Start Here
Start here
Most valuable things begin with an act of attention.
I'm Rob. This is where I share what I know and learn about work, creativity, communication, and how a good idea becomes something valuable — and where I try to leave the place a little better than I found it.
Almost everything here comes back to seeing and noticing ideas — where they come from, how they travel between people, and how they become value.
If you've ever found yourself wondering:
- Why some workplaces make people feel more creative, engaged and fulfilled than others.
- Why communication is so often the difference between success and failure.
- Why many offices seems to have forgotten the importance of books.
- How ideas become value.
- Whether work could be more thoughtful, more human and more meaningful whilst achieving business results.
Then you're in the right place.
There's a fair bit here. So if you only do one thing:
If you read one thing, read this
Mottainai — stop wasting human potentialA Japanese idea about treating time, effort and potential with the respect they deserve. It's the closest thing I have to a manifesto, and everything else here grows out of it.
Ideas to turn over
For the reader who likes to think about work, not just get through it.
-
The Circles of Contribution
How your work actually reaches other people — and why that's the whole point of doing it well.
-
Creativity is a Climate Problem
Why good ideas are a matter of conditions, not a rare talent a few people are born with.
Things to put to work
Guides and books you can open today and use on Monday.
-
The Life of an Idea
The whole system for moving an idea from a first flicker to something real and useful — the map beneath everything here.
-
Zero to Keynote
Build and give a talk you actually enjoy giving — from the first nervous one to a proper keynote.
-
Generate Talk IdeasFree
A free chapter from Zero to Keynote — so you're never short of something worth saying.
Bring it to your team
When you'd like this in the room, not just on the page.
-
Talks & keynotes
A talk built for your room and your people — not a template dropped in from outside.
-
Workshops & training
Hands-on sessions that genuinely teach — communication, creativity, thinking and making.
-
Consulting
A thinking partner for the harder problems — where ideas are getting stuck on the way to value.
Keep in touch
Two ways to go a little deeper — one free, one the deeper room.
The newsletter — free
Meeting Notes
A weekly letter: a bit of thinking about work, creativity and communication, and whatever I've been noticing lately. Free, and the easiest way to keep in touch.
The deeper room
The Studio
The monthly Department of Interesting Things, the full Idea to Value Field Guide, members' essays and a direct line to me. Most of what I make stays free — the Studio is part of what keeps it that way.
Have a wander. If something here turns out to be useful, that's the whole idea.
For universities & schools
I lecture and run sessions for students and educators — on communication, creativity, and how ideas become value. If that would be useful where you teach, I'd like to hear from you.
Enquire about a guest lecture →Value beyond profit
Five percent of profit from the books, courses and membership is given each year to Naomi House — the hospice caring for life-limited children and their families. Because every system should create value beyond profit.