Talent Strategy was my job for years. It took stepping away from corporate life to realise I was the wrong person to be doing it - not because I wasn't capable, but because talent strategy isn't an HR problem. It's a leadership one.

Some days leadership is about survival, not sprinting. Mark Cavendish knew this - even the greatest sprinter spent most Tour days just getting through.

The question is: are you in the right team, or do you need to reframe how you're riding?

"What do you want?"

No one had asked my client that before. He was stuck playing peacekeeper when he should have been leading.

Here's why that question unlocked everything – and what it means for senior leaders trying to navigate competing demands.

Every leadership expert tells you something different about who you're supposed to be. Be vulnerable but confident. Listen but direct. The contradiction is exhausting. What if the real work isn't performing leadership - it's practising it?

Even the best teams fall apart when unexpected hits.

Drawing from a personal redundancy experience and the cycling concept of echelons, this post explores how leaders can navigate organisational crosswinds by building the right formation rather than trying to muscle through change alone.

There's a particular kind of loneliness that comes with being the person everyone turns to for answers. You've built a career on competence. And yet something has shifted. The confidence that once felt like a given now feels fragile.

If this resonates, I want you to know something: losing confidence is not weakness. It's a signal.

"Thank you. I just needed to be listened to."

A reminder that sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can do is put the toolkit down.

"Stop the noise. I need space to think."

This came up in a client session last week. He arrived overwhelmed with ideas, concerns, problems, opportunities. When that happens, it's my job to create a Think Tank - the space where leaders can untangle what's really going on beneath the urgent.

"Yes this is me. Yes I can do all that." How a senior leader navigating career transition moved from self-doubt to authentic confidence by addressing the hidden commitments keeping her stuck

Why did Bowie and Prince resonate so much at age 12?

Because they showed me that reinvention isn't about abandoning who you are - it's about allowing yourself to evolve into who you're becoming.

The same principle applies to leadership transitions.

Over Christmas, I got a model bicycle as a table gift. I was genuinely excited until I opened it and found dozens of pieces with no instructions. What I needed wasn't coaching - it was clear instruction. But that's not always what's needed. Here's how to know the difference.

Eddie Merckx versus Tadej Pogačar. The numbers say 18% improvement. The reality? Only 2% once you account for technology. For leaders obsessing over AI, the lesson is clear: connection beats tools every time.

I'll be honest. I had a wobble over Christmas. You know the kind - the one that creeps in when you're supposed to be relaxing, when you've got time to look at the spreadsheet and notice next quarter looks thin. All the old demons started kicking in. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's all the work I'm going to get. Wobble after wobble after wobble. So I did what I'd tell any client to do: I changed my perspective. Literally. I grabbed my gravel bike and headed out into the forests around Kielder Water. That ride reminded me what I needed to know: perspective shifts don't come from sitting with the spreadsheet. They come from stepping away and remembering what you know to be true.

It's a cold January morning, and I'm reflecting on my first full year focused on Taggart People.

Three simple questions from the world of cycling have me thinking about what 2025 taught me, what I'm after in 2026, and how I'll get there. What are you carrying forward into the new year?

I got a tattoo this week. Four and a half hours in the chair, and yes, it hurt. But the pain wasn't the point. The story was.

It's Mont Ventoux - the climb that nearly broke me, and the moment I understood something crucial about leadership that 25 years in corporate life never taught me.

When you're halfway up a mountain in 35-degree heat, legs screaming, lungs burning, there's no corporate theatre. Just you, the road, and a choice: keep going or quit.

If you're a senior leader right now - carrying the weight whilst everyone looks to you for clarity, navigating change you didn't ask for, expected to have answers you're still figuring out - you know exactly what that feels like.

Here's what I learned on that mountain about reading the conditions, leading from different positions, and why the strongest leaders don't climb alone. Sometimes the best leadership insights don't come from business school. They come from knowing what it takes to get to the summit.

"I help adults become better adults." A phrase borrowed from Andrew Shorter at JLR that captures exactly what leadership development is really about.

Not fixing broken people - just helping us all become better at handling complexity, understanding ourselves, and leading others.

Ever feel like you’re waist-deep in something, unsure how to move forward? This reflection explores purpose, coaching, and what it means to wade into the work — fully.

What does riding a longhorn have to do with independent consulting? A lesson in fear, bravery, and the quiet grit behind building something of your own.

What if the biggest barrier to your leadership growth… was the story you’ve been told about what a ‘real leader’ looks like? Let’s rewrite that myth.

A photo of me smiling on a Yorkshire road doesn’t tell the whole story. This post explores the invisible emotional toll of leadership - and what happens when we mask it. Trust, safety, and empathy aren’t soft skills - they’re everything.