I spend a lot of my time asking questions.
Some of them emerge from meetings, leadership gatherings and crisis calls. Others arrive during long runs, late-night conversations or moments when something simply doesn’t sit right.
Why do people trust some leaders but not others?
Why do organisations often struggle to communicate change?
Why do good people make poor decisions under pressure?
Why do some messages resonate while others disappear without a trace?
The older I get, the less interested I become in simple answers.
What fascinates me is the space between certainty and uncertainty. The moments where competing truths exist at the same time. The uncomfortable reality that people can look at the same situation and walk away with completely different conclusions.
This is where I explore those ideas.
Some essays draw on professional experience. Others are reflections on leadership, trust, belonging and human behaviour. Most begin with a question rather than an answer.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with what I write. But if an essay makes someone pause, reconsider an assumption or see a familiar challenge differently, then it has probably done its job.
Featured Essays
Latest Essays
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We’ve all been there, rolling our eyes at the latest prediction emerging, suggesting that AI is about to make communications professionals obsolete. The logic is usually straightforward enough. If a machine can draft a press release, write social media content, produce briefing notes and summarise lengthy reports in seconds, then surely it is only a…
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One of the things I have come to appreciate about communications is that very little of the job involves communication. I know, it sounds absurd. After all, as communications professionals, we spend our days writing, speaking, presenting, advising and explaining. We create content, draft statements, prepare leaders for interviews and help organisations navigate difficult conversations.…
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Trust. It’s the hotword that never goes cold. Whether it’s mentioned amongst friendship circles, or the defining factor of a romantic relationship. It’s hidden in where you do your food shop and it lurks around hospital corners. Everything we do, every way we think and all that we believe is built on trust. Would Covid…
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In reality, writing is rarely what consumes the most time. Thinking does. A competent communications professional can draft a statement remarkably quickly. The challenge is deciding what the organisation believes, what it knows, what it can responsibly say and what it is prepared to defend. The words are often the final stage of the process.…
