Making the Impossible Possible for T.O.M – Team, Organisation and Me (You!)

What does the Renaissance, the black death, AI, Recessions and people not buying, and your dying profits have in common?

They are all what feel like impossible situations that had solutions.

But here’s the caveat, for every billionaire, global empire or invention that impossible moments created, there are just as many that failed and never returned.

We can all name companies that disappeared and had to reinvent themselves or are destined to the wasteland of past empires.

Even the Roman’s failed to adapt and it cost them dearly just as it did those that didn’t adapt and change in the pandemic or the 2008 Lehman’s crash and subsequent recession.

And here’s the real bummer the mistakes that these companies and empires made, us humans are destined to repeat, over and over again.

As a coach and expert in the way humans think, it infuriates me that people can’t spot the trends and repeat patterns and the damage it will do to T.O.M. That’s Team, Organisation and Me, (IE. you!)

Take the Romans. They failed to spot the patterns of failure and adapt, and we seem to be destined to copy them!

• It’s core organisation style (aka the military) shifted from a disciplined, citizen-based force to relying on mercenaries, weakening its communication and leadership and thus results as their team became self serving and didn’t value the organisation any more.
• Its economy became increasingly strained by heavy taxation – sound familiar?
• Dependence on slave labour grew as they thought this was a terrific way to maximise on profits and results, but it meant as they ran out of places to invade, they run out of people to use. Free citizens had fewer job opportunities and so wealth shrank, and this created vast inequality, social tension, and a shrinking middle class. Mmm, this really is sounding familiar, isn’t it?
• It created an unstable currency rather than structural reform and that created doubt and opportunities for the competition.
• Its political system grew rigid, unstable, and trying to govern a vast empire with institutions designed for a much smaller state it struggled to adjust to external pressures such as migration and invasions, often defaulting to control rather than integration and not understanding how leadership and community must alter and adapt.

Us humans are a predictable bunch, its why philosophy has always been such an important part of my job, to understand how humans think and the science of being you.

Many in the field of professional development and learning and deveopment aim to change you in their training and mentoring, and while we all need to learn it misses the true power to enable success by understanding your natural style and what you will naturally choose to do, you are able to anticipate opportunity, risk, threats, and best practices to integrate for T.O.M – team, organisation and Me (You!) and work within your natural style and that leads to lasting change.

Would you like some proof that these strategies will make you richer, happier and sleep better tonight?

You are reading an article from someone who dreamed of being a best selling author since she was 8 years old and who only got a grade C at G.C.S.E English (I didn’t know I had ADHD and Dyslexia and the attention span of a gnat!) and yet here I am published in Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Czech, Turkish and other languages, a best-selling non-fiction author for one of the UK’s leading non-fiction publishers talking about how the mind works and how it impacts on us and our success.

Achieving the possible starts with believing there is a solution. In tough times humans will shrink in action, investment, and belief. They lose hope and faith. Why do you think the deterioration of the Roman empire enabled the Catholic empire to build and expand? It is the same that impacts on companies in recessions as they batten down the hatches. There’s mountains of evidence and research that the companies that excel and profit post recession (tough times) are the ones that continued to invest and yet the natural response is to stop spending on training, marketing and growth. Crazy but true and we’ve not learnt in the last century!

Humans need hope. If you create hope and expectation of possibilities, then it’s a great place to start from.

Got no hope? Your ability to achieve shrinks too. Your productivity nosedives, your expectation of outcomes disappears as does your innovative thinking, sales and profits. Scary right?

Mindset without skillset still fails you When I trained as a coach 22 years ago, I was told I’d need to get myself out there. I am naturally shy and like to hide. I am excedptional at growing businesses and have an extensive track record of this, however I always liked to do that as part of a team, hidden away, suddenly I found myself out there alone. “Get on the radio” they said. “Stand in front of audiences!” they said. Both things terrified me to the point that I thought I’d not be able to coach for a living.

So, I found the best. Who knew part of my superpower was my ADHD because ADHD makes you uber focused. If I am going to do something I am going to do that to the best of my ability and to do that I will go out of my way to find the best. When I realised, I had no choice but to get over my fear of public speaking I sort the best. Someone that trained MP’s and celebrities on how to influence and inspire audiences. I read the best books and studied speeches of the greats.

Do I think I’m great? Hell no, I am a work in progress (another ADHD thing – that you never hold on to your greatness, always looking to be better which has it’s benefits and disadvantages!)

If I had stood on a stage without learning the skills and craft of public speaking, I would be in the same position as millions of networkers failing at elevator pitches and digital marketing. It is in understanding humans, communication, and nonverbal communication anyone can excel at public speaking but like many skills, a little knowledge can be dangerous. You have to be invested in really learning. And that means mindset AND skillset.

Just going for it, as a recommendation that makes me shudder and it’s still handed out on social media like it will magically work! I now get paid to speak and I love it and I still see many that fail abysmally at public speaking and do nothing to fix it oblivious to the damage it does long term to careers and profits.

Believing the statistics is a final destination is dooming your future. We all can cite statistics about the world today. Working with the leisure and tourism industry a lot I often hear “2 pubs a week close” yes, they do, but 1,700 people died today too, are you going to stay in bed because you could die and it’s not worth it?

Of course not!

Humans will hold on to the stats that serve their beliefs. So, if you want to go against the grain, achieve when others fail you have to learn when to pay attention to trends, stats and research and when to question “Is there an opportunity here?”

In many moments of failing there’s an opportunity. In the pandemic I was told that people wouldn’t pay for online events. “They won’t be getting a free coffee!” They proclaimed. I replied with the fact that regardless of location they would still get me, a best-selling author and global speaker and coach helping them. They would still get access to my extensive network of over 80,000 and any Insider or coaching client will tell you that I am generous with my time, knowledge and connections (to the trusted INsiders and clients!)

And here we are 6 years on, I’m still charging for online communities and events while the person that questioned me is not in business for themselves anymore.

There’s no solution to this. This is a great extension of the trust in stats and views that are splashed all over social media and by the media. I got into a discussion with people on LinkedIn who decreed the government must do something to support the pub industry! Just as I’ve heard for the care sector and charities and the high street! And while I wholeheartedly agree when I have INsiders who paid more tax than Starbucks, waiting for a government to fix things to make business easier and more profitable is like waiting for the UK to win the Eurovision, or expecting the printer to just print it quick so you can get out of the office!

We have to create our own solutions otherwise you can drift into victim mentality and that again removes your power to find solutions. And in believing that there is a solution are you are more inclined to find it! I have seen many impossible situations where I’ve been able to show the company and team that profits can increase, and teams can work less, and organisations can run more efficiently without a big injection of money. It’s not impossible, it’s what you think is possible that matters.

We’ve tried everything! I love this one! I often retort something very flippant and ridiculous like “Really you’ve crawled the M25 with a sign on your back saying we’ve the best on the planet, paint ball splat me for a free puppy/Ferrari?” No, well you’ve not tried everything!

When we are stressed our ability to think shrinks and when that happens our motivation alters as our mood nosedives. You haven’t tried everything; you’ve tried some things. But without vigorous testing and measuring you don’t know what was working and you stopped too early, what was never going to work, and you were clutching at straws and what could work?

When an organisation books me, they are often of the opinion that nothing can be done. I’m brought in to inspire a team when there’s no more money and times are tough. And it’s not just the team that ends up inspired, the company innovates, the team are healthier and happier and even the number of emails decreases!

Elephant in the room is one of my favourite tell tale strategies so far of 2026, because people hide what they are thinking in the workplace. With the rise of AI adaption and integration partnered with division in views shared on social media, many are keeping their mouths shut and suffering in silence. And that damages T.O.M big time! I recently used this with a team, and they admitted one by one how the war, AI, cost of living and elections, etc, etc were making them feel. That’s not easy to admit to in a work environment. However, by doing that in an non-judgemental environment, people are able to accept how their mood and feelings are impacting on the quality of their thoughts and how that impacts on their actions and results. Lying to yourself is pointless. It won’t work and you just get more and more stressed and that then impacts on what is possible. (And don’t think that by telling your team you won’t judge they will suddenly open up, they won’t!)

Remember, it’s what you believe that creates what you perceive and that creates what you achieve.

So, the next time you think it’s impossible, it’s a good idea to challenge your thinking;

Is this true?

Is this absolute?

Is this inevitable?

Has this ever been done?

Can there be a better way?

If anything was possible, what would I do and one from my training programmes to inspire you on a level that your brain likes (even if you don’t) “If you had a magic wand, what would you do?” because trust me there is magic to be achieved. You just need to know how to achieve it.