Voice of a nation

How do I explain to my English friends why I feel as I do about Scottish independence? Writing this on the day when that most unlikely of Westminster triumvirates declared that they’re closing the door on possible monetary union, the … Continue reading →

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Data with soul

I’m writing this in the Scottish Storytelling Centre before I catch a train home from Edinburgh. Located partly in Edinburgh’s oldest house, on the High Street, it has a good café, a big airy storytelling space and a 99-seat theatre. … Continue reading →

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Why not How

Much of the work I do involves trying to move people beyond the normal organisational pre-occupations with process. Whether I’m helping them develop a voice for their organisation, tell its story, or explore where it might be going, the challenge … Continue reading →

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Blind certainty

Yesterday I got an email from Stuart Delves, my fellow Dark Angel. It said: ‘In the library at The Royal Blind School on Monday and the first book I saw on the shelf was yours – in Braille!’ The book … Continue reading →

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Foundations of knowledge

There’s a photograph in one of the private meeting rooms at my local library of the building’s foundation stone being laid in 1895. Following the example set by Andrew Carnegie in Dunfermline, the benefactor in Perth was Archibald Sandeman, heir … Continue reading →

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An anniversary

There’s something perversely appropriate about the fact that the darkest Christmas period I can remember (I’m speaking meteorologically here), should have heralded the year in which Dark Angels celebrates its tenth anniversary. Though there is actually nothing dark about Dark … Continue reading →

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Year of the story

This has been a year of stories – a year in which I’ve come to appreciate like never before the extent to which we lead our lives by, with and through stories. They provide the glue that holds us together, … Continue reading →

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Through the wall

I’m looking at a picture of the Great Wall of China. It’s on a calendar given to me by my friend and acupuncturist Wenbo Xu. There are two crane-like birds in a meadow in the foreground. Beyond them the wall … Continue reading →

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To the letter

Last week I spent a day with members of the housing team of a local authority. We were looking at the letters they send out to tenants on a variety of subjects, ranging from noise to rubbish to gardens to … Continue reading →

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Listen to the child

Last weekend we ran part two of our series of personal insight workshops, The Stories We Tell. The first looks at what we can learn about ourselves from the stories we tell about where we have come from. The second … Continue reading →

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