Points of view

When you think of retirement, what comes to mind? Popular stereotypes include: a gold watch and a party at age 65, playing golf, travelling and more time with the grandchildren. The reality is that, today, the over 65s are starting companies, running countries,...

What would a chief executive do when confronted with boxes of brightly-coloured plastic bricks, clay, markers, paper and Post-Its? How might their team respond to the question: “Want to play?” It is not a phrase you hear in most boardrooms or workplaces today, but...

When I worked on Wall Street in the early 1990s, there was a floor in our building dedicated to the “quants”. Nobody was allowed there without permission, so we imagined rows of silent men in darkened rooms with flickering screens reflecting off thick spectacles. In...

Culture isn’t a branding exercise; it’s about fixing what’s broken. For a strategy to work, leaders need to focus on the structures and behaviours that need to change. When senior managers treat company culture as a communications exercise, the chances of long-term...

Kids these days are so demanding ... or are they? For the last number of years, employers have been struggling to understand how to work with and integrate younger adults, such as Gen Zs, or Zoomers, into the workplace. Millennials, born between 1981 to 1996, largely...

One of the late Robert Redford’s films, The Horse Whisperer, is a beautiful film about grief and overcoming loss after a tragic accident. Much of the story focuses on unspeakable pain and how finding your way to honestly connect with others can lessen the load....

Ruth* made the choice to be a solo parent when she was in her early 40s. She worked in a well-paid senior corporate role and, although she hadn’t found a life partner yet, she’d always known she wanted to be a mother. The decision to become a parent on her own,...

Uncle John was rumoured to be the one who reported my grandma to the authorities. It was autumn of the 1922 Civil War, and the Irish Free State believed anti-treaty “trigger-happy harpies” were a danger to the fledgling state. My grandmother Maggie, only 14, was...

Have you “girled” someone at work or in sports? This is when someone intentionally or unintentionally belittles, demeans or excludes someone using sexist language. Calling a woman “girl” or a man a “big girl’s blouse” may diminish their authority and imply they are...

Family succession dramas are bankable “popcorn viewing” for TV, film and the media as seen with Succession, Yellowstone, Game of Thrones and real-life drama in the Murdoch, Gucci and Guinness families. When the cameras turn on you and your family, though, it’s...