Sometimes the less said about you is not better! I recall my days in the banking world when people and businesses were rying to take on further finance, loans or debt finance and their own banks were asked to provide a reference. This bank reference was quite simply the opportunity for a bank to describe whether or not they felt their customer was a good customer or not. Understandably there were always mixed loyalties here,…

Brilliant lyrics from Queen that say so much, but alas they may well have been his undoing. Freddie Mercury was out there – he was wild, untamed, in his heyday extremely promiscuous and in the end his partying and all the other antics that were part of his repertoire took him at a very early age. Far too young. This begs the question: did those who died young from partying and living in the fast…

As we all know there are four seasons in the year and numerous holidays that fit into those seasons dictated by the school academic year. If in business you were to take the academic calendar as time where no work could be done you would be sacrificing 25% of the working year, even higher if you consider the private school sector. So are you willing to write off 25% of your working year to seasonality…

I never used to have a fear of heights, it has developed more ever since I’ve had children, no doubt brought on when they would wander off oblivious to the huge drop down the stairs or over the balcony. Climbing in the Mont Blanc region really brought home to me the fact that I am not comfortable with heights. Read the blog ‘Letter to Uncle Nigel, a Ridge too Far’ to find out more about…

Dear Uncle Nigel Well, what can I tell you about our challenge to climb Mont Blanc? Before I went you reassured me that I’d done all my training, kitted myself out with all the equipment and guide books and booked guides through a reputable company in Chamonix to take us up the mountain. Everything was sorted, kit, fitness and someone to show us the way. As you will know the part we couldn’t control was…

It is amazing how many business people have the same initial response to the phrase “Soft Skills Training”. Be honest, what was your initial reaction when you saw the newsletter entitled “Soft Skills vs. Technical Skills”? Was it positive or were you sceptical? I believe that we have all been conditioned to think “soft skills” means fluffy nonsense that might be good for us and nice to do but only if time and budget allows…

ow you manage yourself? For me it depends on the day of the week, the hour of the day, the company I’m with, how healthy or unhealthy my current lifestyle is as to how I react – I do tend to over indulge at the Chinese buffet I must admit. When I liken it to my business and professional arena I tend to be full on 110% in most of what I do or not…

I was recently in discussions with a close friend of mine who was having a BMW (bitch, moan & whine) about everything that was wrong in his world. It was quite a sad conversation as I didn’t think he had much to moan about and he just took pleasure in whining. I asked him a very powerful group of questions that I ask myself on many occasions when I’m feeling a bit fed up. –…

How often did your parents tell you when you were a child that you had to take responsibility for your actions? How if you did x, then y would happen and not to be surprised when everything went wrong? Did you learn that lesson? For many things I am sure you can confidently say yes you did but nonetheless, how often do things play out differently to how you wanted them to? When something happened…

How often do you make a new Best Friend (BF)? Once a week, once a year or very rarely? Don’t be ridiculous, I hear you say, nobody seeks to make new friends in that way. Yet I see people trying to make new BFs regularly at events and networking groups, working desperately hard to build that special relationship with the person sitting opposite them, having only been introduced 5 minutes previously. At the end of…