Common Purpose Blog

Economic instability has presented businesses with many challenges since the great crash of 2008 – and these problems have refused to disappear. It is amid these harsh financial realities that the perception of learning and development (L&D) has changed. A recent survey by the Henley Business School suggested that L&D has become increasingly focused as organisations look [...]

When I started work, I was very lucky. My first boss gave me opportunities to lead small teams from a very early age – to learn some of the lessons at an age when I could simply bounce back from my mistakes – to mess up when the stakes were not high – to succeed [...]

  This week Common Purpose Scotland ran a Generation Infinity for 110 participants of all ages. The theme of the day was about inspiring leadership across generations.       During the day, participants heard from a variety of speakers, including Tam Baillie, Scotland Commissioner for Children & Young People Mike Stevenson, Managing Director @Thinktastic [...]

Following the UK’s comprehensive spending review last week, this is a crucial time for the country to consider how it can do more with less. For example, the NHS can simply no longer afford itself. Old models, old mindsets and old systems simply can’t continue to operate efficiently, with significantly less resource. The UK would [...]

Not that it comes as a surprise, but the talk of widespread education cuts in the UK has hit the news headlines today. In fact, the headlines have been there for a bit. Projected cuts to universities mean fewer places and a brain drain of teaching and research talent, and The Prince’s Trust has also [...]

How we perceive the world depends very much on who tells its story.  Indeed, you could even argue that with a differing opinion.  There are prime examples of contradictory opinions everywhere, particularly as our access to information, news and knowledge becomes increasingly fragmented. Today is World AIDS Day, an awareness raising event stimulating global media [...]

Last week hundreds of cities around the globe played host to Global Entrepreneurship Week events in an effort to inspire enterprising activity worldwide.  It was a fantastic opportunity to make connections, share knowledge, get inspiration and develop the skills to turn your passion into action.  The Common Purpose 360 day is similarly an annual occasion [...]

What is the cost of not developing your staff in tough economic times? It seems that a lot of employers do not want to find out. A recent survey by the Institute of Directors found that most employers are either maintaining or increasing training budgets during the recession. The IoD poll of 937 directors found [...]