I could not have hoped for more in early '24

The first three months of the year are typically a professional and personal slog, and things brighten after that. I am not with curmudgeon TS Eliot, who thought that “April was the cruellest month…stirring dull roots with spring rain.”  I don’t suffer from SAD, but I do often long for the spring, when light mornings, and sudden showers break the monotony of grey dark days and evenings that encroach so soon after lunch. 

This year, the months before spring have been probably the busiest professionally I have ever known, and the serendipity of opportunities, connections and the blessing of reconnection (that has marked much my career) has seemed to reach its zenith in early 2024.  It’s been stretching too, doing new things, creating new material and working with senior groups who are happy to challenge and make me think harder and explore deeper.

In late 2023 my book GLUE was published and after the euphoria and relief of having a substantiated idea not only spell-checked and properly referenced, but beautifully bound and reproduced, and now found in curious hands was quite a moment.  But that, as they say, was only the beginning and the topic and theme seems to have struck a chord with many.

Already this year I have been to Copenhagen, Luxembourg, Hitchen, Windsor, and Oman to talk about GLUE and the need for organisations to re-build cohesion in a hybrid world.  I have done interviews with Scott Newton on Linked-in, a podcast with Michael Glazer for Humans at Work, and a short feature on The Strand Review of Books and a virtual keynote on the very cool and with it TBD conference called ‘Fascia’ with Paul Armstrong.  I had a brief trip to Muscat to speak at the 7th OSHRM Conference. The conference theme was about "sprinting towards the future of work” and I am enormously grateful to   Dr. Ghalib Alhosni and his amazing team.  I learnt so much more than I shared,  including the impact rain has in a dry place, but I guess that's precisely the value of being there in-person.  My take: AI is exciting, but the future of work is still human. Our challenge is to make work better.

Inspired by the trip I wrote a piece (here) for The Organisational Advantage.  The OA newsletter now has almost a 1,000 subscribers and my Linked-in followers tipped over 3,000 in February.  Elsewhere media coverage was found in all sorts of surprising places, including Forbes, Elite Business, HR Magazine and (for me) a ‘bucket list’ feature in Management Today.  I guess 20 years ago that journal meant much more, but it was still quite a moment.  Perhaps the nicest and meatiest feature as a four-page spread on Unusual Leadership which was  featured in EDGE, The Journal of The Institute of Leadership.

In précis: “Unusual leadership should not be underestimated because unusual is rare, and therefore gets noticed.  Being unusual intrigues peers, colleagues and team members and makes leaders more memorable.  It's the kind of leadership that creates glue.”

I have been brilliantly supported by many on this glue creating journey and the chance to create a survey tool - a kind of “glueometer”, has been fun, and I am grateful to the CEO’s and leadership teams who have taken part in the early ‘beta’ tests.  Glue, it seems, has never been more important and yet glue itself has never been harder to cultivate. So my deep respect to the leaders who create strong cohesion, bring disparate talents together and create more meaningful organisations that matter.

Stop-press. GLUE has now been entered into the Business Book of the Year Awards.  The numerous other entries look compelling, including a few which I have already read and enjoyed.  I will let you know how I get on.  In the meantime, as we approach Easter, and a new kind of beginning to the year, may the glue be with you.