About me
I set up Think Productive in 2009 because it didn’t exist when I’d needed it a few years earlier. I’d gone from disorganised flake to Productivity Ninja, and what still gives me a buzz all these years later is Think Productive passing that on to other people.
Before Think Productive, I co-founded Intervol, an international student volunteering charity, led Student Volunteering England as Chief Executive, and advised the UK Government on youth volunteering policy. Somewhere in there I worked out that most people aren’t badly organised because they’re lazy or incapable, they’ve just never been shown a better way to work. That idea sits underneath everything we do.
These days I write books, deliver keynotes, and build tools and courses that help people work better without burning out. My latest book, KIND: The quiet power of kindness at work, won the Institute of Leadership’s Leadership Book of the Year 2025 and the Business Book Awards 2025. It argues that the most successful organisations are often the most human, and that kindness, done well, is really about clarity, empathy and accountability rather than being nice.
What I help with
Kindness at work, leadership, psychological safety, workplace culture, productivity, attention management, email and inbox management, meetings, hybrid working, avoiding burnout
Qualifications & credentials
University of Birmingham, BA Hons, Cultural Studies and Sociology
Books
- KIND: The Quiet Power of Kindness at Work, Bloomsbury, 2024 — order here
- How to Fix Meetings, Icon Books, 2021 — order here
- How to Have the Energy, Icon Books, 2020 — order here
- A Practical Guide to Productivity: Work Smarter, Not Harder, Icon Books, 2018 — order here
- How to Be a Study Ninja, Icon Books, 2015 — order here
- How to Be a Productivity Ninja, Icon Books, 2014 (updated editions since) — order here
Podcasts
Beyond Busy — listen here; playlist of podcast guest appearances — listen here
In the press
- Rev Up for the Week newsletter — sign up here
- Financial Times, Business books: What to read this month (2024)
- The Times, What my son has taught me about kindness (2024)
- Fast Company, Why kindness is the key to high performance at work (2025)
- Forbes, The Quiet Power of Kindness (2025)
- The i Paper, Why kindness could be key to getting ahead at work (2025); I became a better dad when I changed my business to a four-day week (2025)
- Inc., featured in 5 Books That Teach You to Be Kinder to Yourself (2025)
- Next Big Idea Club, Why Kind Work Cultures Build Tough Teams (2025)
- The Guardian, regular contributor on productivity and email culture (multiple pieces, 2013 to 2020)
- Talks at Google (2019)