Sensemaking is only possible when leaders can tolerate not‑knowing long enough to see what is actually happening. That inner stance – the ability to stay present in uncertainty without rushing to premature interpretation – is what this article explores.

Leading would be infinitely easier if life arrived with subtitles. Instead, those in leadership roles are routinely asked to make sense of situations that feel indistinct, emotionally charged, politically tangled, where the data is lacking, or perhaps where everyone is certain there is a clear answer, but no one can actually agree on which one. This is where the role gets real: leading when there is no clear answer and sensemaking without knowing for sure which is the right d

There are periods in a person’s life when the personal and professional collide with unusual force. Many of us in mid-life are faced with a dying parent, a serious family illness or the slow anticipatory grief that accompanies a loved one’s decline. These experiences don’t remain neatly outside organisational life but unsettle identity, distort role enactment, and challenge our capacity to take up authority with clarity. Systems‑psychodynamic thinking gives us language for th

Most of us don’t realise we’re leading on autopilot until something forces us to stop such as a decision that lands badly or a relationship that feels suddenly strained. Autopilot isn’t a flaw, rather, it’s normally a natural response to pressure. It becomes costly though when the demands of your role outpace the habits you’re relying on.

There’s a point in many of our careers when we realise we’re carrying more than anyone around us can see.

Curiosity has always been a leadership virtue, but in the AI era it’s become something closer to a survival skill.

Leading in a regulated environment asks more of you than technical competence. It asks you to hold complexity, navigate scrutiny and stay steady in systems that are often under pressure.

Most leaders think their biggest tests will be the planned ones like the board meeting, the strategy presentation, the interview or the formal review. Yet, the real tests rarely arrive with notice.

There’s a moment in many leaders’ careers when the role they’re in starts to feel bigger than the version of themselves they’re carrying.

Most leaders don’t wake up one morning and decide they need a coach. It’s usually quieter than that. It might be a set of signals, shifts or tensions that accumulate until something in you says: I can’t keep leading like this without a different kind of support.

People often assume a discovery call is a sales conversation. It isn’t. At least, not in my practice.

Most leaders don’t come to coaching because they’re struggling. They come because they’re carrying something important - a transition, a stretch, a relationship that matters, a role that’s bigger than the job description. Is coaching worth the investment?

The need for public sector reform is clearer than ever, with the current government committed to driving it forward. But how about the energy to make it happen and create lasting change?

As the NHS embarks on ambitious reform - shifting towards more devolved, diverse, and integrated models of care - one challenge looms large: how do we understand and respond to need in a dynamic, human-centred way? In other words, how do we get better at listening?

Culture is often treated as a backdrop - something static, atmospheric, and confusingly important. But when you look closer, culture is the living, breathing outcome of how people relate, respond, and adapt.

Every leader talks about culture, yet few pause to wrestle with what it really is. If you’re serious about influencing culture in complex environments, here are seven reality checks to ground your ambitions and help you succeed.

Culture is layered, complex, and deeply social. What could help reset culture in the NHS?

Ultimately, what comes next needs to get us to a place where health and care is working for the benefit of the public and staff within it.

If something is broken, restoration needs to be part of the fix. In a system made up of people that means restoring relationships.

A need to better engage staff and patients was highlighted in Darzi's review, and the approach to #ChangeNHS shows how seriously the new...