Hello, A 27-year-old bride was shot dead at 4:30 AM on a Sunday morning, just hours after her wedding in Goult, a village in southern France. Her husband critically wounded. A 13-year-old boy fighting for his life. The cause? A drug-related settling of accounts. I live hours away. I don’t know these people. This tragedy is completely unrelated to my life. Yet I can’t stop thinking about it. The uncomfortable conflict The bride was innocent. No criminal record, no connection to drug...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Hello, I’m back in France after four weeks in Malaysia, feeling a bit like I’m operating in slow motion whilst everyone else has already shifted into September gear. It’s strange how returning to your birth country can feel both like coming home and discovering somewhere entirely new—especially when you’re seeing it through your children’s eyes for the first time. Watching them smell durian and wrinkle their noses, then light up over roti canai, reminded me how much of who we are gets passed...
12 months ago • 3 min read
Hello lovely readers, After two decades in compliance, I've collected quite a few stories about how our corporate systems create their special brand of chaos. These aren't fictional tales—they're real experiences that show how well-meaning processes can sometimes defeat their purpose. 15 Anecdotes from the Corporate Theatre 1. The Annual Copy-Paste Ritual Every year, I spend hundreds of hours recreating identical regulatory forms with exact information for approval that never changes. It's...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
A quick check-in: I’m deep into revising a chapter this week, and one particular metaphor keeps making me laugh (and occasionally want to bang my head against the desk). It’s the one about hiring a chef for their culinary creativity, then insisting they get permission before seasoning the soup. The more I think about it, the more this feels like the perfect metaphor for personal agency in corporate environments. So let’s dig into it. Reclaiming Your Expertise in a Permission-Seeking Culture...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read
Hello, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I wake up Saturday mornings feeling curious and enthusiastic, ready to tackle creative projects—repotting plants, experimenting with recipes, repairing broken school bags. By Sunday evening? That creative spark dims from a 9 to a 3 or 4. I used to think this was just “weekend vs. weekday energy.” But I’m discovering there’s something much more interesting happening here. The Power of Leisure Crafting Recent research has identified what...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read
Writing to you from my weekend writing session, scattered with notebooks and a water bottle (it has been really hot these days!) Hello, For a long time, I’ve been struggling with the most frustrating writing problem: I couldn’t write like I speak. Every draft came out sounding like a corporate memo. My blog posts read like strategy documents. Even casual social media updates were littered with phrases like “leverage opportunities” and “optimise outcomes.” I was describing a lovely Saturday...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Hello, Last week, I asked you to try the Monday Morning Test—imagining yourself at your desk Monday at 9 a.m. and noticing what your body told you. Many of you described that familiar tightness in your chest, the knot in your stomach, or what one colleague called “that Sunday evening dread that starts creeping in around 4 PM.” You’re not imagining these sensations. Your body is giving you data. What I'm Learning About Body Signals Over the years, I've discovered something fascinating: the...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Hello, If you've been wondering where I disappeared to these past three months, I owe you an explanation. I've been wrestling with a question that wouldn't let me go: How do we find meaning in work that often feels meaningless? It began as personal frustration—a compliance professional questioning why I spent more time on approval meetings than on actual problem-solving. But the more I explored this tension between authentic self and professional role, the more I realised this wasn't just my...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
The Explorer Collective 3 March A Journey of Love, Growth, and Empowerment This March ↓ March holds special significance for women and girls around the world, as it is dedicated to honoring them. We begin on March 3rd with Japan’s Hinamatsuri (Girls' Day), a celebration of the health and happiness of young girls. Then, on March 8th, we come together globally for International Women’s Day, a time to recognize the achievements of women and advocate for greater gender equality. This month, as we...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read