Dean Leak Mindset Coach

Tuchel & Bellingham see it differently. That’s a sign of a world class culture.

A space for truth, difference, and disagreement without it eroding trust, togetherness and spirit.

Credit ITV interview

“I think that’s a very important point”…

A clip from the Newsagents podcast with and on a conversation with Robert Jenrick on LBC.

A quality that every leadership team needs ‼️

(P.s share this with your leaders and feel free to get in touch via DM)

..and this is increasingly important as Al and tech becomes a hiding place for tough issues. As politics erode performance. As workplaces become more siloed. As people fear for their jobs.

Debate and disagreement is a core leadership team competency. For not only leading the organisation, but setting an example.

Effective teams reduce social and political frictions so they can engage in real time, honest, curious, and healthy dialogue.

They move away from the comfort zone of neat agendas, and updates, and put the tension on the table.

Honest challenge, healthy disagreement, productive conflict is only as good as the structure put around it. Constraints breed creativity. Having an established, evolving process for debate, surfaces the wisdom from the group.

This is the work we do with companies and communities
Helping teams to disagree better to make better decisions (and better places to work).

How to Disagree Better 👋👋

Comment ‘Quiz’ for the diagnostic to learn how you ready in a disagreement.

Save this framework and apply to everyday difference.

Let me know how you get on 👋

Checkmate 👋

on interviewing Laila Cunningham from Reform

Frame, focus and hold the mirror when facing distraction and deflection

‼️ Rhetorical Breakdown Farage Speech 👇👇

There’s so many used. And that’s the point. To confuse, distract, and redirect your attention.

Here some of the things I spotted:

1: The False Binary
The entire speech is built on two false dilemmas and these are designed to create division and hate.

“If I win, you win. If I lose, they win.”
and…
“The People vs The Establishment.”

You’re either with the people or with the establishment (familiar!?).

The debate was never about his conduct. It was framed about whose side are you on.

2. The Burden of Proof Shift
Farage never once proves he did nothing wrong (whether he did will remain to be seen).

He simply states it, repeatedly, and then immediately pivots to attacking his accusers (see my post on DARVO).

He doesn’t address the specific allegations in detail. He asserts innocence as fact, and attacks everyone else and plays the victim.

3. The Strawman
He constructs a single, unified enemy throughout the speech.

“The establishment. The media. The other political parties.”

This is a classic strawman. He doesn’t engage with specific, legitimate criticisms.

He wraps every critic into one cartoon villain, the establishment, and then defeats that cartoon - remember the Trump Meme and his obsession with Wrestling?

The actual allegations get lost in the noise and you don’t know where to look.

4. The pivot
Every time the speech gets close to the actual allegations, Farage pivots:

- Standards investigation: pivot to his daughter being harassed (terrible btw)

- The gift: pivot to his security costs

- His conduct: pivot to the boats crossing the Channel

- The allegations: pivot to Labour changing voting rules

5. The reductionist argument
“Frankly, it is like living in a communist country.”

This is the strawman taken to its extreme isn’t it?

The allegation is financial misconduct. The response? Britain is a communist country. Another form of misdirection away from the allegation.

And I think the clip in the video demonstrates this so well 👏

Go watch the full Nigel Farage speech and see if you can spot the rhetorical tricks.

The top 1% of communicators do this:

It’s why the ‘O’ comes first in the O.W.N framework.

Success starts within.
Connection before communication.

‘Owning yourself first’ helps you to build trust with vulnerability which then allows you to navigate where you want the conversation to go.

Barack Obama does this masterfully.

Always take charge of yourself first 🫶

interview

👏👏 Anthony Barry 👏👏

Real, authentic, genuine 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Love this guy. What you saying my Scouse friends?

Interview on BBC coverage.