Each year I gather up a small bunch of Christmas gifts for you – things I sense you need and that I hope will bring you clarity or Christmas cheer. Each is gorgeously wrapped and placed with love under the Christmas tree. I hope you like them.

Appreciation for what you’ve achieved this year. It’s so easy to focus on what we haven’t done or what’s not yet finished. Shift your attention to your successes this year, what’s been achieved and what you have learned. When we take the time to consciously consider what we have done, it’s usually pleasantly surprising, energising, and much more rewarding for the brain.

Boost of resilience. The last three years have been tough, and most leaders I talk with are totally out of resilience. Perhaps my greatest wish for you is that your stores of resilience will be totally replenished over the New Year period.

Deeper understanding of what’s your work (and by default the stuff that is rightfully the work of someone else). So often as leaders we get busy doing someone else’s work. It takes clarity, confidence, and courage to say ‘no’ (to ourselves and others) and allow another person to do their work. Christmas bonus – doing this gains us time for stuff that only we can do!

A crystal bowl brimming with empathy. Empathy for yourself – for where you have misstepped, stuffed, or shown up in a way that was not the best version of you. Empathy too for others – for those who are in less fortunate circumstances, here and elsewhere.

Zero calorie Christmas pudding and chocolate! My version of this is my mum’s homemade pudding slathered in Brandy Butter*, and then licorice all-sorts and dark chocolate-coated ginger! You can choose whatever treat you like – just know it will be free of fattening, artery-hardening stuff!

A splattering of silliness! Life is too short to take ourselves and others too seriously. Have some fun. Do stuff you don’t usually make time for. Hang out with people you love and/or people who bring you joy.

Thank you for your commitment to leadership and to learning. And thank you for allowing us to be part of your world this year.