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Do you blur your background? An idyllic ocean? A sleek, modern (personality-less) office? Do you even have your camera on? Or maybe you’re brave enough to have no filter, with pets, children and partners all joining in! Does it even matter? Well, yes, depending on the call you’re having, it can have a significant impact.   Team values and culture  Imagine this:...

Famously, Brits will dance around a sensitive subject to the point of absurdity rather than have a direct conversation about it. It’s one of the national traits that define us, like a stiff upper lip and Wetherspoons.   I’ve noticed it’s also a habit that becomes more pronounced the further south you go. In the north, where I’m from, people will generally tell...

Boots weather is on the horizon, and with it comes the perfect time to take a fresh look at how you can rev up your team's performance during this natural peak of refocus. Perhaps we should consider less 'back to the grindstone' and more 'recharged and raring to go' for workplace innovation….  The secret to unleashing your team's creativity and collaboration...

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...