Curiosity becomes even more powerful when paired with knowledge. I mean the knowledge of how the brain works, how humans form beliefs, how trauma can be released from the body, and how conflicts of values and identities can be resolved. In my coaching sessions, I build on this foundation of curiosity by layering high-level questions as I believe this is where real transformation happens. People’s beliefs often reveal themselves through their language although most of the time, they don’t even notice it. That’s why I focus on active listening. I just let go of any attachment to what I think I might need and simply stay present. And when I do, the words my clients speak naturally guide me to the next question, the one that could change everything.
Powerful reinforcements
Beliefs, whether based on fact or fiction, are human inventions that help us make sense of ourselves and the world. Neuroscience research demonstrates that training and positive reinforcement can change people’s minds and behaviours. When we tell people what to do, we engage only their short-term cognitive memory, and as a result, they often forget much of the information, and it rarely leads to meaningful behavioural change. For instance, consider how many things you know you should be doing but haven’t acted on. Knowledge alone doesn’t transform our perception of ourselves or the world. Coaching is different. It facilitates long-term behavioural change by helping the brain rewire. I think as a person’s neural pathways evolve, their self-image and worldview shift, which in turn drives new behaviours. This lasting transformation is something that simple instructions cannot achieve.
““It’s hard to learn when you already know.””
I can see clearly now
Your perspective is always limited to the extent of your knowledge. I think by broadening your understanding, you open doors to transforming your mindset. By delving into your true history can empower you, instilling boldness, and self-confidence. Not everything needs a reaction; instead master your emotions by training your mind to stay calm, think, and then act with purpose.
““If you cannot be corrected without being offended, then you will not truly grow in life.””
Think before acting
Cultural intelligence (CQ) is an essential capability for inclusive leaders and in building successful relationships. Those who learn how to connect and become connectors will prosper in a connected economy.
““Cultural intelligence: an outsider’s seemingly natural ability to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures the way that person’s compatriots would.””
What are the 4 components of cultural intelligence?
The framework for cultural intelligence consists of four parts: knowledge, strategic thinking, motivation, and behaviours.
CQ Drive: The motivation to learn about new cultures.
CQ Knowledge: Understanding how cultures influence what people say and do.
CQ Strategy: Having a plan to respond to cultural differences.
CQ Action: Behaving in culturally sensitive ways, including handling any difficulties that arise.
Meaning and structure
Starting a business is a multifaceted journey that involves bringing a marketable skill, idea, service or product to life, creating value for your target audience, and leveraging your knowledge, abilities, efforts, and time to achieve success. Adaptation, continuous learning, and effective resource management are ongoing processes that contribute to the growth and sustainability of your business. To ensure you have a clear understanding of your business venture, you should consider the following questions:
• What exactly is it that you do?
• Who is your target audience?
• Why does your business matter?
Are you thinking about starting a business? Contact me via e-mail and book a business development strategy meeting.
It's a balancing act
Are you aware that your knowledge is a valuable asset?
I think your skills and abilities play a significant role in how you deliver your product or service and will contribute to the quality of your offering. Whether it's your craftsmanship, problem-solving skills, communication abilities, or technical expertise. This knowledge guides your decisions, helps you make informed choices, and enables you to stay competitive and relevant. Industry expertise, understanding of customer needs, and your insights into market trends are also valuable assets. All of these attributes contribute to the overall customer experience and differentiate you from competitors. Contact me via e-mail to book a confidential 1:1 sparring session.
Prioritise and sharing
I think that if you want to be an effective consultant it's essential to prioritise what's most important over what's merely relevant. Your role is to provide valuable advice and recommendations to your clients, guiding them towards the results they desire, as without fulfilling this consultative duty, you risk becoming irrelevant in their eyes. To become a successful consultant your approach should involve breaking down complex information into manageable parts – facts and impacts. Your ability to understand the overarching trends in the world, and then assess their implications for your clients, giving them a clearer picture of how these trends will affect their businesses. This foundational knowledge will serve as a basis for crafting well-informed and actionable recommendations for your clients, and this will also position yourself as a trusted advisor
Do you value experience?
Information and insight are not interchangeable, even though anyone can easily access information through platforms like Google or ChatGPT. It's possible to gather information, but information alone does not equate to insight or wisdom. I think information does not possess the same value as what we refer to as situational knowledge. Situational knowledge stems from experience, enabling individuals to determine what’s good, right, and true, as well as what’s suitable for specific circumstances.
Exchanging knowledge
The hardest part of marketing meetings is persuading people to stop trying to prove that they were right all along. Defending the business, they came in with, defending their position and all their previous decisions. I’m sure these people mean well but they are limiting the possible because they are trying to defend what got them here in the first place. Everybody knows that knowledge is power, right? Knowledge is not power, I think it’s our ability to influence people that is power, and once you know, you cannot unknow.
““Any fool can know. The point is to understand.””
Just be kind
It’s been scientifically proven that people who are curious are happier. Knowledge is not only information it’s also instructions to execute from. I think you can motivate a person with words, but you’ll inspire them with your actions. When I tell you a story that sounds good, that’s motivation, and then I’m giving you a motive to do something. When I tell you about what I did or if I’m leading by example, that’s I’m leading by example, that’s inspirational. When I’m telling you about how I did it, that’s educational. Now you have an actual foundation to build from, most people do more motivation than inspiration. So, when you grade yourself from a psychological perspective, it’s all about what you know.
““It is a little embarrassing that, after forty five years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to each other.” ”
Naive realism
Values form the behavioural core and the motivational force for an individual, therefore, I think values are more important than knowledge.
““When you succeed, be generous.
When you fail, be compassionate.
When you win, be humble.
When you are scared, be thoughtful.
When you are beaten, be modest.” ”
Focus on one small goal
The concept of Zorro Circles is a metaphor for how we can follow our ambitions and achieve our goals by tackling the challenges we face one by one. Gradually, as we become ready, we can complete what we set out to do. I think the basic idea behind the Zorro Circle is that we should limit the scope of our efforts to a small area and as we gain resources, knowledge, and confidence, we expand our circle of control. And embarrassment is a powerful motivator for improvement and the more public the embarrassment, the greater the motivation.
Saleable content
I think that in every start-up, you need the following:
- Someone who always wants to get things done
- Someone who obsesses over numbers
- Someone who is honest about things that doesn't work
- Someone who is eternally optimistic
The “someone” I describe above could be the same person. I have heard about start-up companies who don’t know who they are, they don’t have a business model, and they don’t have great market segmentation, in other words how to approach a market. Unless this is all in place, I would not work with them as I cannot guide them through a sales process or teach them how to sell more effectively. Not knowing who to target, who to sell to, what price points to be at can really impact how you can sell effectively in any marketplace.
Familiarity vs. Awareness
I have found it really useful to find out everything about a company or organisation before I have a meeting with them. We are taught that knowledge is power, well if that was the case then why are all researchers not millionaires? Disclaimer: This is not to say that the only measure of success is financial. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, knowledge is defined as ‘facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.’ I think this is because knowledge is potential power but it’s not power in that sense of the word. Knowledge has to be properly organised and intelligently directed for it to be explicit (theoretical) or implicit (practical). How will this help you personally or professionally?
“When you do not seek or need approval, you are at your most powerful.”
Preaching to the choir
Think about the times you have sat in an audience - whether in person or on a digital device – listening to a speaker, you are being influenced. It doesn’t matter what they are saying whether you think it is good or bad, how much you agree or disagree with it, you are being influenced. This morning I looked up the word, influence and according to the Oxford English Dictionary, influence means “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.”
Each of us live our lives based on a worldview, and our worldview is essentially one’s spectrum of perceptions from knowledge to beliefs with countless opinions in between. In other words, our worldview consists of our knowledge, our opinions, and our beliefs. And if we have self-confidence, we hold each of these or all of them as truths, not true in that they could be proven, true, in that is how we see it.
Knowledge is what we know with enough certainty and evidence to support it.
Beliefs is what we hold as true, although there is no objective or formal evidence to prove it.
Opinions is what we hold with enough evidence to know that is the way we see things.
I can inform someone’s knowledge and if they disagree, I can support my view with enough evidence to convince them unless they just object no matter what. On the other hand, beliefs are what I believe even when I have no direct evidence to support it. Most of us have had beliefs through our lives that changed and became opinions. Opinions are what we hold as true because we have enough evidence and strong enough beliefs to see something as being proper. We have opinions about everything, for example, sports, relationships, health, parenting, leadership, management, etc. The reason why I have different views today than previously is that I have been persuaded to change many of my opinions through additional evidence and by views of others I trust.
A little bit about me
c/o BBC
My skill set is not industry specific, I have dotted across different industries as a consultant and had a good varied career across the board. I am fortunate to have worked for a mix of large corporations right through to new start-ups, and everything in between. I think the definition of a creative is showing up, doing the work and putting it out there even when you have no idea if it will resonate. What do you think?
I’ve done the start-up thing where you are fumbling around trying to find the right product-market fit and your not entirely sure what they might be and you are leveraging your network to get some deals done. It’s fun but I think that it’s not necessarily sustainable for me and with my skill set, I prefer to work for organisations that have least have a little bit of product-make fit, and have some established customers so you can build upon. I’ve also worked in some hugeorganisations which are a polar opposite of start-ups, they are great for getting your foot in the door because everybody will see you because you have that brand recognition. In terms of getting anything done internally or creatively, it is a lot more challenging than to sell, due to the corporate politics.
How do you do that?
I have always been a curious human being! Today, I thought about what it would be like if I were in your body right now.
How would I get frustrated?
What would I picture?
What would I say to myself?
How would I say it?
What tonality would I use?
Question: Why me?
What can I bring of experience and competence that can potentially beat a candidate with industry experience?
The love of winning! Sometimes an “outsider” can see a smarter way of doing it as I would have to learn the procedures and performance routines. And when you are learning a performance, you model yourself after the smartest way, which more often than not is also the best way.
Too many of us think the best people are the people who are metaphorically speaking, screaming “look at me” the loudest, and talking down to the rest of us. They are not the best!
The best people are out in the field - doing it - showing you the distinctions, articulating to you about what has worked for them, so you can benefit from their experiences. I think it’s genius to learn from other peoples mistakes, not in a miraculous way.
Too many of us have to learn from our mistakes several times before we really learn from them. Contact me via e-mail for sparring, mentoring or guidance.
Say Thank You!
The path to transformation is by embracing life everyday with openness. You can start on the path wherever you are, everyone is in the position to say that this situation is difficult but I am grateful for having a higher self that can find a solution. Acknowledging this path can transform any experience from darkness to light. It’s like having a torch in a dark forest where the only thing that matters is the next step that you see ahead of you.
How should you live life when you are on this path? It’s easy to feel grateful when life is going well, yet not everyday is like that! Most days are a mixture of negative and positive situations, emotions and feedback at home and work. I think that we only need two tools on the path: knowledge and experience. Knowledge gives you the vision of the bigger picture that you can trust, and experience validates that the experience is true. When we achieve even more knowledge and experience - complaints are transformed into light and wonder and gloom changes to joy. This acknowledgement that you are being guided by the light inside of you is the beginning of the journey.
Dark vs. light; good vs. bad; us vs. them, whoever them happens to be!
Getting beyond these opposites is important, not that you should give up and let the darkness creep in but so you stop being stuck in conflict. To be in the light, you must open yourself to it, which is different from constantly struggling against the darkness. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to take a deeper dive into this arena.
Sharing is caring
What are the fundamental capabilities of a human system that are crucial to its capacity to execute flawlessly and innovate consistently?
I think the simple answer is sharing. When I say sharing, I mean sharing knowledge, expertise and secrets. I think that in order to get what you want you will need a roadmap, not a conventional roadmap - a roadmap that contains an idea, plan and a series of steps to execute that plan.
Knowledge isn’t everything, you may need a guide - someone who’s been there before - someone who understands what you are going through and wants you to succeed. Someone who can give feedback, motivation and pick you up when things get tough. When you combine a proven roadmap with a skilled guide and an army of supporters - this makes an unstoppable combination. It’s important to have likeminded people beside you on your journey, people who understand what you are going through and want you to succeed.