I just got a lovely ‘Thank You’ email from an executive client who I supported in restructuring his strategic thinking and getting a grip on his strategic priorities.

Like many business leaders he was taking too much on his own shoulders and driving expectations of himself that he would not be allowed to drive through his people. What he was doing was unsustainable – and he knew it. Hence my engagement with him.

He reminded me of Christopher Logue’s wonderful 8 line poem ‘Come To The Edge’ which I mentioned to him earlier. It was a bitter-sweet email because earlier this month – on 2 December 2011 – Christopher Logue died, aged 85. Here is his poem – one of my favourites ….

So, another opportunity to introduce you to this under-appreciated 2005 Whitbread Poetry Award winner poet and his wonderful poem, ‘Come To The Edge’ which has inspired my training and executive support practice for over a decade now. Here’s the poem:

Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It’s too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came,
and he pushed,
and they flew.

©Christopher Logue

Thank you Christopher, for your inspiration. Thank you also for being a poet that has a life outside the rarefied world of Poetry! By the way, for many years on the web this poem was incorrectly attributed to the French poet Guilliame Apollinaire. This is being slowly rectified. So now, you, dear reader, can spread the word and clear the confusion.

By the way, you might find my next complementary 30 minute webshop on working smarter with tools like Outlook useful.

Here is a good place to start learning about Christopher Logue , the poet, then look for his CND work, his Private Eye work, compiling its perennial True Stories and Pseuds Corner features.