Monthly musings

Well blow me down, the other week, after grabbing a coffee and securing a free bench outside a busy coastal café, hubbie and I invited another couple to squeeze in next to us, as free seats were thin on the ground and shade hard to find. Before long, the 4 of us were having a good old natter.

Now you might be wondering what the ‘wow’ factor was here, and rightly so.

In a word… synergy.

I soon learned that I was sitting in the presence of a highly experienced paraglider. And he later learned that he was sitting in the presence of someone who has always been drawn to the idea of getting above the weather, of finding that altitude where the turbulence falls away and you can finally see clearly.

You see, a paraglider has always captured that perfectly for me — suspended beneath a canopy, reading conditions, managing multiple lines simultaneously, soaring when everything is working together and losing altitude when it isn’t. Each line mattering, and slack in even one affecting the whole flight.

He went on to show me photos from a recent flight — launching with barely a drop before catching the air, reading the wind with the kind of instinct that only comes from years of practice, and climbing to heights where he and a friend stayed aloft for five hours. Five hours! His passion for it was unmistakable — the kind of passion that comes from doing something you’ve truly mastered, in conditions you understand deeply.

It got me thinking. I’ve been writing these monthly tips for over a decade now, and the paraglider metaphor has quietly run through so much of what I write — getting above the weather, reading conditions, staying aloft when things get turbulent. But I’ve never actually introduced the framework that sits behind it all.

So, in the spirit of synergy — here it is.

AIRBORNE is a leadership wellbeing framework I developed, built around eight dimensions. Think of them as eight lines on a paraglider’s canopy — each one needing the right tension for a smooth, sustained flight. Too much slack in even one, and the whole flight is affected.

Here are the eight:

🪁 Aim for Altitude — Clarify what matters, where you’re headed, and who’s steering

🪁 Illuminate Your Edge — Assess honestly where you are across all eight dimensions — right now, not where you’d like to be

🪁 Reboot Through the Power of Sleep — Quality sleep is premium fuel, and your brain can’t perform without it

🪁 Build Relational Intelligence — Understand yourself and others well enough to lead with trust, not just authority

🪁 Overcome Inhibitors and Barriers — Identify what’s quietly working against you, from within and without

🪁 Release to Rise — Release what you’re carrying so you have the emotional freedom to rise

🪁 Navigate with Presence — Lead from the now, fully here, fully grounded, fully yourself

🪁 Energise to Soar — Harness the power of movement, the most underrated fuel for mental performance and vitality

Like our paraglider friend, the goal isn’t to avoid turbulence altogether — it’s to read conditions well enough that you can rise above it, again and again, for as long as you need to.

Five hours aloft didn’t happen by accident. Neither does sustained altitude in life and leadership. It comes from understanding your own conditions — and tending to each line with care.

If any of these dimensions are calling to you, you can read more about AIRBORNE — including what it looks like to work through it — here.

In the meantime, till next month, here’s to looking skyward!