"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt
Win, lose or draw
How many people do you know who are unaffected by praise or blame?We spend on much time reacting to labels, are own and others’. When you win, be kind and when you lose, be kind, most people learn these valuable lesson in kindergarten. I think that to completely disagree with someone and yet engage with them with respect and honesty, is a superpower. I have observed that smart people are not offended by the truth.
“We all need a personal mythology not because it tells us who we are but because it tells us who to aspire to be.”
Somebody once said...
“The three most difficult things for a human being are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third, admitting that you are wrong.”
From my perspective
I met somebody new last night and he said that the was an avid reader of my site. I was humbled and explained to him that I am on a 6 week online digital marketing course which has affected the length and depth of my writing. He asked me how to start a business from scratch doing work you love with people you care about? My short answer was that due to the global COVID-19 pandemic a new consumer behaviour has emerged and I would approach all business problems from a design and experience led angle. Everything is going digital and there are so many different perspectives to take into account when creating and developing new products and services.
The American trend forecaster, Sarah Owen said, “When it comes to social media bragging, the youth have a new social currency - culture and lifestyle. We see this demographic invest in the experiential, and the ultimate bragging rights are in the wellness, travel, and lifestyle sectors. Posting a photo of a designer handbag is no longer associated with the changing notion of luxury. What is considered to be a luxury today is time and travel, it’s wellness and well-cultured individuals. That’s the new currency.”
Are you curious? Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to look at your engagement.
Ageism simply isn't helpful
According the the World Health Organization by 2050, the world’s population aged 60 years and older is expected to total 2 billion, up from 900 million in 2015. As I get older, I better understand the following:
Lost money can be found; lost time is lost forever.
Learning to learn, and changing yourself is a superpower.
You are not your job.
Networking is about giving.
The best teacher is your last mistake.
Good manners as important as good education.
I think that experience and wisdom take time and effort to accumulate, and sharing those things can be a significant blessing to others. Contact me via e-mail and let me know what do you think?
Just a little bit of respect
“I don’t care about your gender, skin colour, age, sexuality or body size. As long as you respect me, I’ll respect you.”
The 3 day social media blackout
“A system can never defend the people it was not supposed to protect.”
Bad news doesn't get better with age
Whenever any comes to me with a problem I always have an answer for them, I always look for solutions and if I don’t have them personally, then I will leverage my network. Personal ownership is part of my leadership style as I think that it’s all about the team. Nowadays, I have to constantly remind people that you cannot get all the answers from YouTube.
The subjective side is where you involve individual motivation and culture is just as important as having great systems. You can have the greatest systems in the world but if your culture stinks then you won’t have alignment within your organisation. If the culture of helping and supporting each other is not present within your organisation, then there will not be a level of teamwork required to take on the external challenges. Some level of teamwork and personal responsibility is always required when setting the direction of where of you want your organisations to head. Contact me via e-mail for a meeting to discuss an introspection into your “true worth” principles.
Don't believe everything you read
““That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies;
That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright;
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.” - Lord Tennyson”
Problem solvers
If what makes you unique and stand out from the competition is who you are, then the big question is who are you? Another question would be based around your belief system, how do you do what you do? Over the 12 months, I have time to think about not only myself but also how organisations will operate post Covid.
There are more questions than answers, I think that all progressive organisations will have to take a deeper dive into understanding their competition and where they position themselves in the market place. Are interested in laying the foundations for creating a culture where everyone in your organisation works towards the success of everybody? Contact me via e-mail for a meeting.
Above and beyond
It’s important to look at the system, as too often people who would like to make change forget to look at the system. I have been observing systems throughout my life without realising what I have been seeing. How are we going to create a new system that is going to put the right energy into education so over time we will have more people looking like me in the system?
If you are frustrated at how your marketing is currently working, it’s probably because you are using the wrong system. It’s really hard to change the system by just changing the elements within it. I think it’s far more powerful to change your purpose.
Walk a mile in my shoes
““We are very good lawyers for our own mistakes, and very good judges for the mistakes of others.” - Paulo Coelho”
Do you actually stand for something?
I think that all organisations today should have a manifesto which contains a manual for how they connect to their customers in a deep and meaningful way. Not just how to sell their customers more “stuff”. What I have found is that the successful organisations are those who are connecting their customers to each other, for example, Apple and Microsoft. Both Apple and Microsoft have proved beyond reasonable doubt that you can make money from this if you are enriching your customers lives and connecting them to each other.
If you are going to build a tribe then you have to ask yourselves whether to make it easy to join, trivial or exclusive. It’s really not a hard decision, the most important factor is the tribe should not be trivial as nobody wants to join a tribe that is average. People will only join tribes that they identify with and/ or believe in. Building a tribe means creating a following of people respect you, believe in you, support you, know what you are talking about and want you to succeed. Historically, there were only 3 tribes: work, community and the church.
When we join a tribe we are making a statement about ourselves. Are you interested in knowing how to inspire loyalty and a feeling of belonging? Please send me an e-mail when you ready to build or grow your tribe.
Culture eats bureaucracy for lunch
The legendary management consultant and writer Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. If our well being is directly related to our environment and the work quality we produce, then we really should put more effort into thinking about how to optimise it.
In his book, “Good to Great”, Jim Collins said, “If you get the right people on the buses everything else will sort itself out.” Perhaps it’s time to look at the coaching style of working together and focus on what empowers. This is an approach which will guide individuals to find their place, their role and their hidden talents, rather than putting restrictions on people and telling them what to do. Is your organisation prepared for feedback that is frank, open and honest?
I think that if you built your organisation around these principles - create the environment, employ the right people and develop the culture - your organisation will thrive. Are you interested in taking a deeper dive into your organisations communication and culture? Contact me via e-mail for coaching, mentoring or workshops.
Creative by nature
The more choices you have, the more chance that you can do something interesting and remarkable. The artist in me realised that the more I give away, the more I change people, the better I do. The price of originality is criticism and the value of originality is priceless.
The posture of change and the posture of generosity are hard because it’s scary. Our “Lizard Brain” is in charge of fight, flight, fear and freezing up. It’s the first part of the brain that develops in the foetus and the other parts develop on top of it. We all have a brain that wants to make music, wants to have a conversation and we also have a brain that wants to run away, that wants to fit in, that doesn’t want to be laughed at and a brain that wants revenge, and a brain that wants to have children.
Anytime that brain wants to speak up the lizard brain is what wins. As that is why we have survived as a species, and the bad news is the thing that protected us from sabre tooth tigers is the same thing that is recking our lives. It’s sabotaging our ability to do the thing which is actually going to work.
An extraordinary gift
““What is now proved was once only imagined.” - William Blake”
Throwback Thursday
I think that it’s important to look back in order to understand the present. Alvin Toffler’s prophetic 1970 book, “Future Shock” predicted how people and institutions of the late 20th century would contend with the immense strains and soaring opportunities of accelerating change. In the book Toffler highlights that you can't run the society on data and computers alone. I agree and think that society needs all kinds of skills which are not just cognitive, we also need skills that are emotional and affectionate.
Toffler’s predictions about the consequences to culture, the family, government and the economy were remarkably accurate. He foresaw the development of cloning, the popularity and influence of personal computers and the invention of the internet and cable television.
““You have got to think about big things while you are doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” - Alvin Toffler”
The two things that define us
A wise old man once told me that two things define us:
1. Your patience when you have nothing, and
2. Your attitude when you have everything.
My period of self-isolation ended last night and I am “officially” free to go outdoors. Now more than ever, I think it’s so important to tune in, look inward and listen to you intuition. It’s so easy to forget how to listen to that inner voice. This morning I took a moment to enjoy the silence and confirmed to myself how grateful I am to have come through B.1.351 (the South African variant) without any major symptoms.
Now we finally have an opportunity to focus on what matters most to us, make changes - and what better time to change your life than when it’s already changing?
Look and you will see
I’m pretty good at not carrying regrets around and I choose to be happy. I no longer allow negative things in my life to spoil the good things. I have been described as a skilled strategic developer. My things are planning from conception to implementation whilst defining the corporate mission, objectives and branding. How can I get to the heart of the change I am trying to make in the world?
It matters to me that human beings step up and speak their truth. It’s important to me that we look each other in the eyes and take advantage of this moment we have, as in reality no one knows how long we will have these opportunities. I think all of us are more powerful than we can even imagine and all of us have the ability to make things better.
Goodbye 2020
“There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. - Nelson Mandela”