Well, what a final couple of days. Great presentations, brilliant feedback, and moments to stop and reflect on the journey you've been on over the past few months. Here's a short video with some final thoughts from me. On the last day, I asked you to identify some areas that you commit to building habits around. I've captured these below. (If you don't see yours here, email them to richard@twentyoneleadership.com and I'll add them to the page). Kate: Mindful of state – specif

There’s plenty of discussion about training people to use AI. I’m interested in whether we’re preparing managers to manage the changes it creates. Leaders set direction. Managers create reality. That applies just as much to AI as it does to any other organisational change. McKinsey’s July 2026 research found that 70% of respondents felt personally ready to adopt AI, yet only 27% of leaders believed their organisations were ready for the changes required. That suggests knowing

If you read anything about AI and leadership this year, you'd think we're all about to be replaced, outsmarted or made redundant by a chatbot. Here is a question I ended up asking myself. When did you last read something about AI that made you feel optimistic about leading? When it comes to leadership, I think there are clear upsides of AI. Let me have a go at sharing a few. What I'm seeing in the leaders I work with gives much more reason to be optimistic than the daily head

I enjoyed working with you as we explored the secret of confidence together, along with a deep dive into managing and leading emotional states. Here are the flipcharts from the workshop. Here is the TED Talk from Dr Amy Cuddy that I mentioned during the session. It is an insightful and valuable watch for anyone who wants to develop presence, authority and the ability to show up as their best selves even in challenging situations. While we spent the morning scratching the sur

I am really looking forward to working with you during the upcoming Next Gen Leadership Development Programme. The programme has been created for people in the business who have the potential to be senior leaders in the organisation in the future. Over the coming months, you will experience and explore some of the latest and best in leadership, team development, strategy, culture, communication and coaching and influencing. Please watch this short video, which will give you a

I am really looking forward to working with you during the upcoming Operation Leadership Team development programme. Over the coming months, you will experience and explore some of the latest and best in leadership, team development, strategy, culture, communication and influence. Please watch this short video, which will give you a flavour of what to expect from the session and the learning environment. Inspiring Leadership - Workshop 1 Preparation The first event focuses pr

The warning signs are familiar I’ve met managers who are working late, picking up tasks their team should own and replaying difficult conversations on the drive home. They’re still delivering, so from a distance everything looks fine. By the time someone suggests development, they’re often exhausted. What strikes me is how predictable this can be. We promote someone because they’re brilliant at their job, give them a team and assume they’ll work out the people side as they go

It was great to work with you again as we explored leadership and in particular how to be authentic, inspiring leaders. Here are the flipcharts from the session. I referenced Dr Amy Cuddy's work on presence. Here's her brilliant TED Talk. I'd love you to remember the core premise of the day. That is, if you demonstrate the top four characteristics that followers want from leaders, as identified in Kouzes and Posner's work, you will be an even better leader and will be perceiv

It was great to meet and work with you all during the event last week. Here are the flipcharts from the session, including your three commitments. As I reflected on the session, it occurred to me that the majority of things that will make a big difference to you are iterative rather than revolutionary. Whether we need to become more outcomes focused in how we communicate, use 4MAT when structuring a message or working even more closely as a management community, it is the sma

Thank you for being a great group to work with, and for living up to all expectations of a UK BUL group. Here are the flipcharts from the second workshop. During the coaching workshop, I mentioned Michael Neill. He is a coach who was really formative in my career. Here is his brilliant TED Talk that links really closely to the messages I shared during the Maps of the World session. It's well worth a watch. Here's a quick video I found which includes a useful recap on the SCAR

“I’m not sure I’m very good at this” I’ve worked with managers who can solve problems at speed, keep a team going through a difficult week and spot things everyone else has missed. Then, in a workshop, they’ll quietly say, “I’m not sure I’m very good at this management thing.” I’ve heard some version of that more times than I’d like. A promotion changes the job Often, they were excellent at their previous job. That’s why they were promoted. But now their success depends less

Welcome to September's Leadership Collective session, where we will be delving into the art of coaching. During the session, we will explore what coaching is, what it isn't and even have an experience of coaching and being coached. One of the interesting things about coaching is that many people think they know what it is, only to have their perception changed in a session like that. So, to help the process and to give us as much time as possible for the practical element of

The Promotion That Changes Everything One day, they’re part of the team. They share the jokes, join in with the frustrations and work alongside their colleagues as equals. The next day, they’re responsible for managing them. Suddenly, they’re expected to set expectations, delegate work, give feedback and address underperformance. It’s a significant change, but one that many new managers are expected to navigate with very little support. When Relationships Get in the Way Manag

I'm looking forward to working with you again on our second workshop together. I've called this session The Confidence Code. Together we'll uncover the secret of confidence and how we can be as confident as we need to be in any situation in a heartbeat. Vitally, we will explore the importance and impact of confidence in our performance as leaders and how we can use it to support and influence our people. As with the first workshop, expect something fast-paced, practical and e

I'm looking forward to working with you all again on Monday 21st September as we explore the traits, characteristics and habits of transformational leadership. We are at the stage of the programme when key messages will start to be reinforced, and themes will emerge. The distinction for this event is that it is much more focused on how you lead as an individual and how that impacts on the people around you. Again, you will have had a taste of this when I led the taster sessio

Over the last two weeks, I've laid out the trap that catches your best experts at 'Head of' level, and the identity shift it takes to free them. So let's finish on the thing you really care about. Does it work, and how would you know? Here's what it looks like when someone truly makes the shift. They stop being the busiest person in the building. The firefighting calms down, not because there are fewer fires, but because they've finally built a team that can deal with them. T

I am looking forward to working with you and your colleagues during your team event next week. The purpose of this page is to give you a flavour of what to expect and help you prepare to get the most from it. Please watch this short video, which gives a feel for the event, what we will be exploring together and includes a small amount of preparation work. This really is the kind of event where there will be a direct correlation between what you're prepared to give and what yo

I am looking forward to seeing you all again, this time at Cotswolds Water Park, for the third and final workshop in your programme. For many of you, I know your focus will be on your project presentation, but the workshop brings so much more, including exploring principles of influence, leading guest experience and self-leadership, wellbeing and growth mindset. You will have some opportunity to practice and finalise your presentations towards the end of day 1, before you pre

One of the most common challenges I see when working with managers starts with the best of intentions. A team member brings them a problem. The manager knows the answer, so they step in, fix it and send the person happily on their way. Problem solved. Everyone feels good. Until the same person returns with the next problem. Before long, the manager has become the team’s answer machine—working longer hours while everyone else waits for their turn at the door. The Hidden Cost o

Last week I described the trap. The brilliant expert who gets stuck at 'Head of' because the things that made them successful are now the things holding them back. So how do you get someone out of it? Most programmes will tell you the answer is skills. Teach them to delegate. To think strategically. To handle the hard conversations. All worth doing. None of it is where the real work sits. Because this isn't really a skills problem. It's an identity one. Here's what I mean. Fo