“I think the best entrepreneurs are Vulnerable Visionaries. Its a combination of being vulnerable and having confidence.” ~ Chip Conley

I have referenced Chip Conley in my daily posts multiple times, with his concept of “Vulnerable Visionary” one learning I repeatedly share.

Today’s post dives into Chip’s thoughts on what it means to be a Vulnerable Visionary and why it is so important.

I then go on to coin my own Emotional Equation (Chip’s idea too!) on being a Vulnerable Visionary.

Finally, I’ll link this all into how my belief in this concept informed the development and articulation of the types of leaders I wish to attract to work with me and who I love to work with to make a difference!

I hope all of this has value to you in considering your own leadership as well as those who have taught and inspired you.

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A wonderful quote from one of my favourite books, “Dune”, the 1965 science fiction masterpiece by Frank Herbert focussed around clans and corporations fighting for power, where power means control of a powerful (interesting that choice of descriptor!) drug that is essential for navigating trade routes, called “Spice”.

As Lord Acton famously noted:

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, “Language, Truth and Trust“, last week I attended a massively thought-provoking talk on language and leadership. At the Q&A afterwards, a gentleman sitting next to me quietly added his wisdom to the conversation.

“power is the ability to make things happen, responsibility is driven by attempting to answer the question: In whose interest is the power being used?”

He then went on to ask us to consider the impact of a shift in language from leadership being focussed around the word responsibility rather than the current association with the word power. in closing his brief contribution, he noted:

“have you ever heard anyone talk about lust for responsibility?” (more…)

One of the things I love about London is the ease of attending talks and workshops and learning from amazing intellects. Last week was one such occasion where I went to a talk by Dr Christophe Fricker and his colleague Cory Massaro on Language and Leadership.

I then had the lovely opportunity to have lunch with these two gentlemen, a conversation which flowed and ranged widely, very inspiring. I hope to talk more to them and then post something about their talk soon.

For now, a few thoughts that came to me from that, starting with a thought from Cory:

“you know a word by the company it keeps” (more…)

A wonderful depiction by Gaping Void of the core messages of  the book “Remote” 

I strongly believe in remote working. However, today let me take it a level further. For now let’s call it “WorkAnywhere”, as the idea of remote working still implies a paradigm where there is a central point of focus for a business, an office or “head office”.

We don’t need that paradigm anymore, it does not serve our thinking and so our practices. Technology has shrunk the world and enabled many of us to be able to work almost anywhere, anytime and with even more effectiveness than if we had to travel to an office or even place our focus around such a place. That said, I also believe that it is a “both/and” conversation, that often we miss the huge value of creating and building meaningful relationships by being “offline”, by being face to face with people.

So, to me, there are wonderful lessons in the book “Remote” that I will touch on later, yet my core message is that many of us can consciously operate a “WorkAnywhere” model, going beyond the idea that we can work remotely from a central office or HQ.

For us to WorkAnywhere, we then leverage both the power of remote working with online tools as well as recognising the power of actually being in the same room as people and so investing in that time (and travel to do so) as a core element of WorkAnywhere life.

Today, then, I’ll tell my own quarter-century long story of how I have evolved to my own WorkAnywhere model.

In that, I’ll share some of what I have learned along the way to support that work model, including some thoughts on the book “Remote” and the lessons from the huge success Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson have had in building and running their remote business (that itself offers remote tools for collaboration).

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In the last few weeks I’ve started working with a few new clients.

At the beginning of any new engagement, I always like to take time with the client to set a Context before we dive into the Content. Context can be at a personal level, or for your business vision, goals, strategies, projects etc.

As I am reminded of this by recent new client starts, today I unabashedly share a  repost (slightly edited and evolved) of a post on Context I wrote last year. A good idea is always worth repeating!

So, in many years and thousands upon thousands of hours as a coach, the single most powerful tool for coaching is Context.

Today I’ll talk specifically about the power for an individual of setting a personal context and three focal areas for action aligned to that context.

To get there, as the diagram indicates, one needs to ask oneself different questions to arrive at what both drives and supports you to move forward from the present.

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Andromeda galaxy – so far away that light takes two million years to reach us.

How long is 38 years to you?

Is it the same to each of us?

If not, why not?

Today a story about 38 years, then some thoughts on what clock each of us are running time on. (more…)

Would you give your business away?

Well, Julian Richer just did. Let’s look at that story today. (more…)

A recent conversation about Kaizen prompts me to highlight what it truly takes for it to work for you and your business.

“Kaizen” is the Japanese word for Improvement.

In industry, it is used to mean continuous improvement. It was pioneered by Toyota, but, as business around the world has gradually seen that using “command and control” process improvement is nowhere near as effective as a motivated team focussed on continuous improvement, Kaizen has been co-opted into “Agile” and other ways to improve in business.

The thing is, when adopting Kaizen methods, I’ve seen it fail to have the desired effect in businesses with reasonable frequency. Why? (more…)

Who are you?

Simple question, but identity can have many elements.

Imagine you lead a business where lack of collaboration and trust is a constant struggle.

“Who are you?” is a great question to ask and answer to support trust and collaboration. (more…)

Swans and cygnets in a London park this weekend

The last two weeks have been pretty intense for me, both with lots of work and also with the death of someone close then their funeral.

I thought this weekend I’d balance it between doing a little work and a little relaxation each day. However, yesterday (Saturday) morning, decided instead to take 24 hours completely away from the norm. No work, no regular routine. Instead to be outdoors and in nature as much as possible.

So, central to this was to go for a walk. Quite a long walk with a companion across commons and parks in London. Nearly 15 miles in the end, with a few stops, taking much of the day.

I then followed this up this morning with a strong ride with my usual riding buddy, so now I sit here, a little late for posting my daily musing, yet all the more refreshed for it.

So, sometimes we can recharge in a few minutes or hours, sometimes we need weeks or even months. Sometimes a day in nature is what it takes.

I guess what I did yesterday was tune in to myself and listen to what I needed. A long walk in nature was just the ticket.

Routine + Rhythm + Repetition = Resiliency

In collaborating with a client on a project where we are moving from the “WHY” and “WHAT” to the choice of “HOWs” that will be actioned to action the Cascading Leadership model of “Align, Engage, Enrol” for their organisation.

This style of formation of an idea is what Chip Conley calls an “Emotional Equation”, with my post on this being what catalysed he and I to meet and grow to know and work with each other, a happening from my writing I am most grateful for. (more…)

“I don’t like the term patient capital, that is not long term enough”

This line was spoken last night at dinner by legendary Scots investor Sir Angus Grossart.

He then noted that he is a long term investor and that he feels he thinks longer term than Warren Buffett.

I joked about this with him, wondering what quantum realm of time thinking he uses as such a relative youth (he is 82) to Warren Buffett (88) and Charlie Munger (95), when Buffett famously says: “Our favourite holding period is forever”, so I’m intrigued as to quite how long term Sir Angus is in his thinking! (more…)

Meeting interesting and inspiring people, listening, being present to them, seeing where I can help them. This is my work, this is what I love to do.

This also fills my batter, brings me energy as I (hopefully) bring energy and inspiration to them to.

I’m generally highly positive, full of energy (mostly calm and centred energy, though with passion and purpose). This is what I tend to bring whenever I meet people.

It is a rare occasion, then, where my energy tank is too empty to be at my best for others when I meet them.

Today is one such day. Today I am in the city of my birth, Edinburgh. This trip was planned weeks ago around visiting someone dear and close to me who has been terminally ill for some time. As I was going to be here anyway, I booked a full afternoon and evening of meetings and events to come after simply meeting this dearly beloved person for a cup of tea.

Sadly, they passed away suddenly last week, so today in the middle of the day, instead of meeting them for a cup of tea, I am attending their funeral. (I wrote of this last week and thank you so much for all the messages and emails I received from regular readers).

I still planned to continue with all my meetings from later in the afternoon onwards, but as I woke up today, I realised that, though such meetings to give me energy, if I am not at my best for others, it makes no sense to go through with those plans.

So, I contacted my first meeting, where I was going to meet to do what I do, to be a sounding board. I realised I would not be at my best for them, so cancelled the meeting, explaining to them I needed to focus on self-care.

I’ll be at my best again very soon, am blessed and inspired to have walked the path on life’s journey and will take the funeral to both grieve and celebrate. However, for now, I do have the self-awareness that I need to take care of myself above all else today.

I work with leaders who are often so selfless that they may risk burn out from their workload in service of others. I talk about repeated themes on this site. One phrase I have repeated countless times is:

“Put the oxygen mask yourself before you help others”

Today I put the oxygen mask on.

I hope this story is of support to you in knowing when to do the same for yourself.

I’ll be back and writing again tomorrow. Writing is what I do, being a writer is part of who I am. Being of service to others, #MakingPotentialPossible is my “Why”.

Thank you for being with me as a reader on this journey too.

In working with leaders I often support them around managing their energy, which includes their workload and looking to balance that.

I find myself typing this at the end of a day which was way too overloaded with work, yet needing to keep my commitment to myself to write daily.

Unusual indeed for me to be exhausted like this, so will keep this post brief and to the point.

Perhaps not top quality work today from me as I am so tired today.

So, what is the impact on you and your work when you are overworked?

As I approach 600 daily posts here, I recognise that I repeat themes in my writing. Though the stories, perspectives, viewpoints, examples may vary, the themes remain the same.

Repetition, though, can have tremendous value.

In talking to leaders, I often remind them that a key part of their role is communicating the message. Further, I tell them that they cannot, under any circumstances, communicate their message enough. A phrase I then use with them is:

“when you feel you are bored to death of repeating your message…

….you are probably half way there”

Repetition, repetition, repetition