Simon Minty's recent thoughts and more

Simon about to go on stage at EY, with a poster quote above him asking 'why do uncertain times need the certainty of purpose?' It's been quite a start to the year. Various projects were postponed from the end of 2018 and like a concertina, they bunched up into the start of 2019. That meant a lot of travel, including two trips to Berlin, one to Munich, then to Zurich, one to Australia and one to the USA all before April.  A trip to a very cold Berlin, in January was for pleasure as was the long trip 'down under', but the remainder have been work.  I love travel and working abroad. You can read how much in a  blog  from last year. Indeed, I've recently written a chapter for a forthcoming book about international consultancy and diversity with Middlesex University. However, on the final trip when I was in the USA I got what I only can describe as travellers’ blues. I've talked about it on stage at a few conferences subsequently with ...

This time last week I climbed aboard a coach to travel to conference called Names Not Numbers  held at Oxford University. Now in its 10th year, it is a remarkable conference with a remarkable group of people. It is both professional and personal, about networking and connections.  The conference theme was 'Judgement' and each speaker or session incorporated the concept in some way. As the conference began, I soon found myself instinctively jotting down notes - pithy sentences, profound points, startling facts and emotive thoughts from the various speakers. My intention was to able to reflect on them at a later date.  However, I've changed my mind and I have set out some of them here. That’s a risk as it might be a case of 'you had to be there'... how can they have the same impact in a blog when compared to hearing them from the person’s own voice, in the context of the rest of their talk? Worryingly, such excellent speakers might be a tad unimpressed that I'v...

A little while back the great people at  Skill Boosters  approached me to see if I'd like to make a training video with them. The topic was to be disability,  employment and customer service.  I said I'd be interested, but how about we do it a little differently? I suggested we make it with Abnormally Funny People, the comedy team I'm part of. To my delight, they agreed.  I'm pleased to say after a lot of brilliant, creative, hard work, it is ready.  Below is the promo video. If you want to know more, contact Peter Thorpe, at Skill Boosters 020 3859 4308  peter.thorpe@skillboosters.com  There are dynamic subtitles included and the next sentence is a link to the transcript if you prefer.   Transcript of Skill Boosters disability training video made with Abnormally Funny People 

Whilst chatting with a long standing client  she exclaimed “Simon, I had no idea about your work internationally. You need to tell people about it!”   We were attending a meeting at Middlesex University to hear about new research in to how diversity strategies have been implemented in global organisations. I was invited by the British Council, an organisation I've worked with for many years, who had commissioned the research. I was asked to speak outlining my experience and the work I’ve done. This is work I love and have enjoyed immensely over the years. So here we go... Meeting bankers in Hong Kong I should clarify I specifically work in field of disability rather than the broader diversity arena. I have been working internationally since 2002. Around half of those trips have been because the British Council have asked me to go to a region. The other half has been for a range of organisations including Bank of America, Google, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and McDonald...