Reputation Arson
I was falsely accused once. It was for a social [...]
March 2023
Remember this when accepting promises
Some years ago, my parents asked a man to paint [...]
The Practice of Luck
In Deadpool 2, Deadpool argued with a woman who claimed [...]
Teach kids what to value
It's a truism that with proper care and attention, the [...]
December 2022
Sometimes it’s good to obsess on the negative
Everyone tells you to be positive, have positive thoughts, and [...]
This Christmas, have Santa give more than toys
This Christmas, why not have Santa give more than toys? [...]
Is Your Staff Complying or Committed?
This one closed-ended question can tell you a lot about [...]
How to be composed, elegant and believable in your interviews
The HARDtalk Ericka Huggins interview was an example for all [...]
There’s a difference between being stuck and staying stuck.
Finding yourself stuck is a normal but temporary feeling of [...]
September 2021
WTF power in US Women’s Final
The 2021 US Open women’s finals between Emma Raducanu and [...]
August 2021
The Most Broken Commandment
Everyone knows of the Ten Commandments, so even atheists can [...]
May 2021
Death Sentencing: the expedient non-solution
(First published in the Trinidad Express on 25 jan 2012) [...]
September 2017
Recognising your addictions
A good friend sent me a link to a 90-minute video on becoming super productive that essentially boils down to this: focus only on the things that matter and stop doing the million other things that don’t. That’s not rocket science thankfully, it’s just separating what matters from what doesn’t, and the speaker, Darren Hardy, talks about the things that to him don’t matter—like playing golf,
August 2017
Crucifixion or no crucifixion?
In a scene from Monty Python's “The Life of Brian", [...]
The true stories we tell that aren’t
We'd like to think that what makes a story live on is its truth; that some fantastical, magical, unbelievable, hilarious, absurd, disgusting, beautiful, awesome narrative actually happened. This is why film-makers are keen to attach “Based on true events” at the start of a film. But how do we know that any story we hear and retell is actually true?
July 2017
The one thing to manage when the going gets tough
Throughout history, people have overcome incredible hardship and prevailed against [...]
June 2017
Forgiveness lessons from a dog
The other day I was getting ready to take my [...]
Preparing for battle
About four minutes into Gladiator—my favorite Russel Crowe movie—the Roman [...]
How a calculator can help you solve for stress and low productivity
How often do you apologize for being pre-occupied, reacting inappropriately, [...]
May 2017
Do you give confronting feedback?
Recently my girlfriend gave me feedback on my writing, and [...]
The investment stock metaphor for your integrity
An investment stock is a great metaphor for your integrity—one [...]
Do you care who you disrespect?
Everyone is disrespectful. Some more than others. Most are unintentionally [...]
April 2017
Another step to a self-service future
Automation, artificial intelligence and robots are in the news a [...]
A better alternative to facts
Fact-checking is hard work. It's a lot easier to pass [...]
Trust but verify
Most people spread lies unintentionally. They often parrot other people's [...]
Stop chasing productivity
Most of us chase productivity like a crack addict after [...]
March 2017
Why giving 100% is a faulty ideal
Saying workers are not fully engaged at work may be [...]
February 2017
The problem with chasing productivity
Most of us chase productivity like a crack addict after [...]
Are you enough?
In James Arthur's “Say you won’t let go” he sings [...]
Ignoring that little orange light
Most of us resist change, not by any conscious decision, [...]
What Trump’s Muslim ban is really about
The idea that America allows people into the United States [...]
December 2016
The lie about lies
We are indoctrinated into thinking lies, all lies are bad, and creates an unnecessary internal conflict, because lie-telling plays an important role in creativity, and compassion
All protocols
There’s a common local practice of beginning a formal speech [...]
November 2016
The scientific consensus, and why it won’t change anyone’s mind
No doubt you have strong views on something; say genetically [...]
Fool me … Shame on who?
There’s a famous quote that goes, Fool me once, shame [...]
My scientists smarter than yours
Not two weeks ago, I was floating with some friends [...]
The half-life of a grievance
Every now and then, an old grievance comes to mind. [...]
July 2016
Take care who is feeding your bad wolf
Every day we're in a battle for our attention; a [...]
June 2016
What if I don’t want to do anything big with my life?
Why don't more of us take on the tough questions [...]
What kind of person are you?
When directed at yourself, this is perhaps the most profound [...]
The moon-shot speech of our time
For sheer audacity, nothing beats Kennedy's speech to “...land a [...]
May 2016
What is the “I have a dream” speech of today?
What is the inspiring, galvanizing speech of our time? What [...]
The problem with “Back in the day” thinking
Boy do we love the good old days. When life [...]
Trump’s success formula and what we can emulate
We all know the risk of being insensitive, rude and [...]
Admitting mistakes
We live with a curious irony: everyone makes mistakes, but [...]
April 2016
What you’ll almost always regret
There is no pill to stop you from doing or [...]
Dispelling regret
The biggest problem with regret is that it keeps your [...]
Regret is like dogshit
Most of us wrestle with regret from time to time [...]
March 2016
Why it’s so hard to improve work engagement
Work engagement numbers haven't changed much since 2011. Gallup's State [...]
Awakening from indoctrination
No one likes to think of themselves as indoctrinated, but [...]