A summer pause for thought

The importance of … pausing for thought.

August is a month for taking stock and packing your metaphorical pencil case ready for the start of the new academic year. (However old you get, it always feels like time for a fresh start, doesn’t it?)

And so I am marking this month of mental clearing with a series of posts about the important things in life, work and everything else besides, as we all prepare for what comes next.

I’ll be covering trust and truth, context and clarity, curiosity and courage, effort and patience, and the power of a story.

The importance of … trust.

I believe that trust buys us freedom. Freedom to innovate, freedom to make mistakes, freedom to JFDI.

We live in a world where trust is increasingly short supply. For a quarter of a century Edelman’s Trust Barometer has shown decreasing trust in politicians and institutions. So firmly are people turning their backs on the establishment, in fact, that Edelman called 2026 the year of ‘insularity’.

This, however, presents an opportunity for businesses and their leaders. The more people reject external factors, the more they turn to family, community and their own place of work, and that means they are, in those contexts at least, predisposed to trust.

If you say what is important in your organisation, where it’s heading and why, what’s important and valued, and that is consistently honoured at all levels, then trust is rewarded and upheld.

If you’re not sure what does actually matter most, or how to express it, you’re likely to erode trust.

The importance of … truth.

People trust the truth, but the truth is not always available. In this post, I want to consider how we find it, and how we recognise it.

But first, a couple of notes of warning.

One: just because something is described as the truth, does not mean to say that it actually is the truth.

Two: in its absence, people buy into compelling stories that present a simulacrum of the truth.

Every organisation has essential truths – heritage and future, purpose and principles, motivations and approach – but sometimes they have been lost on the way.

If leaders can find and express the truth, they can build trust. So, how do we find the truth in our own organisations?

The truth often lies deep under layers of sediment: beliefs, habits, assumptions. They must be pulled back, one by one, until we get to the very core.

We need to dig deep, to be willing to become uncomfortable in our explorations, to work on it until we are certain there is no further to go.

It’s about not being afraid to ask difficult questions or give honest answers, listening to our gut when something feels ‘off’, honouring people’s input with our attention, being brave enough to be unpopular for a while.

And how do we recognise the truth?

It’s clear. The truth can be expressed in simple, understandable words that belong to the place and people from which they emanate.

It withstands friction. The truth feels safe when challenged. When people push back, the truth can weather it. The truth does not seek to impose itself, but holds its course.

It helps those who understand it navigate any situation. The truth gives those who honour it clarity when they need to make decisions, manage conflict, or do the hard thing.

It brings people alongside. Be clear about your essential truths and you give people something to believe in, to accept (or reject), to unite for.

The importance of … context.

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Your work is delivered in the context of your wider life, but also of your colleagues’ lives, world events, even the seasons of the year.

So when you consider how you express your organisational story and the essential truths within it, you need to consider those different and changing contexts.

I work with a model called the ‘Circles of Context’. It has three rings which spread out from areas over which you have total control, through areas in which there is an equivalent flow of influence and impact, finishing at the outer circle from which the impact is all flowing in towards you.

The most common objection to formalising organisational clarity is its inability to weather contact with that outer circle.

But if we prepare ourselves well, we can be ready for anything. And we are certainly more ready than we would be without that level of understanding.

Understanding your context is essential before you hone in on your essential truths and their story.

The importance of … clarity.

“Am I making myself clear?”

It’s a question that might take you right back to the school room, and strike horror into your heart when doing so. You knew you were in trouble if it was directed at you … but it’s a question we should perhaps direct at ourselves more often.

Communication is not just about saying things, it’s about them being understood.

In my book Junk Values I argue against the standardised, one-word values that companies select, announce and then leave behind: values found quickly and not brought to life. Because if we say something matters, we need to explain what it looks like in practice and why it matters here.

Clarity isn't about using fewer, shorter words. It's about using the right ones. And they need to be true.

When people are clear about what matters most they make better choices, trust each other and work together well.

Always, always, always aim for clarity.

The importance of … curiosity.

I can sometimes spot the less confident in the room because they present as the most confident.

They have a fixed view, and are keen to demonstrate their knowledge. They are afraid of challenge. So whilst they may well give a lot of answers, they will be just as likely to ask very few questions.

But of course real power comes from asking good questions and honing our listening skills to go far beyond the words that are spoken. What more is there to say, and what is hidden amongst those responses?

Over the years I have developed an intuitive sense of when something is missing, and am quite content to keep gently working through things until it emerges.

It’s hard to do this unless you are genuinely curious.

And curiosity trumps confidence every time.

The importance of … effort.

Sometimes the best things take the most effort.

Nothing bonds a team more than an all-hands-to-the-pump, challenging turnaround to meet a deadline on a fabulous project.

Nothing fills a former couch potato with more pride than making it to the finishing line in a long-trained-for marathon.

Nothing feels more rewarding than giving a speech that you’d dreaded, prepared for, practised, regretted agreeing to … and absolutely smashed.

Effort is good. Effort builds muscle, builds brain, builds community, builds trust.

If something feels easy, and not as the result of effort in the preparation of that thing, it may well not, ultimately, work.

The importance of … courage.

Do you have the courage to ask tough questions and to listen to responses you might not like?

Do you have the courage to accept changes that need to be made, and put a plan in place to make them?

Do you have the courage to say “No” to the wrong people, inappropriate opportunities and easy but misleading paths?

Do you have the courage to go against the grain?

Do you have the courage to speak the truth?

I am certain that if good people took courage then the world would be a better place.

Many of us are keeping our heads down, but now is the time to be clear in our beliefs and have the courage to stand up for them.

The importance of … patience.

I am a deeply impatient person. I find it enormously difficult to not JFDI when something needs to be done. But when it comes to reclaiming the story of your business, patience will out.

Every organisation has essential truths and a story, but sometimes they have been lost along the way.

When some leaders realise the loss of these assets they endeavour to fix the problem quickly. Perhaps a digital survey, maybe a facilitated workshop, possibly an agenda item at a board meeting.

But, like so many things in life, excellence takes time.

There are layers of belief, habit and lore to peel back. Relationships, behaviours, assumptions to pick through. Resistance, differing focus, conflicting motivations to understand.

It takes time to really know a place and its people. To sense its spirit and understand its stories. To really recognise what makes it, it.

So if you want to embed the truth back into the very heart and soul of your business, you need to be patient.

The power of … story.

People trust the truth.

The story brings that truth to life.

Stories capture hearts as well as minds.

Stories are memorable.

Since time began, we have shared stories.

Stories create bonds, communities, legacy.

Know your essential truths.

And share them in the greatest story you have ever told.