The Polite Resistance Walk
Ninety minutes in St James's Park with other local authority leaders. You bring a challenge, we ask questions, you leave with your own next step.
Free. Confidential. Peer-to-peer.
Next Walk
Third Friday of the month.
Friday 16 October 2026, 0930 start.
St James's Cafe, Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2BJ.
Why I run this
I trained as a coach and worked one-to-one with a handful of local government leaders. Then I was promoted, and there wasn't room for both. But the thing I'd seen work stayed with me — how much shifts when someone asks you a good question instead of offering advice.
The Walk is that, in a group. One person describes a challenge. The rest of us ask questions, first to understand it, then to probe it. No advice. At the end, they say out loud what they're going to do about it. Everyone else takes something away too, because it's rarely just their problem.
I still run a directorate. The point is having this conversation with people outside your own organisation, where you can be uncertain without it costing you anything.
What happens
Grab a coffee, then we walk.
We take it in turns. One person sets out a challenge. We ask clarifying questions until we properly understand it — no solutions yet. Then the harder questions. The person who brought it sums up and names what they'll do next. Then we move on.
Four to eight people. If we're at the larger end we split into pairs or threes so everyone gets a proper go.
You don't have to bring a challenge. Listening to someone else's is rarely wasted.
More coffee afterwards. Leave when you need to.
What's shared stays there.
Whatever the weather. The cafe has a large covered terrace. If it's pouring we stay put and do it dry — the conversation is the point, not the walking. Comfortable shoes and something for the weather either way.
Finding us
St James's Cafe has two entrances. I'll be inside at the back, by the terrace, from 0925. If you can't spot me, message me on LinkedIn and I'll come and find you.
Join
Sign up for details and reminders. No commitment to attend — it just adds you to the list for this and future walks.