Read this if you want your staff or students to perform better
If your staff or students aren’t performing well, is it down to you? It has long been accepted wisdom that people perform better or worse in work and life in proportion to their self-belief. Henry Ford is reported to have…
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Which is most important? Character or Competence
(Or why 74 million Americans voted for Trump) Character or competence? I wonder what your instinctive reaction is… “Depends on the context” you might say? In a friend? In a teacher/ mentor? In a boss? In a political leader? Of…
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Letter to my Daughter starting University
Dear Amy-Beth It feels crazy that you are leaving for university so soon after being born! The past 18 years have been amazing but they have flown by far too quickly. I worry that I have not told you…
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What COVID-19 is teaching us about Capitalism
‘Greed is good,’ stated Gordon Gecko in the film Wall St. He was describing an ideology that has long been held to be both obvious and essential to human and economic development – namely the ‘trickle down’ effect. Adam Smith’s…
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The secret to understanding people!
All behaviour is communication. I came across this statement whilst assessing a special school for Unicef’s Rights Respecting School Award. Mountjoy School in Dorset caters for children aged 4-18 with severe learning difficulties. Many children there are unable to communicate verbally,…
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36 suggestions to transform the teaching profession!
These 36 suggestions have come out of lots of years working in and with schools. The teaching profession is haemorrhaging teachers at an unprecedented rate: 20% plan to leave in the next two years, 40% in the next five years! Lots…
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Finding your Purpose
Many businesses have a purpose statement of some kind but for many it is little more than words on a website. The principle is very simple – in order to score you need to be clear what you’re aiming at!…
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Getting out of the Cave – part 1
Or Why everything you thought you knew is wrong! The ancient philosopher Plato suggested that people everywhere live most of their lives like prisoners trapped in a cave. The prisoners are confined in their viewpoint and can only see shadows…
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Will this be your best year yet? You decide!
How committed are you to what you’re doing? One of the biggest killers of progress is indecision. Wavering, hesitancy, half-heartedness, apprehensiveness. None of these traits give birth to successful, thriving projects or businesses. At some point you have to make…
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It’s not money you need, it’s trust.
People talk about needing ‘capital’ in order to expand and grow a business or improve their school. What they usually mean by this is money. But there is another kind of capital that is far more significant to growth than…
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