1 September 2006

You may have just possibly clicked into this website in the hope of sharing my thoughts in August only to find that there was no letter from me. The reason, of course, is that I was on holiday. We all need holidays, but leaders - always social persons - paradoxically need the find of holiday that contains opportunities for solitude.

Leaders are called to inspire others, and the well of inspiration takes time to fill when we have been continually drawing upon their waters - and that calls for solitude. Make contact in that friendly silence when you are apart from others with the mainstream or purpose of your life; refresh your values.

Fall in love again with the task before you. Rekindle your burning vision of the best that lies within others, the very people that you are privileged to lead at work. All these things are born of reflection. Then you, too, will know what Malcolm Bradbury meant when he talked of 'the potent solitude behind the public face'.

Quotable Quotes

A wise man is never less alone than when he is alone.
Jonathan Swift

I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
Albert Einstein

What I did value during my 27 years of imprisonment on Robben Island was having time to think.
Nelson Mandela