The web is a wonderful thing. But you do have to keep a watch-out for piracy, especially if you have written a book.

After publication of The Solutions Focus, a number of unofficial offers started appearing, promising free downloads.

From the blurb, it looked like my words had been somewhat freely 'translated'. For example, it suggested, 'kibosh doing what doesn't impact and do something different?' and 'to pore on what is doable kinda than what is intractable'. Good advice, we can all agree, and arguably more colourfully written than the original, though I did have my doubts when assured, 'the solutions pore shitting in the playing'.

Anyway, we asked the publisher to chase away the pirates, and more than a decade after the first edition was launched, you can still get the real thing on Amazon.

If you want change in your organisation, change the conversations 

A brief history of coaching 

Coaching has taken a couple of decades to establish itself as a profession and management tool. The rise of coaching means managers are pretty familiar with the idea of a structured dialogue with a colleague, usually one of the manager’s direct reports.  

The coaching is typically aimed at sorting out a problem, clarifying goals or encouraging better performance. 

Results vary, depending not only on the skill of the coach, but also on the approach that the coach decides to take.  A lot of time gets wasted with problem-saturated approaches, and managers are missing wonderful opportunities to make a worthwhile difference.