Applebright Coaching

07/09/2026

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐛 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲⁣
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For thirty years I could answer the question at a party in four words. I am a police officer. Latterly, with a key leadership role responsible for several thousand people and for decisions that occasionally mattered a great deal.⁣
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There is a particular comfort in a role that explains itself. You never have to justify what you do, and the identity arrives fully assembled. Walking away from that at an age when most people are consolidating was, by a distance, the least sensible thing I have done.⁣
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I did it because of a pattern I could not stop noticing. Across three hundred or so coaching conversations held alongside the day job, the people who changed things were never the ones with the best plan. They were the ones who had done some quiet work on themselves first - who knew what they ran on, what they would not trade, and why any of it was worth the years. And almost nobody was helping them do that.⁣
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So now the four-word answer has gone and I have to explain myself at parties. On balance, more than a fair trade.⁣
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𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?

05/09/2026

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫!
Getting two weeks into September and the plan you made in August is already somewhere in a notebook!

Nothing has gone wrong. That is what makes it hard to spot. The week was busy, the work got done, and the thing September was actually for did not move.

One question changes it, and I learned it in three decades of command leadership and coaching over 500 businesses - rather than in a business book: not what should I do today, but what is genuinely at stake if this does not happen.

Ask it of your week tomorrow morning. Most of the calendar will not survive it. Also, consider what in that diary 'energises' you and what 'drains' you. You can do something about that!

The founders I work with across Staffordshire and Cheshire rarely have time problems. They have clarity problems wearing time problems’ clothes.⁣

24/08/2026

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝-𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬⁣
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Nobody checks a load-bearing wall until something upstairs starts to crack. ⁣
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What if you could understand where the pressure sits before it breaks?!⁣
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Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2026 puts manager engagement at 22 per cent, down from 31 per cent in 2022 - that is the steepest fall of any group they track. Global employee engagement sits at 20 per cent, its lowest since 2020, with an estimated 10 trillion US dollars of lost productivity attached to it.⁣
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Managers are the level that turns strategy into daily practice. When they run on empty, the symptoms appear everywhere except the source. ⁣
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❌ Decisions slow. ⁣
❌ Standards drift. ⁣
❌ Good people leave for reasons that sound like something else. ⁣
❌ The customer feels it before the owner does.⁣
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This is the hidden weight of leadership, and it is rarely the volume of work. It is the ambiguity around it. Most managers I coach are not overloaded so much as unclear - carrying responsibilities nobody formally handed them, and unable to set anything down because nobody has told them they can. Founders and owners occasionally look to create efficiencies in harder economic times in middle management positions, the cost of losing the engagement of your team deep and extremely costly - think carefully on this. ⁣
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Three questions close that clarity gap:⁣
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❓ What has this manager actually agreed to own?⁣
❓ What do they have permission to stop doing?⁣
❓ When do we next speak?⁣
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𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵. Nothing clever.⁣
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The clearest leaders carry the lightest load - and that holds one level down just as firmly as it holds at the top.⁣
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So, one to sit with this week. ⁣
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𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞?⁣
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Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026⁣
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29/07/2026

𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲, 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 - 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝟔𝟎𝟎 𝐀𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐞⁣⁣
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Some places hold 850 years of history so lightly you could walk straight past it.⁣⁣
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Keele is one of them.⁣⁣
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Granted to the Knights Templar around 1180. Home of the Sneyd family for four centuries. Then, in 1949, the site of something radical: the first new university of the twentieth century, founded by Lord Lindsay on the belief that graduates should understand the society their knowledge serves.⁣⁣
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And beneath all that beauty sits a serious economic engine. Around half a billion pounds a year contributed to our regional economy. More than 50 businesses on one of the UK's largest science parks. One of the biggest employers in Newcastle-under-Lyme. A Business School bringing the fully funded Help to Grow programme to SMEs across Staffordshire.⁣⁣
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Beauty and business, sharing the same 600 acres. Neither diminished by the other. It is a great place to connect with nature too and so far having planted a tree to celebrate each client I work with we have planted a small forest through the National Trust plant a tree campaign. ⁣⁣
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My own connection runs deep. I worked here as an A level student. Early in my policing career I studied here for my Masters in Criminology, learning that served me across thirty years of service. Today it is where I walk and run at first light, and where I have coached leaders from Dubai to Los Angeles down the phone while walking beneath its trees.⁣⁣
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Every photograph in this short film was taken on those morning walks.⁣⁣
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The full reflection, with the history, the numbers and the Help to Grow detail for local SMEs, is here:⁣⁣
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https://applebrightcoaching.co.uk/2026/07/25/beauty-business-and-growth-keele/⁣⁣
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If Keele is part of your story too, I would love to hear it.⁣⁣
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25/07/2026

Beauty, Business and Growth: What 600 Acres of Staffordshire Keep Teaching Me

An 850-year-old estate, a pioneering university and a half-billion-pound economic engine share 600 acres of Staffordshire parkland. A personal reflection on why beauty, business and growth belong together, with a walk through Keele's history, its Science and Innovation Park, the Help to Grow programme for local SMEs, and what it all means for leading well in the age of AI....

An 850-year-old estate, a pioneering university and a half-billion-pound economic engine share 600 acres of Staffordshire parkland. A personal reflection on why beauty, business and growth belong together, with a walk through Keele's history, its Science and Innovation Park, the Help to Grow program...

19/07/2026

19/07/2026

𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧⁣⁣⁣
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There are some places that change your pace without you even realising it. ⁣⁣⁣
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Seville is one of those places. ⁣⁣⁣
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You notice it almost immediately. People sit longer in cafés. They talk more. They wander the streets without urgency. And something about that rhythm invites you to slow down as well. The bright sunshine drenches the streets in warmth and light and almost every avenue bathes in the scent of the oranges on the trees growing everywhere!⁣⁣⁣
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Modern life however often encourages the opposite. ⁣⁣⁣
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Move faster. ⁣⁣⁣
Do more. ⁣⁣⁣
Fill every moment.⁣⁣⁣
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But travelling occasionally reminds us that life can also be lived at a different tempo. Walking through Seville's narrow streets, watching people gather in the evening light, it struck me how much ⁣⁣⁣
joy exists in simply being present.⁣⁣⁣
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Not rushing. ⁣⁣⁣
Not multitasking. ⁣⁣⁣
Just enjoying where you are. ⁣⁣⁣
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Those moments stay with you long after ⁣⁣⁣
the trip ends, they are with me still even after the last week of being back home as they have brightened every moment! ⁣⁣⁣
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They become reminders that life isn't only about productivity. It's also about ⁣⁣⁣
experiences, being in the moment. And sometimes slowing down actually allows us to appreciate more of what we already have. ⁣⁣⁣
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So a reflection for today. When was the last time you truly slowed down enough to notice the moment you were in? And if you ever get the chance to experience a place like Seville, grab it with both hands!⁣⁣⁣
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14/07/2026

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 — 𝐨𝐫 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?⁣⁣
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The instinct is to pull in. The latest British Chambers of Commerce figures show it plainly: business investment at its lowest since the pandemic, and fewer than a third of firms growing sales. That caution is understandable. But there's a difference between caution that protects a business and caution that quietly shrinks it.⁣⁣
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The owners I coach who come through seasons like this well aren't the reckless ones. They get clear on the two or three things that genuinely move their business, and keep backing those - even modestly - while trimming elsewhere. ⁣⁣
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This is the Leadership Clarity Gap in practice: fear narrows the question to "how do we hold on?"; clarity asks a better one - "where would a small, deliberate investment of time, energy or money still pay off?"⁣⁣
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When the market is cautious, competitors are slower to the opportunity. That is exactly when being first counts. You don't have to choose between survival and ambition - you have to choose where each belongs.⁣⁣
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If you're weighing that up now, name the one area you're tempted to cut that might actually be worth protecting. That could be where your next season of growth begins.⁣⁣
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09/07/2026

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎% 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨⁣⁣⁣
𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄⁣⁣⁣
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Most of what fills your week is not what grows your business.⁣⁣⁣
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That is not a criticism. It is a pattern that has been observed for well over a century. Vilfredo Pareto spotted it in 1896. Joseph Juran built modern quality management on it and gave it a name that still cuts through: the vital few and the trivial many.⁣⁣⁣
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Roughly only 20% of what a leader (you and I) and a business does drives almost all of the hard results. The other 80% feels like work but moves very little.⁣⁣⁣
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And here is the uncomfortable part. In business the ratio is often sharper still. Richard Koch’s research suggests it is frequently closer to 90/10, sometimes 99/1. One study of 300 films found that just four of them produced eighty percent of the ticket sales. Four. There is a clear structured way through this, not easy, but doable!⁣⁣⁣
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Now bring that home to your own diary.⁣⁣⁣
When Harvard researchers tracked 27 chief executives hour by hour for thirteen weeks, the finding that stood out was not how they spent their time. It was the gap between how they believed they spent it and how they actually did. Time on their core agenda ranged from 14 percent of working hours to 80. Same job title. Very different leadership.⁣⁣⁣
So the real question is not whether this pattern applies to you. ⁣⁣⁣
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✅ It does. ⁣⁣⁣
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The question is whether you know what your 20% actually is. In my experience, almost every leader is guessing, I was for sure! ⁣⁣⁣
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This is where I work alongside clients. Part of the my coaching at Applebright is to support you to perform an audit and diagnostic, done with you rather than to you. ⁣⁣⁣
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We will look at your numbers, your diary and your energy, and we find the small set of activities that genuinely create your results. For you as founder. For your leaders. For the team as a whole.⁣⁣⁣
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⚙️ Then we operationalise it. ⁣⁣⁣
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Often that means an automated performance dashboard, so you keep a finger on the pulse of what is actually creating success, week by week rather than at year end. It also means relegating lower value work for repeatable success!⁣⁣⁣
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That same dashboard does something a lot of coaching avoids. It holds the your results clear to see and that holds me even more accountable and it shows the return on investment the coaching is making into the growth of your business.⁣⁣⁣
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𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐤⁣⁣⁣
What would happen if I did far less, but only the things that count?⁣⁣⁣
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Knowing your 20% radically changes how you perform, because it becomes the source code for growth. Everything else is volume.⁣⁣⁣
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📈 Measure what matters, and the noise gets turned down.⁣⁣⁣
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Sources: My coaching delivery with clients and :-⁣⁣⁣

Porter and Nohria, How CEOs Manage Time, Harvard Business Review, 2018.

Richard Koch, The 80/20 Principle.

Joseph Juran, the vital few and the trivial many.