Reflections
Over the years I’ve built, led, failed, rebounded, and transitioned across sectors. Most of what I know was earned through trial and error rather than theory.
These reflections distil what that experience has taught me - about leadership, reinvention, and the quiet discipline and self-belief required to build things that endure.
One very interesting aspect of the role of the consultant was demonstrated in a recent classroom setting where three pieces of paper were out across the floor by our facilitator to form three points on a giant imaginary triangle. In this order, they read: expert, pair of helping hands, and collaborative partner
As we pondered those phrases before discussing our interpretation of them, the exercise was to tease out how we can as consultants work best with clients to develop effective solutions that meet their unique needs.
On New Year’s Day 2011, I drank one final pint before announcing that I was giving up “for a few days”. The plan was to go a few days, and then a few more. Partly to prove I could. And partly because I knew the party was over.
Days became months and in the eleven years since, I have not had a drink and somehow become ‘teetotal’ in the true sense of the word. It remains one of the best decisions I ever made.
A long-overdue visit to the old Kilroy’s of Kathmandu forced me to confront what had been lost. In grieving the venue that shaped my formative years, what felt at first like a death in the family became something else entirely - the closure I didn’t know I needed, and the quiet beginning of reinvention.