Leadership & the art of growing up: a conversation with Jerry Colonna

A few months ago, a new book appeared on my radar. It seemed to be everywhere and kept showing up on social media. It was called ‘Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up’ by Jerry Colonna. I initially didn't think it was for me. But it persisted in popping up. And after a while I thought, perhaps I’m meant to read it.

And I clearly was. It spoke to me on a deep level. I saw some of myself in Jerry’s story. It got me thinking more about the path I’m on and how I measure progress. That was in October. I was so taken with the book that straight after finishing it I wrote a snail-mail letter to Jerry in Boulder, Colorado. As a result, Jerry and I had a number of conversations on Twitter and email. 

Jerry was coming to London in December. He was going to be on vacation, but it was too good an opportunity to miss. Was he free for a fireside chat  I'd host at The H Club in front of a small audience? He said yes. And so a week ago I met Jerry for the first time. As I envisaged, he was a great and generous conversationalist, and we had a wonderful evening where Jerry talked about the concept of radical self-inquiry; how we can bring our true selves to work; how feeling lost can be an indicator of growth; and why everybody is faking it.

Here's a video of the event (contains strong language).