March 2021

Hi, it’s Harriet here and I can’t believe the days are finally getting a little brighter and spring is on its way in the temperate climes. ??

There’s quite a bit more to be positive about as we enter March, with children returning to school and plans to end lockdown here in the UK.

I’m also very excited to let you know that throughout this month I’ll be sharing some incredibly powerful video interviews with you as I have talked to some amazing, quite sensational individuals over the past few days preparing content for this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations of achievement and challenge!

These videos follow an outstanding LinkedIn Live with the author of our February book club choice, The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias. If you missed it, you can watch 30-minutes of Q&A and inspiring advice, and add your feedback, here.

I’m so pleased that many of you have let me know how much you’re enjoying the book but would like a little longer to finish it and feedback… so I will give you all a little longer until I announce our next read. Watch this space – I think you’re going to love this one too!

Keynotes Count

In addition to the LinkedIn Live with Pamela, I have recently been involved in a number of events, for Global Women in PR, the Women in IT Summit, University of Cambridge, Women into Leadership, and South East Asia Digital Week.

‘Bound for the Boardroom’ was the topic for Global Woman in PR. I shared my insights and advice on seeking a board position, including all the questions you should ask yourself as you consider each role. We also talked about the need for self-belief, how to powerfully tell your own story, and beautifully build your personal brand. We concluded, "now is the time, start targeting your top company choices and hone presenting your value and differentiation to that business and chair!".

For the Women in IT Summit, I gave a short talk on ‘2020: A Year of Struggle and Opportunity', being positive about previous outputs from previous crises including the launch of a transistor radio by Sony, the iPod by Apple, and even the launch of Microsoft!

Cambridge student Rishit Jain and I talked about building a personal brand as part of your career journey, professional decision-making, and the importance of being a lifelong learner.

And with over 2,000 female civil servants, I shared my thoughts on risk-taking, before answering some wonderful questions as we all boosted each other's state of being.

Finally, the core theme for South East Asia Digital Week focused on the huge vortex of change we are currently experiencing, and the important skills the world needs as we go forward into recovery particularly the all-important life skills.

I also, in response to a number of your asks, recorded a short session about the importance of mentoring, how to find a mentor, highlighting the many, many benefits of being both a mentee and mentor, including how it has helped me to make better business decisions. You can watch it, here.

It seems that during my mutual mentoring and business coaching sessions I make many references to the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and our existence. These are very helpful, yet surprising to my mentees.

Sharing learning and examples from Marcus Aurelius, Kant, Nagarjuna, Nietzsche, Confucius to name a few gave a different view on life and how we live it!

I've written often about focusing on changing what’s in your control and not stressing about what isn’t! It was Epictetus who classified all things into these two categories in his classic 'The Good Life Handbook' which is totally worth a read!

Another great learning from Marcus Aurelius is that obstacles are beneficial to our learning and growth if we leverage every opportunity life presents and keep moving.

There are more insights in this great article: https://lnkd.in/gAm9BHz

There Are Cocktails, And There Is The Martini!

Anyone writing about cocktails must acknowledge the Dry Martini as a special case. Its place in a philosophy of cocktails corresponds to the place of the good in Plato’s metaphysics: it is the necessary point of reference, the absolute standard and ideal to which everything else aspires. The Martini has a unique status due to its striking abstractness. It is colourless, clear & simple, in the sense of having no parts. It is true that a Martini is made by combining gin and vermouth. But this is misleading because you are not drinking vermouth – only using it to modify the gin’s taste so as to prevent it from cloying. At the same time, the Martini also has concrete qualities: it is cold, has a distinctive taste, and it packs a punch.

This combination of abstractness and intense immediacy is key to the cocktail’s distinction as a drink. Within philosophical writing, the nearest parallel is the aphorism, as practiced by thinkers such as Schopenhauer and, above all, Nietzsche. “Every word is a prejudice,” Nietzsche says in Human, All Too Human (1878). In just 5 words, this aphorism offers readers a whole theory of language & communication. A Martini is the cocktail equivalent.

How to strengthen your emotional fitness for 2021

For many years I have been championing the importance of emotional fitness and helping myself and others work on the component elements, so reading this interview with Dr Anhalt, a world leader in this field was truly exciting: https://lnkd.in/gdzYrSf

The key tips I highlight to you are:

1. It may surprise you but I think and worry a lot! I have increased my productivity by scheduling a dedicated “worry hour” a ringfenced space early morning, my most buoyant time, to focus on what is on my mind and what I do about it!

2. Building resilience with my “self-esteem file” a place where I collect all the positive, kind, and meaningful inputs I receive so I can revisit when I am low! Strong self-confidence is a key ingredient to pushing through setbacks and failure.

3. Improve communication with emojis to convey emotional information quickly online and use it with your work team, family, friends, or partner. For example:

?? I’ve got your back!

?? This is a prickly subject

?? I see how hard you’re working

?? I don’t feel like talking yet

?? I’m stuck in my head

Emotional Fitness – Play

I took a deeper dive into the topic of emotional fitness following your incredible feedback, and looking at the importance of play with a few thoughts you may find valuable:

1. Switzerland, the most innovative country in Europe has a play-based school system that focuses on social skills, problem-solving, demonstrating empathy, and sharing individual creativity.

2. The Urban Play Framework. An overwhelming body of evidence points to play as the best way to equip children with a broad set of flexible competencies and personal capacities to tackle new and different challenges creatively. Read more in this great article: https://ow.ly/81e250DCi6h

3. One of my favourite companies, Lego, has advanced the power of play to extraordinary levels. My ex-colleague Euan W. shares such great inputs on the value of play with his new role at Lego - follow him on social media!

Emotional Fitness – Resilience

It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, emerges.

This super New Yorker article (https://ow.ly/2Ceu50DInBE) delves into how people learn to become resilient and how perception is key. I found the research into child resilience deeply intriguing...

"From a young age, resilient children tended to meet the world on their own terms.' Though not especially gifted, these children used whatever skills they had effectively. Perhaps most importantly, the resilient children had what psychologists call an ‘internal locus of control’, they believed that they, and not their circumstances, affected their achievements."

I love this perception and mindset and have started using it in a much more deliberate manner to help frame my perception combined with one of my favourite Chinese Proverbs, "All things are difficult before they are easy.”

Here are a few more resources on the topic of resilience:

·      Three ways to be more resilient

·      Choose to be optimistic

·      How to boost morale – your own and others 

Great leadership requires us to have a life!

As we lead organisations through the world's vortex of change, it is more important than ever that we relate to, empathise with and humanise our leadership repertoire to help lead change.

Here's a Harvard Business Review article: https://lnkd.in/gJ3tm2u, to which I would add a few points I have learned...

There is a one-dimensional dullness for all to observe about those who only work; hobbies, friendships, families, sport, volunteering, etc all add colour to who we are & how we see the world & our colleagues

The richness of learning about ourselves as we expand our relationships beyond work-based hierarchies can be invaluable, esp. in viewing situations with a new lens & wider aperture, & understanding more about more people

Rounded, life-experienced leaders who’ve dived into different life scenarios tend to develop agility & authenticity suited to these times of lifting high-performance teams in extraordinary ways. If you’re between projects right now, it's never a better time to explore these recommendations as you prepare for your next challenge.

Chairs, Una Wheels, Walking and Thinking

Most days I am able to enjoy a daily walk outside. One of my closest friends Ruth in her new RGK Chair & Super Una Wheel made in that wonderful hub of innovation Singapore also enjoys her time outside breathing, zooming around, and enjoying the air.

HBR has a lovely article highlighting the power of a walk, and the many physiological, mental and emotional rewards it brings: https://lnkd.in/g_dUPyA

In his New Yorker article, “Why Walking Helps Us Think” (https://lnkd.in/gyke3uK) journalist Ferris Jabr writes that when we go for a walk or move outside we perform better on tests of memory and attention; our brain cells build new connections, staving off the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age.

Further research shares the benefits of improved sleep, improved self-esteem, and reduced symptoms of anxiety,

Also, exposure to nature helps us switch from voluntary attention to involuntary attention, which requires less focus and energy.

The Joys of Yoga

As many have experienced the benefits of yoga online during lockdown, the next powerful step some of you have shared with me is joining a community that engages teachers, students, practitioners, and vital local engagement in health, happiness, and kindness to each other as we build back better together.

There are many new Yoga beginnings emerging across the globe which is exciting with all the physical thought and developments in safety and wellbeing.

Here's a super article by Forbes: https://ow.ly/x1Mk50DGaTa

We are blessed in Oxford with a charitable organisation that seeks to share the voice and practice of good Yoga with local teachers, in a zero-carbon beautiful new home, and a wide range of students wanting to physically practice the next steps in their Yoga journey.

Check out Vishuddha www.vishuddhacentre.com with James Pritchard & Jacqueline Mangold, plus https://ow.ly/fEMi50DGaTo, as we celebrate this extraordinary time in the Yoga movement playing out from Jamshedpur to New York and downtown Oxford!

Love to hear your thoughts on yoga, a new flow of gratitude, and happier mental and physical health...

I hope this recap of content from February is useful – as always, I love to receive your messages and read your comments, so please do share any feedback and thoughts you might have.

Any special topic on your mind that you would like me to share? What book recommendations do you have for our international book club? Any skills and capabilities inputs that the world needs?

I will continue to raise issues and share resources I think you will find useful. Let’s support each other as we gain confidence, some strength, and begin to improve our emotional fitness - give some new notions a try.

Stay safe, happy, well, and in touch.

Harriet