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It couldn’t have been any clearer. "I’m out of the office until August 13th and will not be replying to emails."   I even left specific instructions: if it’s urgent, please contact one of the two team members whose email addresses were linked in the message.  Simple, right? So why did some people think it was appropriate to ignore my OoO and...

Who cares about poop in The Seine, naked Smurfs at the Last Supper or whether break dancing is an Olympic sport or not? The 2024 Paris Games were a joyous spectacle of international sport, providing us with arguably the coolest contestant in Olympic history, South Korean sharpshooter Kim Yeji and her ice-cold, bad-ass energy.  There were many highlights, but one Olympian,...

Are there particular games you remember playing in your childhood? Perhaps you raided the bank in a good game of Monopoly or searched for the culprit in a round of Cluedo.  When I reminisce about my childhood, I remember our family Scrabble games. At the slightest hint of defeat, my younger brother would launch the board into the air, ensuring a...

Unless you’re an avid follower of European Union politics, you’ve probably never heard of Bernd Posselt. The German politician served as a Member of the European Parliament between 1994 and 2014, representing the Christian Social Union party in Bavaria. Why am I mentioning an obscure German MEP, you are probably thinking?   Well, apart from his fetching bierkeller moustache and physique, there...

There’s an old saying that goes, “If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” (Remind me to mention this to my parents) It seems obvious doesn’t it; be kind, take time to notice, pay someone a compliment, etc., and yet in the cut and thrust of everyday professional life, it appears that this can be one...

According to Forbes Magazine, ‘few personal brands shine as brightly as Taylor Swift’s’. And as someone with a special interest in personal brand, I’ve been determined to follow her example while she’s been in the UK. The pop singer has been Time Magazine's Person of the Year and CNN’s Businessperson of the Year, after all, and I was The Liverpool Echo’s New Comedian of...

We’ve all heard of misogyny, but do you know what the male equivalent is called?   Misandry – I looked it up.  Why do I ask? Because I’ve been mulling on writing this ‘creating a more positive working culture for women’ blog for some time but didn’t want to be accused of being a misandrist – I don’t dislike or have contempt...

Earlier this month, it was reported that, after years of worrying about oestrogen setting off their fire alarm, the Garrick Club, that bastion of entitled male privilege, has finally voted to allow women members. It has been hailed as a victory for equal opportunities. But is it?   Are we missing the bigger picture here? After all, the whole concept of...

Work is where we spend a large chunk of our time, so it’s inevitable that at some point, the people you work with may experience ups and downs with their mental health. According to Mind, a leading UK Mental Health charity, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives. With this in mind,...