When a housewife with cleaning products met centuries-old antique furniture, magic happened – just not the way anyone expected. Here’s how my biggest mistake became everyone’s golden opportunity.

Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels, working hard but not seeing the breakthrough results you’re after? You’re not alone.

Picture walking into a room where every face screams scepticism. Arms crossed, eyes rolling, body language that practically shouts, “This is a waste of my time.” As a change manager and facilitator, I’d encountered resistance before, but this leading car manufacturer’s workshop felt different.

Did you know you make approximately 35,000 decisions every day? Before your
morning coffee, you've already chosen when to get out of bed, what to wear, and
whether to check your phone. By lunchtime? Your brain is quietly rebelling.

In the desert sands of El Alamein, during the Second World War, Major Reginald Henry Farlow was buried up to his neck during a fierce sandstorm. His mixed unit of Sikhs and Hindus – unprecedented for a British officer to command – refused to abandon the search.

In the shadow of the mighty Himalayas, I spent my earliest years developing the very qualities that would later ignite my remarkable understanding of transformation.

I wrote to Bill Perry, their marketing director, on parchment paper in old English text: I could increase his sales and needed only 47 minutes to discuss it. His reply came almost instantly.