Medium Form
Bracing myself, counting the blessings
Afer the death of Zakir Hussein, I have been casting my gaze apprehensively over other “stars” who have illuminated my musical firmament all these decades
Remembering letters
Back in the day, there was a fashion for pen friends. There was a sort of matchmaking service in one of the weekly magazines I had as a kid. I signed up when I was about 10 or so. My first pen friend was a girl in Ålesund, Norway.
I don’t know
Recently I came across an article about mindfulness and meditation in The Times. In the comments section, there were the predictable remarks about “woo” and “fad” and how mindfulness is just another meaningless buzzword to con people.
Commit to Clarity
Transparency and being a bit vulnerable are the thing now. So how about trying the following approach the next time you make a presentation or speak at a meeting? It should sound familiar …
To command Attention, present with Attention
Your audience is spoiled rotten. Whenever it may be, whoever your audience might be – any audience – they’re pretty much certain to be spoiled. Pretty much certain to be infinitely distractible, to have short attention spans, to be twitchy and fickle.
Yeah yeah yeah, but…
In the early Noughties, when I lived near Amsterdam, I used to take part in a coaching group. I didn’t much like the guy who ran it, and I wasn’t crazy about the other people either. But I had a sense it was worth the trouble, so I regularly made the half-hour drive.
Who are you fooling?
I’m a sucker for honesty and authenticity and integrity and congruence and being true to yourself and all that good stuff. I’ve even said in public that I have a life-long aversion to bullshit, including my own. That seems to resonate with people.
Digitally disembodied
You are reading this on the Internet, so you have probably developed some level of digitally-enabled “ambient awareness”.
Breathe better to present better
What do you have in common with a highly-skilled ninja-type assassin? A lot more than you may think.
The benefits of (not) being Patrick Stewart
Walking into an upscale restaurant in rural France on a Bank Holiday break, I was on my way towards our table and nodded politely to the couple at the next table. After a brief hesitation, the lady of the couple reacted.
Born to run
The joy of Dancing in the Street
I rarely remember how books end, but this one has an outstanding ending that moved me and has moved many others – it’s reproduced all over the Internet.
Album covers
Like the music itself the ECM visual aesthetic is not to everyone’s taste but it is to mine. It’s one of the most recognisable visual styles around.