The Daily Paradox

In 1952 London had the worst fog it ever experienced, so bad that it, like many others almost as awful, was known as a Smog…

This is not an article about religious faith. Those who have such faith are fortunate. It can be a powerful guide to values and qualities…

The world is drowning in debt. Who will be asked to pay? Future generations, of course. Debt can be a sound way to finance a…

So the ripe plum of the META Conclusion is that META are “Not Guilty” of the damage they have been accused of causing young people.…

Nobody wants to see enterprise repressed nor invention that benefits humanity penalised for pushing the boundaries of creativity. But inventors must be made responsible for…

You see and hear us talk a lot about reading people and situations. That’s because it has become incredibly important since the invasion of AI.…

No, this is not a demand for war. It is the reverse, a request for peace. 5,000 servicemen on an American Aircraft Carrier want it.…

Thank you for never editing my work. You may think that’s not true because you are my brain, my conscience, my fears, loves and aspirations.…

Today’s Daily Paradox is by Cynthia Zhai, Voice Coach. You often hear us talking about ‘stature’ and ‘presence’, attributes that have become increasingly important since…

Dr Shannon Sauer-Zavaia, for whose work and thinking I have the greatest admiration, has written a challenging piece on “The Myth of Work-Life Balance” (‘Why…

Everyone you meet is a gatekeeper in your life. Some are kindly and welcoming;  some, pompous and off-putting. Most can be educational; a few can…

These words from a 50-years-ago pop song reverberate through the minds of many people - young and searching, old and confined by physical, mental or…

Be quite clear, I wish Andy Burnham every success in his role as British Prime Minister. What I have read about him, what he has…

What is leadership? You may well ask. Good leadership is a quiet, steady and confident ‘getting-on-with-it’ and letting those who report to you get-on-with-it-too. You…

You can’t predict the future, nor can I. And yet our work is and always has been about how well we can do so. The…

These two erudite commentators on the events playing out in Britain must be thanked for having hit two of three nails on the head. There…

We all like to look good, the young to demonstrate their maturity and eligibility, the not-so-young to prove they are still attractive - and eligible.…

You can see a short summary of Human Development here. Between two and three million years ago the human brain began to develop significantly. We started…

There’s plenty of creativity in the technological world. Some people are beginning to say ‘too much’. The speed of innovation is such that understanding how…

You’ll notice increasing articles about the stormy times the planet is facing. For a short, maybe even blissful, period we thought the chaos was all…

If you don’t have a Future Creative Group (FCG) for your firm please consider doing so. Not for a boring plod through recent results. Even…

The most powerful example of conscience I heard came from a roof thatcher called Alf Tuck. He rethatched a cottage in Dorset, England in 1946.…

Mercifully we are not all required to predict President Trump’s next pivot. Some people must try to forecast the consequences of it. Doing so is…

A religion is a search for truth beyond proof. When its objective is to help all humans to decently handle the vicissitudes of life it…

The Post-Trump era is approaching. Things will never be the same as they were before. Unless we plan rigorously now they will get worse. Goodness…

On 18th September 1939 I celebrated my seventh birthday. Two weeks earlier Germany invaded Poland and WWII was declared. The announcement that Sunday about war…

A useful way of looking at education, both historically and currently, is to see the three distinct but overlapping stages of it: (1) What we…

British politics is in a state of tactical tinkering. It is sad for a British citizen to need to say this but, at the risk…

Competition has played a big part in humanity’s successful development. The challenge of winning, whether to achieve superior speed or to improve the output of…

If we think about thinking at all we see our life as a riddle of ideas competing to dominate the moment. We should, instead, imagine…

The unwritten and slowly evolving constitution of the United Kingdom has been a lesson in pragmatic patience during my lifetime. I met the present King’s…

There’s something wonderfully ironic about inventing the self-driving, long-distance, solar-pannelled, silent electric car while letting the roads become impassable because of potholes. The ineffable logic…

      Today we lay to rest our dear friend Colonel Paul Cautley CMG OBE DL in a churchyard in Haywards Heath, UK.  …

We used to think story-telling was for children. Now we realise it is for everyone. AI will teach us that it is one of the…

I’m told a friend shot his parrot the other day. Shame, it was a beautiful bird. A neighbour said the parrot had learned a lot…

When someone suggested making Peter Mandelson UK Ambassador to USA I’ll bet there was enthusiasm for the creative idea. After all, the requirements for a…

If your life scoresheet shows balance between Function & Feeling you have done well. We ‘function’ to learn, to make progress, to enjoy the material…

A Singaporean lady who sought my help was fifty-two years old, smart, intelligent, good looking and simply but impeccably dressed. Her demeanor was modest, polite…

Rational? Of course not. One  definition of ‘faith’ is ‘a deep trust or confidence in something that cannot be fully proven or seen’. It’s a…

We are human because we laugh and cry, even when we don’t want to. Take emotion from humanity and we will be thoroughly efficient, totally…

You can either write hysterically about politics these days or not at all. Which is why I generally choose not to. A special request to…

“Home” has a new meaning today for the nearly ten billion people on Planet Earth. All the brilliance of technological advance that allows four humans…

You don’t live to be almost 94 without hearing a lot of stupidity. Oops, sorry, I understand I am not allowed to use that word…

We have been watching a bull in a china shop. For a Head of State of a major world ‘stability’ player to behave so irresponsibly…

It looked like a dark line across the sky at first. One end was pointed, the other was shaped rather like an ornate handle. On…

“Business is Bullying, Competition is Catastrophic, Targets are Terrifying.” It’s not a new theme but it is heard more often today than ever before. You…

Is it right for the world's peace, prosperity and future to be in the hands of one person? Regardless of how that person achieved the…

Last Saturday the condo in which we live had its water supply cut off. No water was coming into the apartment water tanks. In the…

They’re usually starlings, those massive clouds of birds that twist and turn in harmony. They are known as murmurings. Why do they do it? For…

Apologies for silence. A damaged foot, requiring minor surgery, followed by hospital pneumonia distracted me. I am now refocused on what matters - You. Review the world…

“Without honesty, democracy collapses into manipulation”. George Orwell’s famous comment is history now. I imagine virtually no voter on earth thinks democracy is widely honest.…

The dramatic decline in alcohol consumption is due to a combination of several things. Boozy drinks have always been a favourite target of the tax…

All life is for enjoying, even childhood, contrary to the belief of some parents. In today’s exam-ridden, qualifications-desperate world you might wonder about that. “So…

‘Nice’ is a word seldom favoured by the literate cognoscenti. It lacks the forceful kicks of ‘passion’ and ‘hate’. Its tepid endorsement is so pallid…

If you drive for just over an hour from my mother’s home town, Little Falls, Minnesota, you reach Minneapolis, a thriving, Mid-West American city known…

We should not allow either a leader or ourselves to run amok. Doing so is an indictment of the current political and social system. A…

‘United we stand’ chants the crowd, hoping to avoid having to add the corollary ‘Divided we fall’. You don't hear much of either of these…

Humanity’s future depends on our cooperating with, and understanding, other people. If we do both these things there are no limits to what we can…

There is a vivid irony of the coincidence of what the world woke up to on the morning of my 7th birthday (18Sep1939) and what…

It’s a great privilege to be able to wish my oldest child, Richard, a Happy Birthday on his 70th. Happy Birthday Richard and may the…

Technology has changed the world in such a way that the old concept of national sovereignty is morphing into international block treaty. It’s not new.…

Dear Faith Please don’t see this cri de cœur as blasphemous. It isn’t meant to be. You may also consider it self-indulgent. That is somewhat…

Studying your navel is a dangerous way to live. Failing to observe it is even more risky. Life starts - and sometimes ends - with…

There’s a quiet truth many believe but few will name: fear of our world’s progress. Not just the speed of change, but its direction -…

Will the takeover of Greenland be “too far” for those countries still claiming to support international law? Or that of Canada? Or anywhere? Moving the…

Knowledge is often identified as humanity’s greatest treasure. We collect it in libraries, encode it in machines, and pass it from generation to generation. Yet…

New Year is mostly a time for doing positive things to make life better for people. This year I’m going to suggest that we should…

Draw the shades on 25 and give thanks that we’re alive. Such advance yet such decline. Can we say that all is fine? Is the…

We use diametrically opposite expressions to mean the same thing. When we “wind up” something we finish it. When we “wind down” we indicate that…

Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have acted as pilots for the last four years. Their resistance to the Russian invasion, supported by the United States,…

There are nearly 10 billion people on the planet. Today every single one of us should stop what we are doing for five minutes to…

Handling people well has always been at the heart of good business. Whether you are a Boss motivating your employees, a Sales Chief intent on…

For those not able to attend the Christmas Concert-Service by the Risen Christ Choir at the Good Shepherd Cathedral last Sunday I pen a few…

Fragile isn’t a word we use lightly about anyone or anything. Increasingly it describes the state of so many people and such a lot of…

Webinars are losing audiences. Not all of them, of course, but a lot more than is acceptable. Why? Because they are so boring. Yes, I…

The way humanity is changing is shocking. That doesn’t necessarily mean good or bad. It means creating shock. One generation ago, at the turn of…

The world faces a concept challenge with Ukraine and Russia. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been killed in this disastrous war. Our best…

As an erstwhile advertising man I have to admit that in sixteen years of persuasive promoting I never came across a claim that “There could…

Every creature counts. The number of mouths to be fed, the number of toes on a foot. Counting is the basis of time and of…

“Normal” is to vocabulary what “Norman” is to ‘calling names’. Perfectly respectable but not particularly motivating. Lots of Norman-named people are lovely. I’ve known some…

Are you under Pressure? If so, from who and for what? You may not know. Or you may think there is one cause while the…

A child throwing his toys out of the pram is too kind an analogy for the display of spoilt behaviour created by a 41-day shutdown…

Janan Ganesh hits the nail on the head with his article “The tragedy of specialisation”. His comment that “The hinge between subjects is so often…

It may seem impertinent, or even sycophantic, to agree with Jensen Huang, Nvidia boss, about the attitude of the west to AI. He and I…

It may seem impertinent, or even sycophantic, to agree with Jensen Huang, Nvidia boss, about the attitude of the west to AI. He and I…

There is a stirring, at least among the more intelligent media writers, that amounts to "Is Civilisation is on the rocks?”. Maybe just a less…

What is the most important thing you must do if you want to have a good interview? Smile? Ask questions? Prepare well? Yes, these all…

There’s something ironic about the Southern Command Admiral that Hegseth is stepping down prematurely. It won’t mean much to most people but the name Holsey…

Never in human history has it been so urgent for us to think.  If we do, the future we command will be reasonable. That is…

Today’s Daily Paradox is a Verse with a Vision: There’s a message of love and a message of praise and a lot from the people…

Are you affectionate? Possibly not. Affection means different things to different people. Some suggest that it is a non-sexual attraction. Others, that it is just…

How well have you been humanaiting? Don’t know what it means? Nor does anyone else. It’s my new word for the age of AI, when…

No, you were right. It is October. Perhaps you didn't know that October is also referred to by the cognoscenti as Hand Holding Hoctober. Why?…

We get some rum clients from time to time at Terrific Mentors. Occasionally they are moody, troublesome, not too bright, even argumentative! They are the…

Life is the most wonderful journey we make.  From birth to death we drive ourselves. Others may try to drive us but we decide where…

We don't often hear the expression “weep for joy “ but I am using it now. And doing it. Literally. The Church of England has…

Under the terms of its International License, the BBC was, last evening, obliged to apologise for the bad language of the American Secretary of Defense…

Calling the brass of all your military power together to one place and time suggests that you anticipate imminent international crisis or fomenting dissent in…

If you don’t use some disciplines regularly and systematically when you are working with AI you will lose your ability to think independently and critically.…