Henley Blogs

Lockdown and fear for the future

Fear, happiness, hope and dejection. Nada Kakabadse, Professor of Marketing and Reputation at Henley Business School, calls 10 friends and acquaintances for a snapshot chat on how people are coping with lockdown. Even before Covid-19 the UK, Australia and Canada were concerned about the impacts of loneliness and social isolation, especially amongst the elderly. In…

Rona Radio: Entertaining during lockdown

By Harvey Dryburgh, Henley Business School student Upon reflection, during these past few weeks as a student it could have seemed difficult to find solace in anything other than textbooks and revision. These unprecedented times of isolation have left us all feeling disengaged from our daily networks, on top of fearing the devastating impacts of…

Democratised leadership or dependency?

Professor David Pendleton The U.K. government seems to be feeling the absence of its leader. At the start of the coronavirus emergency, a slew of actions were taken that seemed decisive. Information flowed, lockdown was announced, vast sums of money were put aside to help, all in a succession of actions that were designed to…

Personal leader resilience is key to navigate the current crisis and uncertain future.

Dr Caroline Rook Currently, the resilience of businesses is being tested to the limit. But also, leaders’ robustness and resilience are key now to enable organisations and their teams to operate in these current unprecedented, frightening times. Over the coming months, if not years, leaders not only might have to question and transform the way…

Deputising in a crisis

Dominic Raab is leading the UK through coronavirus hurdles as the “designated survivor.” With Boris Johnson in intensive care, the foreign secretary is required to run the country during the most significant public health crisis in a generation. This will include chairing Cobra and cabinet meeting for the time being, until Johnson’s health and his…

Looking after me

With many of us feeling the effects of the lockdown in different ways, one thing most of us can relate to is the struggle of maintaining good mental health while adapting to a new way of working.A global pandemic is stressful enough without having to worry about looming deadlines, and as a student, this is…

Keeping the Sense of Time

When the UK’s government started advising the social-distancing and self-isolation measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those measures didn’t feel totally alien to me. It’s just a reminder of a previous experience more than a decade ago, when I spent nine months back home (in Cairo) from September 2007 to June 2008 to document my…

Coping in a crisis: routine, routine, routine

By Dr Rebecca Jones I have always been a big fan of routine. I generally find that having a routine helps me to form healthy habits and to get things done, therefore making me as efficient as I can be. Having a routine around things like exercise makes it easier to consistently achieve my goals…

I can love my kids and love my career too

My name is Arjana Cupi and I’m a mother of two children, aged 4 years old and under. I’m currently pursuing a full-time Master’s in Accounting and Financial Management at Henley Business School. This has been by far the toughest and most right decision I have ever made. Choosing to study at Henley has not…

My Favourite Book

One of our student helpers Helena Smagala takes the opportunity to talk about her favourite novel. As an English Literature Student and a literary fiction enthusiast, it is difficult to pin point my ‘favourite’ book, just as it is for film buffs to choose a favourite movie. Favourite books also change with time, depending on…