#168: Paying attention to endings, the power of closing things well with Philip Atkinson
Release Date: 01/08/2026
#168: Paying attention to endings, the power of closing things well with Philip Atkinson
Another Door Stories
#168: Paying attention to endings, the power of closing things well with Philip Atkinson “Keep moving, keep learning, keep investing in your own development. Don’t hang on to the value that you used to have that’s no longer relevant, no longer fit for purpose.” Have you ever felt the seasons of your own life shifting, nudging you to find the courage to start anew? That’s exactly what we’re exploring on today’s episode. When I sat down with Philip Atkinson, we talked about his unique journey. After 25 years in a big multinational, he walked away from the comfort and certainty,...
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info_outline#168: Paying attention to endings, the power of closing things well with Philip Atkinson
“Keep moving, keep learning, keep investing in your own development. Don’t hang on to the value that you used to have that’s no longer relevant, no longer fit for purpose.”
Have you ever felt the seasons of your own life shifting, nudging you to find the courage to start anew? That’s exactly what we’re exploring on today’s episode. When I sat down with Philip Atkinson, we talked about his unique journey. After 25 years in a big multinational, he walked away from the comfort and certainty, stepping into the unknown to build something entirely his own.
This is the bit I love, part of that journey Philip has written a great, however not just a book about leadership or change. His book, Bee Wise: 12 Leadership Lessons from a Busy Beehive, brings together his wisdom and observations from work experience with his love of bees, and specifically the rituals of bees. He weaves together what bees can teach us about teams, cycles, and closure. It’s a brilliant read, with so many intriguing layers to the insights.
This is the perfect conversation if you want to activate your curious mind!
Highlights:
00:04 The power of letting go, lifelong learning, and personal development
06:01 Understanding emotional exits
10:53 Why Western cultures struggle with endings
13:02 Ceremonies, rituals & why we need to mark our endings
14:56 Projects or experiments? Why reframing failure helps us grow
16:37 How reward systems make closure difficult (and how to break out)
18:42 Why Philip combined his love of bees with leadership coaching
20:01 Building HiveLogic
22:45 Why seasons matter (for bees and personal reinvention)
24:00 Lessons from the beehive
34:30 Pay attention to endings. Close every meeting, project, and phase well.
Philip’s Change Toolkit:
Soundtrack: “Don’t Stop Me Now” – Queen
Book: Time to Think – Nancy Klein
One piece of advice:
“Pay attention to endings. If it's time to close something, close it well. Make sure that meetings close well. Make sure that projects close well. Make sure that career phases close well. And think about your head, your heart, and your body and where you are. Every single ending, make sure you've got enough time to close it well.”
About Phillip Atkinson:
Philip is based in Alsace, France, and is the founder of hive-logic.com Coaching & Communications with offices in Basel, Switzerland, and London, UK. Philip is a leadership team expert and organisational coach.
As a beekeeper, Philip loves to spend the summer tending to and observing his precious bees and spending the winter learning, reading, and writing about them. Throughout the whole year, Philip supports leadership teams and leaders worldwide to grow and develop.
You can contact Philip by email on philip@hive-logic.com
Buy the book - https://beewisebook.com/
Work with Eleanor
Buy the Book - Another Door Opens; 5 steps for navigating change. Described as ‘Game changing’ ‘Brilliant’ ‘A must read’ ‘The best book on change’.
Eleanor supports individuals, teams and organisations through change. Whether it’s coaching or large scale organisational change through communications and training.
Work with Eleanor 121 as your coach, when you are starting something new, to develop the idea, to create the idea, to get it launched.
Book in a Change Mastery for a team session - when your team is navigating change.
Book in a 90 minute workshop - to think through change at work.
Join the Another Door Opens 5 Step Programme - a course and community to guide you through the messiness of change to find calm, joy and opportunity.
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Website: www.another-door-opens.com
Produced by winteraudio.co.uk