I wonder if it’s actually me? There is a phrase my mother used to use, usually with a raised eyebrow and a tone that suggested the conversation was already over. “All fur coat and no knickers.” It was never meant cruelly. More a shorthand for something that looked the part, played the role convincingly, but ultimately lacked substance where it mattered. I found myself thinking of it again this New Year. We spent the holiday at one of Hua Hin’s most talked-about hotels. Award-

There is a quiet ritual in my life that I have come to value far more than I ever expected. For years, the same barber has cut my hair. We do not speak. We sit together in silence in a private room – the only environment in which I can tolerate the process – and he simply gets on with the work. No conversation, no performance, no social choreography. Just fifty minutes of silence carried by competence and trust. It is an unusual kind of intimacy, one that our age rarely recog

It is difficult to explain Dreamforce to anyone who has not stood in the middle of it. For one week each year, San Francisco becomes a stage. Streets close to traffic, buildings light up in Salesforce blue, and the city fills with tens of thousands of delegates moving in purposeful streams between keynotes, cafés and concerts. It feels less like a conference and more like a festival of belief, a gathering built around the promise that technology will make us more connected, m

These are personal reflections on service and standards, written as a guest and observer. They are not connected to any institution or...

Luxury has always been a shifting concept. In one era it meant jewels and fine fabrics; in another it meant servants and carriages....

I have just returned from a week at The Oberoi, Bali. For seven days I did not once leave the resort. It was not that I had no interest...

This essay follows from my earlier reflection on the decline of substance in service. If Polish Without Substance  explored the emptiness...

It is an enduring myth of professional life that systems are inherently designed to work. That if something is in place, a form, a...

'Luxury' is a word that used to mean something. It spoke of care taken, of refinement, of a kind of thoughtfulness that was neither...

One of the most exhausting features of institutional life, whether in education, corporate structures, or the softer machinery of public...

Over the years, I’ve worked in a number of institutions — some large, some obscure, some that appear polished until you peek behind the...