Going on holiday? Taking time off? Enjoying the sun? Switching off completely?
Welcome to the summer edition of our REAL Leadership newsletter. We hope you’re doing at least one, if not all, of the above?It’s been a challenging few months for our leadership community as we navigate our way through this “perma-crisis”, and there’s no sign of it abating anytime soon, so it’s important to take some proper time off and recharge before September.

The REAL. team want to wish you a great summer and thank everyone for their contributions this month.
What’s included in Talking REAL. this month?

  • This latest blog post from Steve shares some top tips on what leaders should be thinking about to retain employees, aside from pay and benefits.
  • If you are one of the people already journaling as part of your daily routine then find out from Marc Convey why he is journaling in his own way.
  • Many of us are lucky enough to have some time off work this month. Read more from Victoria Salomon on why this is crucial for recharging all the systems in your body and mind.
  • This week we loved Nicola Pye’s LinkedIn Post about the “Great Rethink” – don’t miss out on this post about the importance of rest and well-being.
  • And while you’re on holiday, we thought it would be helpful to share our favourite leadership books.

As we take time off over the summer it’s also a chance to collect our thoughts as leaders, think about the next few months and some of the challenges ahead.
It’s actually only just over 4 months before people return to work in January 2023, which is traditionally the time when they start looking for a new job, so there will be even more pressure on leaders of all types of organisations to prove why their employees should stay.This latest blog post shares some top tips on what you should be thinking about aside from pay and benefits.

An awful lot of people have added journaling into their lives as a way of dealing with anxiety, processing events of the day, or even just noting down positive thoughts when they come to them

Marc Convey is Co-Founder of Thrive Now, a collective movement connecting a community of people who desire to create a better world by being better, happier humans. In this blog post Marc explains the benefits of journaling in your own way.


This month we are excited to share some top tips from Victoria Salomon, founder of the The Ixchel System and owner of Ixchel Therapies for more than 15 years. Victoria shares her expertise and explains why taking time off is crucial for recharging all the systems in your body and mind.

Whether you’re on holiday with the family, enjoying one of your favourite outdoor pursuits or just relaxing at home, the great summer reset can be an essential ingredient for your success at work. Find out more here.
This week a post on LinkedIn from Nicola Pye, Global Talent Director at EY, really caught our eye. In this post Nicola talks about the importance of rest and how wellbeing and freedom to be unwell will hopefully be a positive legacy of COVID.

Find out more from Nicola here and learn why instead of thinking about the ‘great resignation’ we should be having a Great Rethink.


Hopefully many of us will have time to rest and recover during the month of August and to take the time to read those books we never get the chance to normally! We thought we’d share with you some of our favourites and please let us know what’s on your reading list.

In The Culture Map, cultural communications expert Erin Meyer presents a framework you can use to analyse how cultures differ from yours as well as practical strategies to mitigate any cultural misunderstandings. She also explains why these cultural differences developed in the first place.

High Performance reveals the methods the world’s most remarkable athletes, coaches and entrepreneurs use to excel. From taking responsibility for your situation to finding your ‘trademark behaviours’, thinking flexibly to crafting a high performance culture, Jake Humphrey and Professor Damian Hughes identify the eight crucial steps to becoming the best ‘you’ possible.

Be Less Zombie distils 10 years of field research amongst some of the world’s leading innovators into a pragmatic, actionable toolkit. Designed for managers who need more remarkable innovation with repeatable, scalable approaches, this toolkit is a must-read for anyone – in any business sector, at any career level – who is passionate about the serious business of innovation.

Also if you are travelling a lot this summer many of us are reaching for podcasts for inspiration and ideas. One of the REAL. Leadership Teams favourite podcast is the well-established Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett. One of our favourites is this episode with Marcus Buckingham, who is one of the world’s most in-demand career experts and the author of several best-selling business books. He is known as the world’s most prominent researcher on strengths and leadership at work, and today leads research at the ADP Research Institute.
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