Chimps in the Snow

The snow is such an inconvenience. It gets in the way of modern life. It messes up with our plans and turns our daily routine on its head. While it looks beautiful it is not compatible with the way that I want my life to run. As it falls and the world around me grinds … Continue reading Chimps in the Snow

#CyberNorth Think Tank

The first of our planned events for the Dynamo cyber work stream was the Think Tank held earlier this week at Accenture’s offices in Cobalt. We had been planning it for several months and then suddenly it was upon us. The idea was to relaunch the work we had undertaken while raising our profile by … Continue reading #CyberNorth Think Tank

Marshmallow challenge

One of the ways we got the delegates to engage with each other at the Rural Cultural Business Innovation Programme, was through the Marshmallow Challenge. I love it. It makes me laugh every time I see it run. It is quite simple. Each group, it is essential that there several people in the group, has … Continue reading Marshmallow challenge

Leading ladies

I’ve talked about my involvement in Lyndsey’s Leading Ladies before yet this time my role in the programme was something special, to me at least. I was asked if I would hold a session as part of this year’s programme, to talk about why getting more women into tech is important and my perceptions of … Continue reading Leading ladies

Rural Cultural Business Innovation Programme day 1

The Olympic room in The White Swan in Alnwick was a magnificent location to get our Rural Cultural Business Innovation Programme underway. Justin and I have seem to have been planning this for ages and now the day had finally arrived. We had been working with the Creative Fuse Partnership and other creative, digital and … Continue reading Rural Cultural Business Innovation Programme day 1

Selling Levi Roots

The highlight of the North East Growth Hub’s Scaleup North East Launch , apart from the exciting programme itself had to be the keynote from Levi Roots. Yes I had heard of him, his appearance on Dragon’s Den and his hot Reggae Reggae Sauce. Other than that though our paths had never crossed. Why would … Continue reading Selling Levi Roots

What is your superpower?

What is your superpower? Mine, I think, is in being organised. I have the happy knack, or the annoying habit depending upon your perspective, of being able to dismantle a heap of things to do and reassembling them into a logical set of tasks. Whenever I have something to do (and I mean almost whenever) … Continue reading What is your superpower?

Sunk work

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to study behavioural economics and with this in mind I have bought myself a couple of books. Well, you have to start somewhere. The first one is ‘Misbehaving’ by Richard H Thaler and I am enjoying it very much. In the book, he talks about how people have … Continue reading Sunk work

Chair of Socitm North East

My tenure as chair of Socitm North East has come to an end. It had to happen some time anyway and with me no longer in the thick of the public sector, it is right that someone more able takes over from me. That person is Neil Arnold from Northumberland Council, who continues to be … Continue reading Chair of Socitm North East