My Library
People are my library, my writing inspired by what I learn: ideas, inspiration, wisdom, and sometimes some eclectic whimsy for good measure, all centred around #OpenLeadership. At the heart of all of this is that I write to share learnings and to discover my thoughts. Over the years i have written (mostly) daily, over 2000 posts and 1,000,000 words (that last part blows my mind, tbh!). Enjoy browsing.
Everything is Interconnected
This week I had a most energising meeting with a senior Caymanian leader with both an academic and applied background in Complexity Leadership. We made time to meet after I posted a comment on LI about the need for Open Leadership (see my core post on the topic here...
Everything is Interconnected
A concise definition of Complexity Leadership: Everything is interconnected, and it is all about relationships.
People helping people achieve their dreams
We have a real role in helping our clients along their way, because they do have dreams. They have dreams to grow and build. Scale for Impact model, from the "Leading from Purpose" article The model above is core to my thinking on #OpenLeadership, on the type of brave...
Show up and contribute
While investing in businesses, show up, do the work, contribute, be patient. tommccallum.com site traffic to January 2021, roughly doubling each year since I started writing in October 2017 Inspired by Seth Godin's practice of daily posting, I started the same...
Sometimes the best-laid plans..
Sometimes the best-laid plans go awry. So, we adapt as we must when circumstances call for it. Best to accept and adapt rather than to resist. The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ MenGang aft agley,From "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns As the couplet from one...
An invincible summer
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”~ Albert Camus This is...
Who can help you keep going?
Who in your life can help you keep going? Waterlillies by Claude Monet “I am distressed, almost discouraged, and fatigued to the point of feeling slightly ill. What I am doing is no good, and in spite of your confidence I am very much afraid that my efforts will all...
He aims at difficult things
My clan crest, the clan McCallum "In ardua petit" ~ He aims at difficult thingsMotto of the clan McCallum I've had this clan crest for many years, yet only recently did I focus upon that clan motto. For those who know me, perhaps it seems apposite. Taking the easy...
Genius hits a target no-one else can see
"We've always done it this way" (aka what I call "the six most dangerous words in business") "if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got" “you can't see the goldfish bowl you are swimming in” "When others Zig, you Zag" "Talent hits a target no...
What can I do today to build momentum?
Recently my friend, Leadership Coach Jeff Raker (part of the growing tribe of past guests on #WhatComesNextLive, his show here) and I were talking around two themes. One was around building momentum towards a goal, the other the power of visualising yourself at that...
Hold your plans more lightly
If we could hold our plans more lightly it might enable us to be more compassionate with each other and ourselves, when events do not meet our expectations. Image from "Do Thoughts Even Matter", from the Three Principles Living site In my practice (always practice,...
Choose, then choose again
Today, for the first time in a long while, am curating a post from Seth Godin, whose practice of daily posting dates back decades and who was an inspiration for me to start doing so over 1,200 posts ago. At this very difficult time for humanity, Seth's concise words...
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the Life we have lost in living?Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?T.S. Eliot, "The Rock", Faber & Faber 1934. referenced in: "The Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom Chain:The Metaphorical...
Time longer than rope
Yesterday it snowed here, only the second snowfall of the year in this area. Given how hilly it is here, it was not a day to take the car out, so I walked a lot and it was great to be out crunching in the snow for a change. As I walked, I also mused on the passage of...