A moment of reflection...

When I asked my colleague Stuart Turnbull to send me an image for an impro-portrait he wasn't sure he would have the time... However, I caught him on Skype and snapped the top part of this picture in a fragile moment when something crashed to the floor in the background...  

Eventually, he did send a photograph and it forms the lower part of this image. His beautiful partner features - and they now have an amazing young son.

When I first met Stuart I was in awe of him. I knew he had worked extensively with The World Bank in the USA and then moved to the UK before again moving to Barcelona where he set up home and family. I saw him as extremely accomplished, talented, creative and keenly sensitive to his circumstances.

Stuart does extraordinary work with dialogue and action learning. I was fortunate to work with him as he assembled a group of 9 artists to work for two days with a group of more than 200 lawyers from an international telecoms company.

Lawyers and artists?  Yeah, exactly...

In my experience, amazing change often occurs as a result of leadership and risk.  Stuart led the combined team and held the risk of the project at significant emotional cost to himself. I began to be less in awe of him and saw him more authentically as someone who puts heart and soul into his work. Risky? Yes. Effective? Two hundred lawyers painted, photographed, light mixed, knitted, relaxed, joked, acted, sang, danced and filmed their way into new conversations that changed their relationships beyond belief.

It was a fantastic experience - one that I've been trying to replicate ever since. So, if anyone knows a group of lawyers in need of creativity and dialogue...

Then I know just the guy...!