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It's been difficult to avoid Wikileaks recently. Putting to one side the security issues of some the recent disclosures, what struck me about the initial leaks was just how human they were. Naively I thought what intelligence experts and diplomats were after were hard facts but it seems that softer, more emotional information is ju...

Good communications is a prerequisite for leadership. And so it can often come as a shock to leaders to find that most of their messaging seems to land on barren land. Take-up of internal communications can remain stubbornly low. When planning leadership communications it is not just the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ that are importan...

I've been thinking a great deal recently about leadership communications (in fact, I've been trying to write a book on the subject). Much of my attention has been focused on how communications in many organisations is still stuck in traditional one-dimensional mindsets. I've been writing about how the best organisations harness the...

Last night my eldest daughter, home from University, persuaded me to watch the latest Harry Potter movie that's just out on DVD.  Having never read the books and only seen one of the previous movies I was, of course, hopelessly lost.  For those of us for whom the little wizard is not an essential part of our lives, it is impossible...

I’ve been a PR man longer than I’ve been a PR.  Electoral reform is in my blood: my Great-Grandfather probably knew Lloyd George.  I learnt my alternative systems at the knees of the masters, having been part of the King Crewe at Essex University in the early 80’s. I may be a Reformer (indeed, I’m a member of the Reform Cl...

After two weeks of hitting balls at the driving range, it became very clear that all was not well.  Short irons were pretty good but long irons were frankly rubbish.  And as for the big woods?  Well, I simply couldn't hit them for toffee.  So I signed up for a lesson.  What became clear was that my grip, and consequently my swin...

Well, I've done it.  I managed to get around a prestigious golf course in one piece.  Only a few weeks after picking up a club following a 10-year absence, I played 18 holes without disgracing myself.  The overall result was, as is often the case, a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly.  But I thoroughly enjoyed the occasio...

This was the headline to a recent story in Forbes.com.  A reader followed up by asking: "If this is really going to happen, how will it affect the practice of change management /organizational development?" Here's what I replied: Whereas it is true that nothing lasts for ever, it is also the case that rumours of the death of any ...

It was Bill Shankly who famously said that football was not a matter of life and death.  It was, he added, more important than that.  I’ve never really understood the round ball game; I don’t see why they can’t just pick the ball up and run with it.  Well, the arrival of the rugby world cup means that for the next five weeks...

The other day I was talking to someone going through the process of moving into an open plan office.  He worked for a very traditional organisation (he is a lawyer) and the transition for him and his team was clearly proving difficult.  It made me wonder whether open-plan offices, like outsourcing, was a business idea that will soo...