It seemed a wasted opportunity not to use the analogy of my daughter drying her wet sock for work this morning. And I had nothing else to write.

There’s a whisper that starts it.

“I deserve more.”

It creeps in quietly - like an uninvited guest you’re not sure you should welcome. It sounds arrogant at first. Unfamiliar. But oh, how it grows.

That whisper isn’t ego. It’s data.
It’s your inner compass trying to reroute you back to yourself. And if you're in your 40s or 50s reading this, chances are you've spent a lifetime tuned into everyone else’s expectations while muting your own.

This isn't a midlife crisis. It's a midlife clarity.

We only talked about the weather every 20 minutes, because are you even in the UK this week if you're not talking about the weather?

But when you’re delivering a leadership workshop in a stunning setting, surrounded by great humans, blue skies and big thinking… the environment is pretty blinking crucial to getting the cogs whirring.

Stepping away from business as usual to looking up at what could be done differently was the order of the day with the brilliant senior leadership team at Julius Baer in Guernsey - a powerful morning all about building leadership legacy and embracing adaptive, future-fit mindsets.

“Just normal business practice.” That’s how Jaguar Land Rover described the decision to axe 500 managerial jobs this week.

Voluntary redundancy.
1.5% of the workforce.
Neatly packaged in a press release.

What’s “normal” on a spreadsheet is never part of the plan for the human at the end of the email. Redundancy doesn’t just touch job titles - it hits identity, confidence, finances, family life and the very ground you stand on.

This wasn’t part of the plan. But neither was shrinking to fit.

There’s a moment many women in business reach not quite breakdown, not quite breakthrough but something is shifting.

A quiet sense that the old version of you doesn’t fit anymore.

That you’ve outgrown the title, the room, the rhythm. It all feels a bit scratchy.

That something new is pulling but you don’t know what it looks like yet.

Well, would you look at that… I’ve only gone and made the finals of the Outrageously You Awards - in the Outrageously Vibrant category no less.

Redundancy triggers panic. It puts you in survival mode (if on the off chance you weren't there already.)

“What next?” becomes “anything, please - just something.”

I’ve seen it a whole heap of times. I would have been in the 'anything please camp' but when I was made redundant, I also was six months pregnant and so no-one was offering me anything (apart from the job centre in Eccles that suggested I went on job seekers allowance and/or disability benefits).

We accept what’s handed to us, because our nervous system is in free fall.
We're reeling with no time to pause and so the first job offer, the exit deal, the silence all create reactions. We don't give ourselves time to think about the possible responses.

I’ve never run a marathon.

Never done a 5am ice bath. Never done an ice bath. In fact if the hot water runs out while I’m showering I’m outta that shower quicker than I could run a marathon.

This week I was talking to a female leader in business, she’s got a seat at THE table.

She’s driven, engaged and, frankly, shit hot. She’s in charge of a global team. And this week she said to me that she’s lonely.

Many moons ago, in a corporate world I thankfully no longer inhabit, someone told me I'd probably get further in my career if I was a bit more serious. They suggested I should listen to Radio 4 (I told them I'd never be grown-up enough for that). Their words quieted me, made me think that if I wasn't serious, I wouldn't be taken seriously.

I ask my clients questions and their responses, what they unearth and how they can then unlock their ability, progress and performance is more powerful than Mistress Polly McPowerful (and she is really blinking powerful).

Coaching is product development where you are the product. Coaching provides individuals with the best investment they will ever make because it focuses focusses on the systems and processes that allows the existing product to move seamlessly through quality control and onto the best buy lists.

How do you make the weather?

Imagine if you told your team not to give their all, not to do their best.

Imagine if you just told them to give you 85%.

Human capital may not help you get that next mortgage or pay for your retirement on that yacht but that doesn’t mean it’s not an intrinsic component to your net worth. In fact, science shows that your human capital is a critical component of your success today and in the future. And a crucial success factor in the business growth (no great shock there).

A little story about a fabulous woman.

And then there was Mary. Bloody marvellous 92 year old Mary.

I bloody loved Mary. She shared with me her life story whilst interspersing the story often with:

"I'm 92 and I haven't had a bad old life; I've had some fun; I've made the best of it".

Mary grew up in the highlands of Scotland on a farm and her Scottish accent still lilts through every syllable today.

Do you know you can’t hum while holding your nose?

Who now wants to try it? Who is currently trying to hum while holding your nose whilst looking around you to see if anyone is secretly filming you?

Who can think of nothing else other than humming and holding your nose?

Which brings me neatly (and maybe somewhat tenuously) onto the subject of being distracted as a leader in business.

Everyone is so scared of failing. What if this happens…what if that happens…what if I run out of jaffa cakes when writing a newsletter series?

What if no-one reads this, what if no-one laughs.

The fear of failure can paralyse us. It can stop us from moving forward because things might not go to plan, they might not work out, it might all go a bit wrong.

This is the biggest lesson ever learnt in the history of lessons. And why it is not taught at school is beyond me.

The simple fact is ….. it is down to us and if we are not looking after ourselves then nothing can work properly.

Welcome to the catchily named series of: “Lessons I’ve learnt in business, running a business and working with other businesses in 2021.”

I thought about an advent calendar of goodies and then all of a sudden it was December and here we are – no advent calendar.

So; what’s a girl to do other than gift you the lessons I have learnt in business over the last 12 months.