“Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” (Samuel Johnson) I won’t deny it, London is, quite simply, my favourite city. And I am […]
When I was in Berlin last year the one memorial that completely overwhelmed me was “Mother with her Dead Son”, by Käthe Kollwitz in the Neue Wache. I always feel that Berlin is a sort of living “twilight zone” which exists on the border between sanity and madness: the place where it is acknowledged that some […]
There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest numbers of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest, who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful […]
This week I went to Goodenough College in London to met Dr Lionel Nizigama, a young doctor from Burundi, who is just starting a Master of Science in Tropical Medicine and International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London. Lionel is the first recipient of “The Rowland Scholarship”, which […]
“A leader is one who takes the hardship of finding a better way of doing things for the common good and then selflessly shares the knowledge with others by guiding them on that path.” (Avijit Dutta) This has always been my favourite quote about leadership, because it is steeped in the concept of service, and […]
Last week I went to an information session on Sydney Leadership, an eight month “leadership development programme” offered by Social Leadership Australia (SLA). As I arrived I had the chance to chat to the Director, Geoff Aigner, who is co-author of “The Australian Leadership Paradox”, and a former alumni of the programme. Geoff told me […]
Last week I attended the launch of a new book “The Australian Leadership Paradox: What it takes to lead in the lucky country” by Geoff Aigner and Liz Skelton. The launch was jointly hosted by The Benevolent Society and Social Leadership Australia and held at one of my favourite venues, the Wharf on Sydney Harbour. […]
“Life is extremely unfair. If you got the lucky straw, you shouldn’t forget about the other seven billion people who didn’t.” (Warren Buffett) Over the past few years the concept of the “social enterprise” has received a great deal of attention, but this has predominantly been driven by the fascination with “social media” and the […]
Every now and then I am involved in something which reminds me of how very privileged I have been in my life, in both the people I have known and the opportunities I have had. Last week I went to Canberra for the launch of Peter Rees’ latest book “Lancaster Men” in the Officers’ Mess […]
