Like a virgin – Naked Leader hits our screens

I MANAGED to catch up with David Taylor in between his travels and ahead of his Middle East tour, to talk about his forthcoming TV show entitled, The Naked Office. It will be screened on Virgin1, yes Richard Branson's TV channel, on Thursday July 9, at 9pm.

A TV show, how cool is that? It shows to the extent David's work is diversifying and how in demand he has become, given he was approached by the TV company.

So, what's the idea behind The Naked Office? David has the answer. 'It's about an entrepreneurial, ambitious media company which is transformed over the course of just one week, in terms of their vision, their communication and relationships, and the results they achieve with their customers,' he says.

'And there's another thing. As a sign of this new found trust, confidence and stripping away of barriers, everyone in the office will be invited to come to work on the Friday, naked.' David barely flinches when he says it and anticipates my next question. 'I know – sounds really weird, doesn’t it?' he adds.

Well, yes, actually it does David. So, why did you do it? 'Well I'm always up for a new challenge and my 'Naked Leader' books are a metaphor for stripping away the barriers that prevent us being successful,' he went on. 'After all, we are born naked, with unique talents, ready to fulfil the promise of our first few seconds, and we die, naked, wondering if we did.'

*

David adds: 'An office – organisation – is a collection of people, and so the experiment that is The Naked Office is a natural extension to the Naked Leader books. It is also a powerful route to get these empowering messages across to a wider audience.'

When questioned whether it's just nudity, David counters: 'It is not about that, no. If we had wanted that we would have filmed a stag or hen night, or in any city centre at night. It is rather about an extraordinary journey around the respect we show for each other, the trust we have in each other and the way we communicate with each other.

'The Naked Office does for business what the Calendar Girls did for charity – turning inhibition into success. Taking off your clothes is easy, taking off your prejudices is not.

'When I wrote the book 'The Naked Leader', the title was meant as an illustration of how one should be true to oneself. We should act naked when we're alive. Sadly, we rarely do. We spend most of the time worrying about, or conforming to, the opinions and expectations of others – rather than being our true selves. This experiment is about stripping away those barriers, to move forward together with total confidence.'

Is this something David will be offering his clients I hear you ask? 'Yes, and no,' says David. 'Yes, this 'five days to amend your ways' approach that I designed for the show will be on offer. No, my clients will not have to remove a single stitch of clothing – that part was reserved strictly for this TV programme.'

As a final question I asked whether there is a danger that everyone will focus on the no clothes bit and the business transformation parts will be lost? David thinks not although he adds: 'I hope as many people as possible are attracted to watch the programme, for whatever reason.

'I will say this though – if you’re turning on to be turned on then get ready to be disappointed. If you want a lesson in how to be the very best that you already are then don’t miss the insightful journey a team of office colleagues take.

'The naked bit was just a bit of fun and treated as such by everyone involved. And no-one did anything they did not want to do. It was not about persuading people to get naked. They were all 100% willing participants.'

Make sure you watch it and make your own mind up. And remember the 'five days approach', mentioned above, can be found  here...

~