I clearly remember the day Stephen told me he wanted us to write a book….
Rewind three years to January 2023. I had an email out of the blue from my old boss, Stephen.
“Jen,” he wrote. “I’m setting up my own business, and I need someone to help me; I thought of you, are you up for it?”
The timing was perfect for me and I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason, so it was an easy ‘yes!’
The next day we met and Stephen told me his plans for the business, his goals and my role within it. Just as the meeting was about to close, he said, “Oh, and by the way, I want us to write a book.”
I laughed, honestly thinking he was joking. I can’t write a book, I wouldn’t know where to start! I didn’t think much more of it but anyone who knows Stephen will know how persistent he is, and over the coming months we discussed it more and more, what it could include, how it could help people and I slowly bought into the idea.
The problem was starting it. So, with a sketchy plan and some reports to read to begin my research, I went to Greece for a couple of days, for a ‘writing retreat’. As you can see from the pic I sent to Stephen, the problem was the view was too distracting! (See picture below).
The more research we did, combined with the work we were then getting involved in, just solidified the reason the book was needed.
Time and again we were seeing conflict causing huge issues in the organisations we were working with. The same themes coming up, the same mistakes being made by well-intentioned leaders, and the same barriers to success.
Despite having serious imposter syndrome about the actual writing, we knew we could make a positive impact by providing a framework to help prevent conflict and offer support for when conflict does occur. This became the driving force to get the book finished.
It’s taken a long time, who knew how time consuming it would be?! Also, the business took off rapidly and exceeded all our expectations, so the book regularly got pushed down the priority list but here we are – it is done and published!
We hope the book proves to be useful and provides some food for thought on how conflict can be handled differently. It doesn’t have to be a scary topic and when handled well, can be a positive step forward for businesses and leaders.
On reflection, the process of writing a book is actually not too scary either, in fact we have already started the second one. I wonder if I can get another Greece trip booked?!
Book released 31.03.2026 – order your copy here
