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2014 turned out to be a landmark year for self-styled Northern posh lad Tony Nicholl. He performed his first ever stand-up gig, learnt three important things from the experience, and proved his parents' right. Read on to find out more about Tony's experience.    In December I attended workshops to learn the skills of stand-up comedy. The intention was to raise...

So 2015 is here; new goals are being set, ideas for the year are being communicated and budgets reviewed. The main focus of the leaders in top organisations I’m speaking to this year seems to be about creating great places to work.  Businesses are feeling more confident financially and are moving away from recession-style troubleshooting behaviour typified by efficiency savings to...

Last week I spoke at the CIPD HR conference in Manchester about the science of happiness for motivating and inspiring teams. There is no doubt that there is a thirst for well-being, happiness and humour in the workplace, as the room was packed.

The growing cost of hidden non-core school items such as school trips, extra curricula activities and learning resources is causing a greater gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged.

I was at an event recently chatting to a manager. I say chatting, but really he could have been speaking another language thanks to all the acronyms and corporate speak he peppered the conversation with. Maybe he was trying to impress me with his ROIs and his KPIs!

I was lucky enough to be invited to the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games on Sunday where I managed to literally brush shoulders with royalty in the form of Prince Harry.

According to research published yesterday the UK remains "deeply elitist" with most of our top institutions and organisations headed by small groups of people educated at fee paying schools and Oxbridge.

As part of the Women in Comedy Festival in Manchester in October, we invite women to learn and perform stand-up comedy. It's for a great cause. To raise money for a fantastic charity - Claire House Children's Hospice.

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