My godmother was in hospital a few years ago having her right knee reconstructed. On operation day, the surgeon came in and carefully marked her leg with a black texta before she was wheeled into the theatre. He wanted to ensure there was no mistake about which knee was due for operation! Isn’t it funny? Despite all our advancements in technology …
What is the opposite of courage?
When Paul McCartney was in school, he was told he should give up music and get a ‘safe job’ in Liverpool’s then-thriving shipping or manufacturing sectors, just like everyone else. Thank god he didn’t follow that advice! The rest, of course, is history: he launched himself to stardom in the world’s most iconic band.
Defying The F-Word
The hermit crab lives in a salvaged empty shell. As it continues to grow, this shell eventually starts to pinch. The crab must then move into a new shell or die: its price for not changing is the steepest imaginable. So the crab leaves its shell and for a time is naked and vulnerable, an easy target for predators… Until …
How to do a Warren Buffett
When Warren Buffet was asked at a conference how he got smarter, he simply held up a stack of papers and said, ‘Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will.’ In last week’s post, we figured out …
Strategically Expanding Your Mind
In the film The Book Thief a young girl named Liesel finds solace through literature amidst the horrors of World War II Nazi Germany. One powerful scene depicts Nazi soldiers destroying books in a giant bonfire. They want to get rid of the words and ideas that books contain. Liesel finds the smouldering remains of three books and carries them …
If It Ain’t Got That Swing!
I am so over passion, aren’t you? Lately the term “passion” feels like just another buzzword tossed around to sell someone or something. In business, you could define passion as deep expertise combined with a fervent enthusiasm for the topic, the product and the people with whom you engage. But I think there might be more to it.
How to use private discourse to surprise and delight your audience
I was recently talking to the CEO of a large, global professional services company that had run a massive event for its clients. At the end of the PowerPoint central presentation, they asked members of the audience for feedback and received lots of polite positives. The CEO, however, confided in us, saying: ‘We could detect a lack of sincerity in …
Three Must Know Life – Changing Global Work Trends
I’ve just spent September criss-crossing the globe, working with leaders, entrepreneurs and educators in the UK, Canada and USA. Is there a point to this shameless bragging?! Yes: I discovered three emerging trends that fill me with optimism. The quest for purpose Businesses are in search of meaning. Hitting profit and performance goals alone seems strangely hollow. Companies now …
Small doors open into large rooms
The 1999 movie, The Hurricane, was based on the true story of Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter. Carter, a talented American/Canadian boxer, was twice controversially convicted of – and imprisoned for – the same murder. In the movie, his character says: “He who bemoans the lack of opportunity, forgets that small doors many times open up into large rooms.” Sometimes the small things can make a big impact. So many of my clients …
Message mastery creates shift
Young men between 18 and 21 are at the highest risk in terms of road fatalities. But how do you get an 18-year-old man, who thinks he is invincible, to drive safely? The New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) recognised the problem it had. RTA knew the behaviour it wanted to shift. The challenge was to craft a …