The image is a picture of stillness, a place for pause, somewhere to inspire me — and you — to think clearly for leading calmly.

This blogpost is a bit of a step change. Over the last few years, my own work has circled around a simple but demanding practice: to think clearly and lead calmly.

2025 has demonstrated to me that this cannot be a tagline — it is a lived discipline.

To help me re-enter and re-create the space for the online work I was doing before on reflective practice and critical thinking I decided to take some of my own medicine! This has resulted in me preparing a new 12-week series of reflections on leadership and clarity. My hope and ambition as I share this is to offer a reflective space — a moment of pause.

How do I start I asked myself... and what emerged was a poem...

A reminder of what we’re all trying to practice: presence, patience, and composure in thought.

if You Can Think Clearly

(for those who lead, decide, and think under pressure)

if you can pause when others rush for answers,

and breathe before you fill the waiting air;

if you can hold your silence like an anchor,

and let the noise dissolve, yet still be there;

if you can meet the chaos with composure,

and turn its storm to steady, open thought;

if you can doubt, yet not be ruled by doubting,

and trust the questions more than what you’re taught;

if you can watch your careful words be twisted,

by minds too hurried to reflect or feel,

and still respond with patience, not resistance,

and choose what’s kind, and calm, and real;

if you can guide, but never claim the wisdom,

and stand with leaders when their light grows thin;

if you can see their strength inside their struggle,

and help them think their way back home again;

if you can hold your fire in gentle framing,

be firm, yet soft — the marshmallow and steel;

if you can teach by thinking, not explaining,

and make the unseen visible and real;

if you can keep your stillness through the pressure,

and let your depth make clarity your friend;

if you can lead through paradox and presence,

and know reflection is not means — but end;

if you can grow, but never lose your grounding,

and scale your impact while keeping heart and tone;

if calm becomes the signature you’re sounding,

you’ll lead with clarity — and make it known;

if you can build your world from thought, not hurry,

and measure wealth in insight, not acclaim;

yours is the trust of those who walk beside you —

and calm, and clarity — will bear your name.

by Saiyyidah

A final thought before we begin...

As I step into this new season, I’ll be sharing reflections, frameworks, and questions for thinking leaders — those who want to move through complexity with calm and discernment.

The poem above is an expression of where it begins — a reminder that the work of leadership starts not in action, but in awareness.

Thank you for reading.

For pausing and creating the space with me.

And for reflecting with me.

Think Clearly. Lead Calmly.
— Saiyyidah

The Space