“One night in Ealing and the world’s your oyster …” I know, I know. That’s not how the song goes, but after 33 year, it definitely felt like the prodigal son returning. (And yes, Elena, I know I’m definitely using that analogy incorrectly as well). Here’s the thing. About 33 years ago in 1992, I went to a school then called Themes Valley University, now renamed The University of West London.

I was an exchange student from Salem State College, now renamed Salem State University. “Cha-cha-cha-changes … turn and face the strange.” In any event, coming back to West Ealing for a dinner party hosted by none other than my dear friend and colleague Nancy Cogswell was surreal to say the least.

*Homes in West Ealing are spectacular. They’ve only improved in 30 years.*

It’s not that I could have afforded to buy a home here 30 years ago, but if I could have, I would have. I loved living in West Ealing. I walked home from Themes Valley University each night to my host family (whom I’m sad to say I lost touch with soon after moving out — I was terrible at keeping in touch back then).

*Overgrown sidewalks don’t seem like a problem with these kinds of flowers.*

I had about a 10 minute walk from the train station to Nancy’s house and I enjoyed every step. I kept taking pictures as I walked. I loved seeing all the back and front yard gardens along the way. Each house was well maintained and gave the sense of pride you love to see in a neighborhood.

*Did I sign up for a flower tour and just forget? This is absolutely gorgeous!*

Okay, Bill, keep walking. This is just a 10 minute walk. You can do this without stopping every 5 steps and taking a picture. I know you can do this.

*It’s like I’m in a botanical garden, but outside in a neighborhood. Non-stop.*

At home, I go for walks all the time. I just am not used to seeing BUSHES of flowers pushing their way over walls and crowding sidewalks. It’s like they are saying, “Excuse me, I know you think you have somewhere to be, but I’m going to need you to slow down, pause and take a moment to admire me. That is, afterall, why I’m here, you know.”

*Almost there. You can do this, Bill. Nostalgia or not. Just a bit further now.*

So, you can see, I enjoyed my “10 minute” walk that was easily two or three times that due to the number of times I stopped and literally smelled the flowered. They say in life it’s not the number of breaths you take, but the number of moments that take your breath away. That happened many times during this simple walk from a train station to Nancy’s house on what was just another day in Ealing. And yet …

Beautiful! Old. new. Green. Red brick. Brown stone. Simple. Elegant. ADMIRE ME!!!

What’s the rush, right? I’ll get there when I get there. That’s why I always leave early. My dad drilled it into me as a musician. “Son, when you’re on time, you’re late.” Always get there early. Having an abundance of extra time is better than showing up late or in a rush.

*Nancy Cogswell, Bill Carmody and Stefano Pardi*

And, of course, the event was fabulous. How could it not be. Nancy is the hostess with the mostess. I mean seriously. Here is this woman who pivoted from being an outstanding architect — truly one of the best in the business — to being a top-notch coach for architects (a very specific and powerful niche, I might add) and her home reflects all of it. Her house is impeccable. It’s gorgeous, warm, inviting, cozy, and there just aren’t enough adjectives to describe it.

And great people attract great friends. I’ve loved Stefano Pardi since the day I met him. He has the background and credibility to be an egomaniac and yet he is likely to be one of the most humble people in the room (sometimes to a fault as I’ve teased him about on more than one occasion). He’s kind, loving, respectful and of course fits beautifully with Nancy and the rest of the guests.

Similarly, please allow me to continue down the Nancy Cogswell amazing network and powerhouse fanclub of which I’m lucky enough to call myself a charter member. If you don’t know who Alison Sinclair is, do yourself a favor and change that immediately. Alison is ex-Microsoft and I only say that because for nearly six years, Alison navigated the beast that is called “services” within Microsoft that included the migration to cloud adoption globally managing teams across 17 countries and covering 330,000 customers (back in 2014).

She’s taken just about every training course ever offered to coaches and is smart as a whip. Now imagine sitting next to her at a dinner party. Where to you start? Do you discuss the future of technology and artificial intelligence? The future of the coaching industry? The business of coaching? So … many … possibilities. Brain … hurts. Truly amazing human and lucky to know her.

*Gillian Hardy and Bill Carmody (but I think I can stop staying that ;-)*

Next up is badass leadership coach, Gillian Hardy. Gillian has worked tirelessly for years empowering women in the workplace and balancing the scales in male-dominated fields. When I was trying to describe her, I peeked at her LinkedIn page and liked what she said about herself, “I work predominantly with women managers working in male dominated sectors to help them be seen, heard, recognised and rewarded for the talents they bring.” Bang on.

During our dinner conversation, Gillian had many excellent examples and points of view around where voices are drowned out left unchecked this becomes culturally accepted. I believe many of us have witnessed this first hand at some point in our careers and many of us have even had the courage to step in and call it out when it happens.

Richard Rosenqvist, Kristina Rosenqvist, and **Celine Prinse**

And last, but certainly not least are Kristina Rosenqvist, husband Richard and Celine Prinse. Richard introduced himself as “being in IT and knowing nothing” which certainly was not true at all, but his point was he’s not “of the coaching world” and was intending to listen to what everyone else what sharing.

Kristina, on the other hand, worked at Gartner for almost 9 years before pivorting into a career strategist and coach for 13 years (this is on top of her 6 years of adult learning city council work). Super strong in the career advancement starting with a deep grounding of industry-leading research.

Which was perfectly timed as my dear friend Celine who once considered working for Positive Intelligence was about to accept a job offer for a head of marketing role and wanted to mull over a few points before accepting. Who better to chat with than Kristina? I mean is the universe amazing or what?

*Lovely pre-dinner conversation had by all*

Goes without saying that the conversations were powerful and amazing across the room. Nancy even had a seating chart for the beginning of dinner to ensure maximum chemistry based on each of our domains, and then opened up the seating for desert and post-dinner chat which went late into the evening.

Can you see why I’m hopelessly behind on posting all these blog posts? I love these humans with all of my heart and seek to do justice with the time we’ve spent together. Not pictured anywhere in these photos is Nancy’s incredible husband, Eugene (pronounced “EuGenius”) who was deft at staying out of pictures by taking many of them and being extremely helpful at all times.

I am so grateful to Nancy for putting this shindig together. It showed me the power of a small group of powerful leaders getting together to break bread. Sometimes, that’s all that is needed to solve just about any problem.

Leaving this dinner, I felt relaxed, restored, refreshed and recharged. One part Nancy. One part amazing guests. And one part nostalgic West Ealing calling me home after more that three decades away. What an amazing evening. Deep, deep gratitude for it all.

Ealing, England (July 18, 2025)

Richmond, England (July 19, 2025)

Stourbridge, England (July 18, 2025)