We met recently for breakfast in Glasgow and afterwards he sent me this hysterical clip of Mr Bean as a conductor, then later shared some…
Elite Lessons
Identify the source driving innovation
If we look into the past for the true source of innovations, I wonder, by considering innovation in such a way, what we could learn…
Masters practice incessantly, then improvise
This week I was at my favourite recurring learning experience, a "Facilitation Shindig" led by the amazing Julie Drybrough. This experience inspired today's post, about Mastery being about the ability to improvise and that ability coming from incessant practice....
Organisational Transformations – dropping pebbles
The #BeMoreYou page on this site is there to help leaders assess if I am the right person to support them and if they are the right person too. Words like bravery and transformation are peppered through the site, and this phrase from the page is apposite to today's...
Don’t be more than one hilltop ahead
What can Don Quixote teach us about leadership? Reflecting that you don’t climb Everest in one go. You have staging camps to acclimatise, assess the conditions before moving on. Same in business. — Sacha Romanovitch (@romanovsun) September 13, 2018 Today I saw this...
When will you next recharge…yourself?
Thanks to Monique Valcour for sharing this, with the tagline: Recharge yourself with nature The thing is, here in the Northern Hemisphere, there is a real "back to school" energy which means that for those who were able to slow down over the summer and recharge...
The compass matters more than the calendar
Image credit : Lewis Howes - Leadership Compass Today a guest post from my friend Jeff Raker of Level Up Leadership. Jeff is a wonderful guy and a top swimming official in the USA. We met a number of years ago through world of international swim officials. When not...
Elite Lessons – Making failure possible
In order to make failure possible, you first have to try, to commit, to go where it may scare or even terrify you, to be vulnerable, to say "this might not work" and do it anyway. Very recently I was disappointed to witness this first hand in someone. They were...
Inigo Montoya – Masterclass on introducing yourself
Such a fun meme that went viral a while back, and now my post on this theme is by far the most viewed on this daily blog on leadership. Hmm, so now let me try this out, using the example of introducing myself to someone I am being referred to by an existing client,...
Elite Lessons – Consistency over Innovation
This photo of and quote from the great Eddy Merckx hangs in a frame behind the spinning instructor's bike at Revolutions in the Cayman Islands. As I sit writing on a wet Sunday morning nursing a sore Achilles tendon, I'm missing my regular Sunday morning ride and...
Can Business be Beautiful and Profitable?
This image was embedded in the award given to each member of a seminal Leadership Growth Programme. More in this article. Business can be Beautiful. Today I share an excerpt from a post from Alan Moore of beautiful.business, featured recently in "Is yours, could yours...
Be the CEO of your own Time and Energy
CEOs are responsible for the performance (and, one would hope they recognise) and the wellbeing of all the people in their team. Often, though, they…
What if you could never fire anyone?
Now, what if you could never fire anybody in your organisation, every, under any circumstances? What would you do differently? This is more than a thought experiment, I am seriously asking you to consider this question. More and more organisations are fully or at...
Leadership, Maria Callas, Meraki
Meraki is the modern greek term that translates to: "to do something with soul, creativity, or love; when you leave a piece of yourself in the work." Maria Callas, also Greek, is my favourite opera singer of all time, and one would call her a Meraklis. A Meraklis is...
Learning from The Beatles – “Mixing” your Leadership
In supporting leaders over many years, I love to distil to simplicity, to allow them to focus on their priorities, their message, their context. As Da Vinci said: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" At the same time, sometimes we need to consider more than...
Kintsukuroi – Leadership Lessons
Continuing a theme from this week's post "Beautiful words bring dimensions of meaning", today considering the Japanese art of Kintsukuroi and lessons that leaders can learn from it. So many entrenched organisational paradigms look to avoid breakdowns, mistakes, even...
Make your dent in the universe a crater
What is the dent you wish to make in the universe? How can you make that dent into a crater? My answer today? Surround yourselves with people, thoughts, ideas that stimulate you to live your own purpose and you'll make your dent a crater. Let me give you my own...
Winning at Halftime
Today a guest post from Bruce Peters of Beyond Teal, who is based in upstate New York. His post is on leadership lessons from elite sports, a recurring theme on this site. Thank you to Bruce for allowing me to share this with you here. Bruce is a remarkable human...
Leadership – Repeat ad nauseam
One turn of phrase around telling people something over and over is to say you "repeated ad nauseam", or literally until you were sick. One of the simplest to address gaps I see in leaders around engaging their people is to assume they have communicated their message...
Leadership Lessons from Pushing Cars
When I was a young Chartered Accountancy student I had an old MG Midget just like this one. A tiny little car (and yes, somehow I fit in it!), it had a faulty starter motor, so I became very familiar with push starting it. As a relatively big and strong guy with a...
Brevity is the soul of wit
Yesterday's post, "Beauty in Brevity" mused eclectically on the power of art and prose to communicate to us powerfully and rapidly through being concise. Today, I turn that focus to messaging in business and leadership. In many situations, the shorter and simpler the...
Smashing Paradigms – Why Be Humble?
Chapeau to Andrés Iniesta, Derek Jeter, Ed Percival and more. Let us all take endings seriously.
Diversity and Culture – a lesson from an elite sport
Leadership lessons from an elite athlete in a pro sport. Which sport ? It may surprise you.
Michael Jordan: I failed, that is why I succeed
I love this quote from Michael Jordan, as it speaks to "Deliberate Practice", a topic I wrote about yesterday, focusing on golf and Ben Hogan, as well as looking to prompt readers to consider where they are deliberate in what they do, whether it be in their personal...
Ben Hogan: Deliberate Practice
The summer I was 15, the weather in the Scottish Borders was beautiful (so my memory tells me!). That year I got the "bug" to play golf. Junior membership was almost free and I rode my bike to the club with an old "half set" of clubs and spent all day there most of...
Wait overnight before replying
Could you go a week waiting overnight before replying to email? What might you learn?
What is your 80 days?
On April 26th, I was at Gleneagles for a truly inspirational and world-class day at the Entrepreneurial Scotland annual conference, themed "Global Mindset, Scottish Heart”. The conference was opened by my friend, the truly inspirational Mark Beaumont, who just over a...
Movies with Meaning – Different Perspectives
This week simply three movies featuring one of my favourite actors.
Movies with Meaning – John Cusack edition
This week simply three movies featuring one of my favourite actors.
Movies with Meaning – Trust and Consistency
Consistency is key to Trust, and these three movies feature characters of stoic consistency.
Be ruthless with your time
Time is the most valuable commodity we have, are you “ruthlessly aware” of how you spend this currency ?
Movies with Meaning – Focussing on what matters
Three movies that focus on what matters in life, and on being present
Movies with Meaning – Determination and Belief
The King’s Speech, Gandhi, Senna. Three movies about Determination and Belief to enjoy and to learn from.
Movies with Meaning – Integrity
These three great movies speak to me about integrity
Movies with Meaning – Say Anything
Say Anything – movies about truth, integrity, honesty
Movies with Meaning – Being Observant
Three movies to consider and to watch through the lens of the power of being observant