Professional
There are some obvious strands throughout my professional life. After working with young people in various ways in my early adult life, I moved into training others in how to work with them. This first foray into training adults grew to the point where in 1985, I became an independent consultant, specialising in management training, and trainer training.
In 1990, finding that life was hard for me personally, I went looking for a different way of dealing with things. I eventually found two strands that for me made sense together: one was NLP, specifically as taught by John Grinder, and the other was the teachings of Ram Dass. I undertook some major training with both these teachers, and it transformed my life. Ram Dass continues to be someone who has a major influence on my life.
I then came back into my work determined to offer the same gifts to others as I had received. Once again, I had the job of translating this stuff into something that would resonate with people involved in hard-nosed business, and gradually developed a way of working with groups and individuals that enabled them to re-find their hearts and souls and be the special person they were designed to be at work as well as in their personal lives.
In 2000, I set up Meta, a company where all its work would have this orientation, and where our premise was that we must live what we talked about for ourselves and prove that it worked ‘in the real world’.
We have worked with many major organisations in the UK and abroad, and believe that we have had an influence on how people are behaving at work, as well as how they live their lives generally. We also run a few open programmes, where individuals can come to be reminded of how to be their excellent selves, and coach people one-to-one to help them to live their lives as fully and enjoyably as possible.
Other forms of work
Besides my ‘day job’ in Meta, I have also found time to pursue other ways of communicating my approach to developing the excellence in people and organisations.
I am an author, with 8 books and numerous articles published, and I have several new books on the go, on the development of personal excellence, excellent organisations, learning from our children, and growing old disgracefully.
I have also recorded audio material, on both management skills and personal excellence.
Finally, I love speaking to audiences and have given talks at a number of different conferences, both internally in specific organisations, and at events with a general audience.
In 2012, I felt it was time to hand over the reins of Meta to my son, Jo, and take a step back to pursue some of those things I love doing without also running the business. I am now an associate director of the company, and happily continuing to develop further my love of writing, working with others to help them to be the best they can be, and looking for ways to make it even more likely that we all are the most wonderful people we can be.
Personal
My personal life history is one of continual learning, slipping, getting things wrong, getting into a mess, recovering myself – it is the story of an adventurer in life, always on the lookout for something different, and learning better and better how to manage the good and bad results from all the experimentation.
It is this that I believe qualifies me most to offer this blog. It comes from the perspective of someone who hasn’t yet found the final answer, and who knows what it is like to be both stuck and flying! Because I have such an up and down life, I not only sympathise with others who are experiencing the same, I also have a lot of ways of refinding my balance, my sense of humour and my ability to enjoy the journey. These are what I want to share…