Common Purpose Blog

I have just been reading about a talk given by Will Marré at the recent Employee of Choice Forum in San Diego in which he talked a crisis in employee disengagement. He suggested that it could be remedied by expanding ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ to ‘Personal Social Responsibility’ where employees are offered a chance to make [...]

At Common Purpose we talk about leaders who step beyond their authority to solve problems that often times no one wants to own. They are big, complex problems and involve multiple stakeholders. Rarely are these problems easy to solve and more often than not you end up with a big mess on your hands. It is [...]

The weather has been gorgeous here in London the last few days. In fact, for Britain it has been down right hot! Listening to everyone talk about the weather has made me laugh. I had a Canadian friend tell me ages ago that Americans (those of us from the United States) loved to talk about [...]

2002 was an interesting year for people fascinated by The X Factor – not just the TV programme, but the principle the show is based upon: the magic ingredient that enables some people ‘to make it’, while others with no less talent fall by the wayside. On ITV’s Pop Idol, Will Young (the housewives’ favourite) [...]

I was cycling yesterday, outside Glasgow, and came to a favourite and feared steep hill that my legs knew only too well. As I approached, I changed down gears, got myself ready and headed upwards. Before I did I made the mistake of looking up and saw  the summit away in the distance. I gulped. [...]

Patience was the subject of our most recent practice along with the below quote from Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton: “Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.” I think it is at this point that you have to trust yourself as a leader, trust the work that you have done [...]

“I am who I am because of everyone. I am my mate who never speaks and the one who won’t shut up. I am my older sister and unfortunately my younger brother. I am all the girls I’ve kissed, and all the ones I will. It’s the people we meet and the experiences we share [...]

A former colleague of mine gave me a quote when was in the midst of a project and needed some faith that we would ever get to where we wanted to be. Since then I have stuck this quote to my computer and coloured it in pink so that my eye is drawn to it [...]

Every now and then I take a little time out on the way to work. I buy myself a bacon butty and a cup of black coffee and go and sit in the park local to the office. It’s a good way to start the day, a bacon butty and some birdsong in the middle [...]