Are you woman? Read this. Men, do you know any women? Show them this article. It could change their career.

I was recently at a breakfast networking event on the topic of listening. You know, that part of communication that we understand makes all the difference but that can be maddeningly challenging. And I learned something shocking: Sisters are screwing it for themselves.

Spiderman keeps his identity secret in order to protect those he cares about, he learns how to develop his newly found superpowers and he meters out justice with a certain discipline. Spiderman has values.

This is the third and final blog about my reflections on the recent conference I attended, Brave New Learning, in Amsterdam. Here, I explore values and how two young women used peer led projects and community engagement to make a real difference through education.

Spiderman learned that with great power comes great responsibility and that he had to achieve a balance between these two competing issues. This blog looks at ways we can achieve more balance in adult education.

I recently attended the conference Brave New Learning in Amsterdam. This is the second blog reflecting on it and explores two brilliant forms of accessible, adult education and whether online education is really for everyone.

What would Spiderman do if he had to design a learning and development programme? Be honest - this question has kept you up at night. Spiderman is known for his creative thinking, balance and superhuman strength: just some of the same things I learned at the conference Brave New Learning last week in Amsterdam.

In the first of three reflective blogs, I learned how creative, playful learning can be used to engage folk, get them thinking and inspire them to craft amazing solutions to knotty problems.

Mentoring can take many forms and shapes. Here, two females born into very different worlds decades apart show the power of learning from one another.

Miranda is 7 ¾ and Stephanie is 84 ¾. This mentoring conversation might seem as likely as Depeche Mode singing about building a set of Ikea book shelves but these two females both learn from each other.

Mentoring is having someone in your corner to help you develop personally and professionally. Here are three tips to keep in mind.

1) Careful with the steering: learning is a process of trial and error. Be gentle with yourself as a mentee.
2) Get your go to place ready: when your head is full and you need a break this will provide you with the space to do that.
3) Find your sanctuary person: find a person who gives you unconditional support to help you through the tough stuff.

Why one little piece of punctuation shapes how we see people, what women can do to be seen as more professional in the workplace and why Hemingway would have had a tough time on social media.

Exclamation marks. Love them or hate them, to exclaim or not to exclaim: that is the question. Because although it’s a teeny tiny thing it punches above its weight. It’s powerful.

We are all public speakers. Whether it’s show and tell at school, being put on the spot at work to “just say a few words” or facing a sea of expectant faces from a stage. Here are ten top tips to help you.

It covers a range of topics from storytelling to the power of pauses, and why clarity, editing and learning the needs of your audience are your best friends when you’re preparing what you’re going to say.

I cannot guarantee you’ll fall in love with me but I can promise you the best home-brewed beetroot wine you’ll have ever tasted.

I teach people to become better at communicating and so I love it when I come across real life examples of communication that hit the spot. This week, two pieces of writing stopped me in my tracks. One is about love, and the other is about the life of perhaps the most fascinating person you’ve never heard of.

Congratulations, you've been promoted! Your stellar communication and leadership skills have been noticed and you're now in charge of motivating, guiding and looking after a group of people. Your team.

Whilst getting results is about doing stuff, a lot about being a manager is asking the right questions to help shift people's thinking to help them make decisions to get their own results. You can support your team members by using the following simple framework.

You’re stuck. You know what you need to do but you’re bamboozled about how to do it.

That goal you’ve written on a post-it is becoming an ornament on the edge of your screen and you’re convinced the words are actually sneering at you because you’ll never get it done. Here’s a simple and fun coaching technique to get you unstuck and find a solution.

What’s coaching got to do with a cream tea? Quite a lot actually. A scone with just the right amount of crumble. Clotted cream that delivers heaven. Jam that is jamish in all the right ways. Served on elegant china and savoured with a great pot of tea.

If you’re thinking about coaching, here are a few things you should consider. And yes, what with the power of metaphor and the mention of yummy cakes, reading this might make your mouth water.

This simple exercise is fun, practical and makes people much better writers.

Small can pack a punch. A few words can distill a story as big as Alaska into the same potency as your granny’s perfume. I teach people how to write. This is one exercise that's fun, practical and makes people much better writers. It's called the six word memoir.

You've an audience in front of you and your role is to motivate them. Here's a simple 5 piece structure to help you do just that.

We know Mickey Mouse and M&Ms have shaped American culture, but what about Alan H. Monroe? I'll give you a few clues. He invented something in the 1930s. You'll know his work. It might have brought a lump to your throat. It made you care. It made you want to take action. Any ideas? Read on…