This picture was taken from Skye, looking over the water to the tiny island of Scalpay. It captures a moment when sunlight, raindrops and my eyes and mind combine to create an experience of rainbow. While there is also a landscape, a seascape and a rickety gate, all of which would look different from another point of view, it’s the rainbow that fascinates me. Rainbows are personal – even when two people are standing side-by-side, apparently looking at the same rainbow, the image generated by each eye and mind is unique. We each see spectral light scattered through different water droplets at varying angles. The conditions for rainbow are shared, but any rainbow we perceive is our own.
And so it is with the words we read on a page – the same words make different sense to each reader, depending on their experiences and interpretation.
Ori’gin|ate
v.t. give origin to, bring into being, initiate, cause to begin.
v.i. to have origin, to begin.
[ L. origo, beginning, birth – oriri, to rise.]
For more than a quarter of a century, I engaged in leadership development work under the trading name of Originate. In recent years, I’ve reissued my first two books under the imprint Originate Books – and my third book will join them in December 2025.
My work was shaped the disciplines of Dialogue and Leadership Embodiment, and these practices continue underpin my writing and the way I try to live. In truth, I write mainly for myself – it helps me clarify my thinking and explore ideas and experiences. The process completely absorbs me and is my most complete expression of myself. I simply love to write. When I publish my words, it’s in the spirit of making them available in case they help even one person make new sense of their own experience.
“I do not experience writing as a monologue. I experience it as a conversation. Writing raises questions…”
My books...
Available as an ebook and in print from Amazon and other booksellers. In addition, if you’re based in the US or the UK, it’s available direct from the printer using the button below.
My first book came into being as I explored the field of dialogue. Inspired by the potential of these practices, I tried to apply them in my life and work – and discovered that this presented a challenge. As I explored this ground, I began to combine the ideas of dialogue with embodied practices, and this approach became central to my leadership development work.
As I clarified my practice, I felt an increasing need for ‘something like a book’ to support and guide my clients to explore further. Pause for Breath was the result: it explores some of the principles and practices of dialogue through the lens of mind, body and spirit, and invites readers to reflect on their leadership conversations and consider how they might change their practice.
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If you’d like to explore how to change your conversations with others, you can use these guidelines to establish a reflective practice group based on Pause for Breath. To buy multiple copies of the book, please contact me to arrange a discount and place an order.
This book came into being because, after publishing Pause for Breath, I focused on composing short pieces for my blog: I needed to rediscover the joy of writing. My themes were reflective practice and leadership development.
As the number of posts grew, I decided to curate a collection of them in a book that might offer inspiration for those wishing to reflect on their leadership experiences and practice. The pieces explore self-leadership, leadership in conversations, leadership perspectives and learning and the book is meant to be read slowly. Each piece is a written ‘thought for the week’, and is accompanied by contemplation questions that gently challenge readers to reflect on the ‘gap’ between their leadership aspirations and their ability to live up to them. And then to change their practice.
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If you’d like contemplate your leadership with others, you can use these guidelines to establish a reflective practice group based on Weekly Leadership Contemplations. To buy multiple copies of the book, please contact me to arrange a discount and place an order.
Available as an ebook and in print from Amazon and other booksellers. in addition, if you’re based in the US or the UK, it’s available direct from the printer using the button below.
Approaching Difference Differently...
...will be published soon.
In my third book, I’m returning to the theme of dialogue – and inviting readers to reframe the human instinct to see difference as disturbing. Rather than reacting in habitual ways, we can pause, consider and embody the practices of dialogue. To do this, and to truly engage with difference in new ways, we work with our body as well as our mind.
The book is deliberately written in a conversational style. It outlines ideas from the field of dialogue and practices from Leadership Embodiment, and invites you to change your practice in your leadership conversations and to foster conditions in which difference can be explored. When we’re able to do this, our conversations become richer, more insightful and more human – and contribute towards making the world a slightly better place.
Are you ready to begin?