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Socialite and bon viveur William paused briefly in his hectic schedule of celebrity events to recall the success of the Coronation party held in the grounds of his estate in the rolling countryside commuter belt to the south of Manchester...

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In the memorial event in his honour at the Edward de Bono Institute of the University of Malta, I would like to offer a personal perspective, reflecting on his life and his contributions to creativity.

Edward de Bono, is perhaps the most influential communicator on the nature of creative thinking in recent times. His fame came early through his book Lateral Thinking, first published in 1970. It was to accompany him through his long and distinguished life,  perhaps eventually defining him through its impact around the world. 

It was some years later before I met Edward for the first time. In 1970, I had begun to develop interest in his ideas while working as a scientist inside a research laboratory in what was known as the New Products and Development Group. 

A few years later I joined another R&D group at Manchester Business School to take forward understanding about ways of stimulating creativity. I took with my copy of Lateral Thinking. By then, Edward deBono was becoming a celebrity in the field, with a unique style of communicating his ideas seated at an overhead projection system scribbling out his diagrams on a never-ending transparent plastic scroll. 

His language and imagery captured his audiences. Too often, our thinking processes resemble someone digging a hole more and more deeply, vertical thinking whereas what was needed was finding a different place to dig a hole.  I’ll return to this later.

In the preface to Lateral Thinking he states that in schools
‘Creativity is usually treated as something desirable which is to be brought about by vague exhortation…this book is about lateral thinking which is the process of using information to bring about creativity’.
He continues, ‘Lateral thinking is closely related to insight, creativity and humour. All four processes have the same basis. But whereas insight, creativity and humour can only be prayed for, lateral thinking is a more deliberate process. 

So there we have it. He was setting out a programme for the deliberate process to support or even replace the capricious process leading to creative ideas ...

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If I were a cat, you might say that this week I lost one of my proverbial nine lives. I was driving home from a game of tennis at the Wimbledon of the North, aka The Northern Squash and Tennis Club.
It was a crisp morning with clear blue skies. The traffic was light as I approached the turn-off at the new relief road to the airport. What happened next is partly blotted out from my memory. 
There was a thunderous crash of metal on metal, and I was spinning out of control towards the oncoming traffic. Somehow the spin ended, and I was staring at the front of a gigantic truck reversing slowly. Bizarrely it was displaying Learner plates.
A young driver got out, looking concerned. Are you alright, he asked.
I’m fine, I heard myself saying, Are you alone? My disembodied self had wrongly assumed I had been hit by a learner who had lost control of his vehicle while driving illegally…

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The Coronation of Charles the third in London this week has made news around the world. But I want to share news of another Coronation which deserves more publicity. I’m referring to the coronation of Ding Lauren, who was crowned as World Chess Champion. 

Ding, although a youthful prodigy, in his native China, never shot to stardom, but progressed sedately to become a strong grandmaster at relatively mature age. His talents were cloaked in an engagingly modest style, not always present of the pantheon of world champions before him.

His opportunity to become world champion came about when Magnus Carlsen, the former champion, decided not to defend his title against the World no 2, the Russian Ian Nepomniatchtchi. In what follows I will describe him by the  widely used abbreviation of his name Nepo. 
As a result of Carlsen’s withdrawal, there was a candidate slot to be filled, which was duly won by Ding, who had reached the rank of third highest player in the world, at the age of 40.
The rearranged match took place between Nepo and Ding during the last weeks of April as the best of 14 games. If there was no winner a form of quick chess was to be played.  Tennis and football players will see the similarities between tie break sets, and extra time and penalties.

And that was indeed needed. The players evenly matched, with Nepo mostly having the upper hand, but Ding clinging on tenaciously with brilliant defence in tough positions.
The shootout continued. In another of my favourite metaphors, Ding was still playing Houdini chess.
In the fourth shootout, it looked as if another Houdini effort was needed. With only a minute left on his clock, Ding make a risky break for freedom.  Nepo, now was rattled, missed a clear win, and all his efforts perished in seconds. 

A new world champion had emerged, who wept for joy at the awards ceremony. He had become the first Chinese player to hold that precise title. But mention should be made of Ju Wenjun, the first ever Chinese world champion when she took the title of Woman’s champion in 2020.

I felt the event worthy of a poetic tribute. The Poet Laureate had dutifully composed one for Prince Charles, so I took it upon myself to come up with a few verses for Ding.as inspiration, I borrowed the spirit of a well-known piece from The Mikado. I accepted the pleadings of a few trusted advisors, who unanimously urged me not to attempt to sing my composition.

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Michelle O’Neill is nominated Leader of the Month for April 2023 by the Leaders we deserve blog.

Her current political label is First Minister Designate of Northern Ireland. 

The selection of  Sinn Féin’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, is more controversial than many others. She will become the First Minister of the Northern Ireland assembly at Stormount, currently in limbo through a suspension built-in to the fragile power-sharing agreement of the Northern Ireland  Protocol. 

This is legally replaced by the recent Windsor agreement. A resumption of the assembly would mark a success, although even a recent visit from American President Joe Biden failed to move things on. The opposition from the Democratic Unionist Party, the DUP remains in full obdurate ‘no surrender’ mode.

This is illustrated by the reaction to her acceptance of an invitation to attend the coronation of King Charles, marking another step away from the party’s strict Irish republican heritage.
O’Neill has accepted an invitation to attend the 6 May Coronation ceremony in London in order to further peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Her statement explained her decision. 

“We are living in a time of great change. A time to respect our differing and equally legitimate aspirations, a time to firmly focus on the future and the opportunities that the next decade will bring.

“I am an Irish republican. I also recognise there are many people on our island for whom the coronation is a hugely important occasion. I am committed to being a first minister for all, representing the whole community, building good relations between the people of these islands, and advancing peace and reconciliation through respectful and mature engagement.”

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Richard Sharp was appointed  as Director General of the BBC (The Chairman, in business speak) in 2021. He has been mired in controversy ever since.  A recent decision resulted in the high profile standing-down by the BBC of Gary Lineker, and a hasty and somewhat fudged reinstatement of the football commentator. 

Mr Sharp’s resignation today followed the criticisms in the findings of an independent enquiry. 

At the heart of the matter is the enthusiasm for the appointment of Mr Sharp by the Government of the day led by Boris Johnson,   He was named as the government's preferred candidate through the  Department of Culture, Media and Sport' (DCMS), the customary process  (give or take the increasingly clumsy name acquired by the Department).

The Govt’s enthusiasm for Richard Sharp was matched by Mr Sharp’s enthusiasm for his old friend Mr Johnson. He was aware of the PM’s need to supplement his salary now that his earnings had plummeted but his requirements had increased.

Sharp knew another business friend Sam Blyth with interests in helping Johnson out financially to the tune of £800,000.  Aware of the dangers of actions considered improper or heaven forbid illegal he consulted with the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case on how  to keep the arrangement squeaky clean.

Unfortunately, the time period coincided with the  appointment interview for the new Director General of the BBC. The arrangement became increasingly squeaky but not exactly clean. A case of Sharp practice you might say.

A parliamentary investigation concluded

"Mr Sharp's failure to disclose his actions to the panel and the committee, although he believed this to be completely proper, constitute a breach of the standards expected of individuals applying for such public appointments.”

An independent enquiry was set up, led by the lawyer Adam Heppingstall. The report was expected in late April 2023 ...

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To begin at the beginning. My story is about the power of the Hollywood dream machine. But it is also Welsh. Very Welsh, as you will soon hear. 

The non-league football club of Wrexham,  a  town tucked away in   the borders of North Wales, attracts the attention of two Hollywood movie stars, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney

The story was always destined to turn into a Hollywood blockbuster. Two regular guys build a movie career but become soccer nuts. They dream of owning a club and learn how Wrexham town is facing bankruptcy. They fly into town incognito and are love-bombed by the residents fearing the worse for their team,

We got to do something Ryan said to Rob oozing superstar charisma, So the buddies looked at each other and ….

Well that’s my draft of the plot. 

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I was preparing for the Govt emergency warning trial, when another phonemail interrupted me with far more important news.

I decided to complete my bath, an increasingly necessary part of maintaining my body in fine shape after a gruelling game of doubles tennis this morning.

But when I replied to the phone call I found myself listening to a very proud mum, bursting to share some spectacular news about her son ...

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I interview Dr Murray Clark, an expert on trust-based leadership, and the current case involving Dominic Raab.

Murray is co-author of our book Dilemmas of Leadership.
He kindly interrupted his holiday preparations for the interview which explains the sound quality which even Buzzsprout editing could not improve.

Murray explains how gaining trust is 'a two-way street'.
We also touch on the possible benefits of 360 degree appraisal methods of leadership development, provided the leader is willing to undertake the experience. 

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Rishi Sunak faces a serious leadership problem dealing with the report of the bullying accusations made about his deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab. This leaves the Prime Minister facing the classic leadership dilemma of facing two unpalatable options of sacking Raab or supporting him. He will find a valuable lesson to the response by Elon Musk to his space flight yesterday  which ended in a spectacular explosion, yet was claimed as a triumph by Musk and his team at Mission Control.

The dilemma

Sacking him results in a reshuffle and questions about his previous leadership decisions. Leaving him in place will also bring criticisms of ignoring the claims of the civil servants, and still having to deal with them. As a tweet put it

The Tories are drowning in their own sleaze and corruption. If Sunak sacks Raab it’ll be the end of Sunak. If Sunak doesn’t sack Raab he won’t survive the public outcry and it’ll be the end of Sunak. Classic example of being caught between a rock and a hard place. Tories in free fall

The process for dealing with the complaints is itself being described as a hasty muddle because of a delay in appointing an ethics advisor. The previous senior civil servant resigned for actions of the previous PM but one, Boris Johnson, who had become embroiled in Partygate and more specifically dealing with a rather similar loyalty versus misbehaviour problem.
Absence of an ethics advisor, Sunak opted for a report that offered no conclusions, leaving him with the growing political crisis. As the day went on, accusations grew by the opposition that the PM was dithering. The day ended with the story building up momentum ...

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