We’re in the middle of the UK political conference season and as usual I’ll be summarising the green content of the leaders’ speeches once they’re all done. However, there’s already been some strong interventions from Lib Dem Vince Cable and Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, so Theresa May has a lot to live up to at the Conservative Party conference next week.

And that’s what I like – the ratcheting up of ambition, raising the bar for each other. Of course the only measure that matters at the end of the day is what actually happens on the ground, but peer pressure is a very powerful force. Some of my coaching clients have been very successful at getting leadership to raise their sights by (using my advice!) citing what their direct competitors are doing. Internally, setting one team or division against each other also makes people go the extra mile.

We are all naturally competitive creatures and we should exploit that!