4and20Million.

After an excellent day delivering 'Collective Brilliance' in Banbury yesterday, Dan and I had plenty of time to chat as we crawled up the M6 in the beating rain and ominous darkness. Conversation turned to the importance of having a really strong opening in a presentation. Grab the attention, set the tone, immediately enchant. Something which great musical artists have understood for years. This inevitably led to a heated discussion about which albums have the greatest opening tracks. Surely there can be no argument with the definitive 4and20Million. selection below... 1. Weight of Love - The Black Keys (Turn Blue) 2. Untitled - Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights)  3. Honey - Moby (Play)   4. Planet Telex - Radiohead (The Bends) 5. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones (Let it Bleed)

Do you ever struggle to align your head and heart at work? 🤔 Our #WomenLeadingTheWay research by Julie Ensor found that empathy is one of the most underrated leadership skills that employees want more of from their bosses. But the ability to be tough in the face of challenges is crucial too. We think using both qualities effectively and in balance is key 💡 🔴Too Tough - You might temporally hit goals but you could lose people’s hearts, minds and talent through destructive conflict along the way. You might miss those bigger collaborative opportunities too. 🟢Too Empathetic - You might be trusted and feel connected but accountability and goals can be easily missed. People might take advantage or resent the “people-pleasing”. The risks of both can feel like an internal push and pull with tiring inner frustration. So many of us have been there during teamwork or in leadership. The good news? If you find yourself pulling between Empathetic and Tough, these Qualities might just be two opposing yet powerful strengths within you. Even if they don’t come naturally to you, they’re learnable skills! Tough and Empathetic may be opposite, but that shouldn't mean one cancels out the other. They’re a powerful combo to master. The key is to make sure you’re using them both effectively and in balance together. Embrace the paradox. ⚡️That might mean practising the quality you struggle with more, or both, initially in ‘safer’ scenarios and relationships until you’re ready to push yourself further. ⚡️Or in those already crucial challenges, knowing who around you can support you with their differences that complement your own. Having precise and practical self-awareness of how these two qualities can work together and how much you tend to use them is a valuable skill to develop 🫡 That’s why measuring and reporting these qualities independently is how we like do personality assessments 📊 It’s all about developing the wider dynamic of who you are so that you show up better for yourself and your teammates 💫 How often do you use these two as a pair? #WorkBetterTogether

A proper Olympic legacy in action! At 4and20Million. we often talk about resilience and managing emotions being key skills in work and life. This week, as my kids have become obsessed with badminton, eventing, swimming and mountain biking, they've also listened intently to some amazing words of wisdom: Tom Pidcock, on the terrrible luck of a puncture while leading, dropping him to 9th: "I was lucky it happened early on, so there was time to come back. There's no point stressing about it, that's not going to help me get back to the front" Adam Peaty, on missing a 3rd gold by 0.02 seconds: "I executed as well as I could. It doesn't matter what it says on the scoreboard because in my heart I've already won." None of us may ever go to an olympics, but we can still be inspired by so many examples of overcoming adversity, resilience and dealing with success and failure gracefully.