If you only have one thing to share in 2020, let it be kindness…..

It’s been an amazing year at Morgan James Consulting. New programmes, new clients, new associates, new territories covered – quite how Rachel has kept on top of everything I will never know? Luckily she regularly empties my brain, puts everything that falls out of it into some semblance of order and then re-inserts the relevant stuff that helps me to function. I couldn’t possibly live without her in the business!

2019 was a fantastic year for all of the team here, not just because we have had the opportunity to develop new programmes and see Cohort 2 of Strategic Leaders Programme and our first Step Into Management delegates graduate, but because we have met and had the pleasure of working with so many bright, committed, and ‘up for it’ people with a can-do attitude along the way. We feel hugely blessed to work with such amazing clients who truly want to make a difference to those that they work and live with. Not a ‘mood hoover’ amongst them.

“Happiness” as the saying goes, “depends on how much time you spend with your dreams versus how much time you spend with your memories.”

We are blessed to work with the dreamers of this world.

With so many global challenges and dismal news coverage of the past 12 months, I am pleased to say that I have found it easy to resist being pulled into the mire of negative thinking. We choose every associate and programme director really carefully. They have brought energy, inquisitiveness, constructive challenge, positivity and fun to everything they do. Paul R, Paul M, Elizabeth, Michael, Karen, Jay, Dave, Matt, Maeve, Steph, Bren and Martin – thank-you for being beacons of light in the businesses we work with.

Whilst I have chosen to ignore much of the Brexit shenanigans of the past year, I was struck by a quote that I heard the week before the General Election. I don’t remember who said it but it went something along the lines of:

“Think of the person that you know that’s struggling the most and vote for the person who will help him the most.”

I thought the sentiment was superb. However, it does hand over responsibility for the happiness and health of our families and our communities over to the people who run our country. The thing that I have witnessed, more than anything this past year, is the passion and power of human kindness. I see that leaders get the teams they deserve and that managers have so much more of an impact on the quality of the lives of their teams than they will ever imagine.

As we move into this new decade, let us cast aside the divisions that we have experienced over the past year and seek to help those that we work with and the communities that most need our support most on this amazing, breath-taking but fragile planet that we call home. May we all seek to leave soft but indelible footprints on this beautiful world. To paraphrase the earlier quote, wouldn’t it be wonderful if, in 2020, every one of us sought to:

“Think of the person we know who is struggling the most, and do everything within our power to help them.”

God bless you all. Wishing you a very joyful, healthy and happy 2020.