like minded people. Would you agree? The challenge comes when you find yourself associating with people who are of like minded. People do influence how we feel, some people bring us energy the "CheerLeaders in life" others drain it the "Vampires".

It isn't often that I write a tribute to someone who has died, but I found that I was affected by the sad death of Steve Jobs.  Death sometimes has that impact on me, particularly if it was someone I saw as brilliant.  Michael Jackson was the last occasion where this happened.

But it is strangely different with Steve Jobs.  For a start, I managed to avoid the Apple empire almost entirely.  I don't have an iPad, Pod or Phone.  I sit in the Microsoft, MP3 player, Android camp.  So why the impact of his death on me?

It's interesting how many words are devoted to the importance of connecting with our own intuition and feelings. Much personal development literature now focuses on this point. Indeed, many of my articles have centred on this. But now it's time to redress that balance... because thinking matters. In this article, I look at why.

A number of years ago, I attended a talk in Glasgow, given by the Dalai Lama. I remember his key message that day being that "everyone has the right to live a happy life". It was perhaps a surprise coming from someone whose country was invaded and occupied when he was barely out of childhood, more than fifty years ago. His words, his simple message, resonated strongly with me then - and it still does.

I am part of a group of researchers and practitioners who are exploring a new approach to public health that, we think, may interest people.