Hilary Goldsmith

I'm a management consultant and leadership coach

I get terrifically excited about new ideas and new possibilities. I believe in sharing ideas freely - other people’s good ideas stimulate us to see new opportunities. Ideas breed. I particularly enjoy taking ideas from unusual or unlikely sources, and seeing what illumination they create. It’s so exciting when we open an entirely new door.

I tend to be a big picture person, good at spotting the context, and rising above a situation to see what is influencing it. I have an acute nose for organisational politics, the visible and the undercurrents. You are trying to operate levers to make things happen, which is difficult when you can’t see the wood for the trees. I help people see what is really happening, what systems are at play, and how they are operating.

Maybe it’s because I was originally a mathematician that I’m good at seeing patterns. This helps me to see how things can be arranged to make everyone’s lives easier. Most activities are over-complex, and the complexity serves little useful purpose. In my ideal organisation, there’s plenty of time and energy for people to be creative and to move the organisation forward, because the routine stuff is no sweat.