Where life and work collide
Short weekly newsletters and vlogs hosted by Christine. Sign up for our newsletter here.
Filter by Category
- 4 Day Week
- 50+
- AI
- Advice
- Bullying
- CEO
- Career
- Change
- Clothing
- Collaboration
- Colleagues
- Communication
- Conflict
- Connection
- Depopulation
- Diversity
- Economy
- Emotional Power
- Engaging @ Work
- Failures
- Fine on Paper
- Fitness
- Flex
- Future
- Gen Z
- Grown Up
- HENRY
- Hostdesk
- Hybrid
- IWD
- Imposter Syndrome
- Job Cycle
- Joy
- Leadership
- Life
- Listening
- Management
- Motherhood
- Networking
- New Year
- Office
- Office Return
- Parenting
- Pay
- Perspective
- Planning
- Predictions
- Presentation
- Productivity
Finding JOY in a Slush Puppie
Last week I said I’d share our research into ways of making hybrid work within organisations, but with the week we’ve had—Omicrom tidal waves, WFH guidance, canned Christmas parties, and Mr Big and his Peloton—let’s save the worky stuff to January and focus on JOY.
Hybrid: how bosses are struggling
Obviously Boris WOULD announce a work from home order as soon as I get these findings, but I’m just ignoring his dead cat bounce for the moment.
2/3 of your colleagues don’t trust you
This morning my husband said sorry to me… for something that happened ten years ago, inspired by a conversation we were having.
HYBRID: 9 practical solutions
The research on how to hybridise—at scale—isn’t out yet. So, here’s what I’ve gathered from my interviews and reading.
(When the research comes in, I’ll update you!)
Disability and ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’
Kate Nash OBE, creator of Purple Space, shared her thoughts with me on why disability so often takes a back seat to gender, ethnicity, and sexuality in our discussions at work. Particularly as those with disabilities make up about 15% of the workforce, even if not all of them are obvious to others.
An idiot’s guide to the Metaverse and Web3
Jeez. Mark Zuckerberg makes a weird film about the Metaverse and suddenly the damned word is everywhere! As is the term Web3 which may—or may not—be the same thing. I’m having flashbacks to the early 2000s when my techie housemate Pete told me to invest in social networks… and I told him not to be boring 🤦🏻♀️.
Why is pay spiralling?
Last week, accounting network @MGI Worldwide invited me to speak and host panels in Asia, Europe & the Americas… in one day. Interestingly, almost every market reported challenges with keeping talent and escalating pay rises. In interviews I’ve heard of people being offered pay rises 50% or more for senior jobs.
Collaboration overload: What would Kevin Bacon do?
Amidst the endless books about hybrid and remote-first working, launches Rob Cross’ Beyond Collaboration Overload (Harvard Business Review Press).
Driving 800 miles with a stranger
This week I’ve been to Aberystwyth, Newcastle, London and Edinburgh. A lot of that travelling was in filmmaker Graeme Mill’s Ford Fiesta. Graeme and I have worked together a few times over the years, but never spent whole days driving and chatting…
The Great Resignation: Value vs. Churn
I’ve been interviewing people who have resigned, are about to resign, or expect to resign in the next few months. It’s a hot topic right now: Microsoft’s research shows that 41% of employees, globally, are considering changing roles in the next year, and leadership teams everywhere are reporting significant churn. The UK has more unfilled jobs than ever before.
A Diptyque triple-wick pushed me over the edge
Last week, my husband lit my new Diptyque candle for our seven year old’s bath. It is the most beautiful candle I’ve EVER owned (a moving gift from a friend) and I hadn’t had a chance to light it myself yet.
Hello world! Navigating the tricky new etiquette
This week I’ve done seven speaking events, plus kicking off a nationwide research tour, which has demanded navigating the world as it wakes up.
It’s a complex place!
The WORST version of hybrid
A siren started in my head the first time I heard someone—at a bank—proposing a hybrid system in which some of the senior people choose where they work… but juniors are required to be in the office, full time.
Flex for parents and carers? September’s struggle 😩
Terri White, former editor of Esquire magazine, gave a blistering interview on the Media Voices podcast about how she was forced to choose between her baby and the job she loved.
The Great Return? Or Ghost Office?
They said they wanted to come back, so where are they?
Office-life restarts: but there’s no finishing line
We’re back! Hope you had a great summer and found some sunshine somewhere.
I’m excited about this next leap into hybrid work: I hope—believe?—we are embarking on an adventure to find out what makes us more productive, builds better working relationships, and helps us manage the balance between home and work more successfully.
Stressed out? Try the one next thing.
“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star” – Stephen Hawking.
I think it was supposed to put our troubles into perspective, but sometimes events can be overwhelming…
Need time to lead? Don’t give a monkey’s
Happy Birthday to me!
To celebrate, I am sharing an idea based on an HBR piece published the year I was born called Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?
Authority: it’s a man’s world.
This week, two women asked for my advice on how to tackle being talked over at work. This made it the perfect time to ask journalist and radio presenter Mary Ann Sieghart about her new book, The Authority Gap. Why women are still taken less seriously than men and what to do about it.
Can a £26 burger predict who returns to the office?
On Sunday night, a friend took me to the NoMad hotel in Covent Garden for the most perfect burger and Negroni. The place was the very definition of the draw of cities: a dramatic magistrates’ court, a luscious red velvet and leather library (with genuine books), and an oval marble bar that Jay Gatsby should’ve been draped against, cigarette in hand.