Many years ago I was sent off on a professional writing course - back in the pen-and-paper-think-it-all-out-yourself days of my early career. It was full of tips for clear, confident writing. One tip was to never use the word 'but'. It's only function, we were told, was to nullify whatever you had said immediately before. "Just try replacing it with 'and' and see what the effect is", our memorable trainer suggested.
It's a writing technique I've deployed most of the time since. At first, it seemed a bit awkward to use 'and' when I really meant 'but'. I've had to force myself a few times to swap one for the other. It stopped feeling awkward though as I began to notice how power the effect of 'and' over 'but' was. Instead of dismissing something, it opens up the possibility of holding that thing alongside something else, however unlikely bedfellows they may seem to be at first.
So it is with deliberate intent that I use the word 'But' as the opening word of this month's article. The little sub-message, only shared here, is to ask ourselves 'what if we replace 'but' with 'and' in this context?' What if, instead of 'Yes, I see the need to do things differently but I still have a policy to implement.' with 'Yes, I see the need to do things differently and I still have a policy to implement'.
Sit with it because you'll feel this difference. It's subtle and it's a big shift. A potential whole new spectrum of possibility and conversation can open up.
Anyway, apart from semantics, the really big news this month, and that the article speaks about, is that I'm finally publishing my White Paper - The Place Paradigm - A New Lens for Tourism Leadership. You'll find all the details and links below. It contains ideas and models that I've been using for a few years but without really codifying them. I'd love to hear from you if you get to read it.
It's been a busy and interesting month otherwise - a few pictures and stories below.
The sun is shining in Ireland (that is actually newsworthy in 2026) and the cuckoo is perched just outside my window as I write (I've never heard one so close). Irish people like to notice and chat about the date that we first hear the cuckoo each year, competing a little with each other for who heard it first (28th April for me this year). I love that the cuckoo at my window this morning is doing what cuckoos always done at Bealtaine - announcing, without any ambiguity, that summer has arrived.
Blessings of Bealtaine to you for the month ahead.
Beir bua
Tina
May Article: The Thoughts behind The White Paper
This month’s article introduces the thinking behind my new White Paper, The Place Paradigm: A New Lens for Tourism Leadership.
It starts with a sentence I heard from a senior tourism leader some years ago, and have never quite forgotten: The article explores the leadership tension inside that sentence “Yes, but I still have a policy to implement”, and why senior public sector tourism leaders may need new language for the shift they are already navigating.
