Whether our focus is on the past, present or future, if it’s negatively fixed and convergent then we are less likely to see different perspectives and this will limit our decision-making, and our level of influence.

Have you noticed how if you go out on a day when you’re feeling confident and positive, everyone seems to reflect your mood? It’ll be smiles and after you’s, all round. Equally if you’re feeling foul, the whole world will seem to be set against you.

How do we know if we’re breathing incorrectly? Our throat will tell us. Think of those nights out in crowded venues when we’ve had to raise our voice, or when we’ve been to a concert or sports fixture and been singing and shouting. The next day we may feel it as irritation in our throats, or maybe we’ll lose our voice altogether.

This is one of the principles that I try and live by. It’s not easy, but it encourages us to treat others with the same respect, consideration and kindness that we would like to receive. This is the foundational tenet for effective leadership and teams as from this we can foster healthy, positive relationships.

The problem is we all lose our natural way of breathing at about the age of six when we go to school. We’re then told to sit still in class for long periods of time, which affects our breathing meaning we start to breathe more shallowly.

Some might misconstrue the word with arrogance or recklessness, but through my lens, audacity is the boldness and confidence to express ourselves with clarity, conviction and purpose.

The dilemma is, we all want to be seen as real and genuine, but sometimes life pulls us out of our selves and self-doubt whispers that we are not enough and need to become someone else entirely.

You may have noticed our tag line: “creatively quirky and rooted in science”. Maybe it’s why you’re here, or maybe you just want to learn a bit more about how we do things. 

The Vermillion approach is all about learning that sticks. We’ve studied the science behind communication and successful learning to develop an approach that works time after time. 

We’re living through a time of monumental change in how we communicate. Forget writing a letter, now we want quick exchanges via email or a messaging service, increasingly using AI to create them. Face to face interactions seem more scary and challenging as we’re used to hiding behind this digital communication ‘wall’. I

How many of us prepare before we present? And I don’t mean sitting at your computer scanning over what you’ve written.

Because that’s the sum of what most people will do. They’ll maybe read through what they’ve written a couple of times - but in their heads - and they won’t physicalise it.