The story behind the name
An inkling is the first faint sense that there’s more — the quiet stir before you can name it. The Inklings were also a circle of Oxford writers — C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their friends — who met to read their unfinished work aloud and make it better together. Leadership Inklings stands on both meanings.
In the 1930s and 40s, that group met regularly at a pub in Oxford called The Eagle and Child — affectionately nicknamed “The Bird and Baby.” They didn’t meet to network, or to be polished and impressive. They met to read unfinished work out loud and let trusted friends tear it apart — honestly, directly, and in service of making something better. The Lord of the Rings was read there in early drafts. So was much of The Chronicles of Narnia.
The Eagle and Child wasn’t just a meeting place. It was where good work got forged.
That’s the spirit Leadership Inklings was built on.
Photo: the Eagle and Child, taken by Joe on a visit to Oxford.
The name isn’t decoration. Each thread shapes how the work here actually happens.
Every transition starts as a hunch — a sense that the title you’ve earned doesn’t quite fit the person you’re becoming, that there’s a gift you haven’t fully used. That inkling isn’t noise. It’s the beginning. This brand exists to help you follow it.
Explore coaching →The Inklings didn’t refine their work alone; they brought the unfinished, imperfect version to people they respected enough to hear the truth from. That’s the model for the community — accomplished leaders who support and challenge one another, and give back to those coming up behind them.
Join us →Several of the original Inklings took it as a given that a person’s gifts and callings come from beyond themselves — that creativity has a source. This brand holds the same: your gifts were given to you, not manufactured by you. Name the gift, and build what’s next on it. Present and honored; never preached.
Start a conversation →Discover your gifts. Make your next chapter your best — in good company.
Start a conversation with Joe