There is no business. There is nothing to touch, or pick up or to take a selfie with; there is nothing that exists separately that has an opinion or a life of its own. There is just us and the time we spend with each other, thinking about each other, helping each...
As with all personality assessments, I take MBTI with a pinch of salt, although the part I do most like as an awareness piece is the spectrum we all fall on from Introvert to Extrovert. If you know your own MBTI, then what do you think of the career guide above? In...
August is a "slow" month, yet this unique year is one of Transitions, so it is key to balance rest in August with also focussing during this quiet period on the valuable work of considering What Comes Next. August Today we enter August, in much of the Northern...
Look at a longer timeframe to give a new perspective. GBP USD rate for the last 50 years So, just two days ago I wrote: "Stop waiting for the perfect moment", noting that I had a large sum of money from the sale of a house (in USD) to move to buy a house in the UK (in...
Look at a longer timeframe to give a new perspective. GBP USD rate for the last 50 years So, just two days ago I wrote: "Stop waiting for the perfect moment", noting that I had a large sum of money from the sale of a house (in USD) to move to buy a house in the UK (in...
Hooked on short term thinking, we urgently need a sense of a longer nowRoman Krznaric , author of The Good Ancestor First, thank you to David McWilliams for his interview of Roman Krznaric on his latest weekly podcast, one that has been a regular companion to me on...
Don't go looking for answers, be open to them coming to you This and numerous other insights came from the fifth (so far) WhatComesNextLive show yesterday with Steve Chapman. (the reference above is an obscure Wittertainment one and links to both a Keanu Reeves...
Perfection is the enemy of progress. Simply act when conditions are right and stop waiting for the perfect moment. GBP-USD has moved from a low of 1.23 to..over 1.28 in the last month This is yesterday's GBP-USD FX chart for the last month. Nearly a month ago I moved...
Tikkun Olam is a concept in Judaism, often interpreted as the aspiration to behave and act constructively and beneficially. Tikkun Olam Am musing on this Hebrew term, broadly meaning, dating back to some of the most ancient Jewish teachings, any activity...
Consider that the ‘unit of reading’ is not ‘the book’. It’s the chapter. Books are just convenient ways of keeping chapters around the house in neat bundles. Throwback photo to me reading my my hammock in Cayman. A favourite author, with the title a lyric from my...
Looking for a dynamic guest to appear on WhatComesNext.Live. By now I hope some regular readers have tuned into one or more of our first WhatComesNextLive shows. These half-hour 1:1 conversations do go out live each Tuesday at 17:00 UK time, then are available via the...
Dictum Meum Pactum is written on the London Stock Exchange Coat of Arms. This translates to "My word is my bond". London Stock Exchange - Coat of Arms The London Stock Exchange, dating back to 1801, was granted their coat of arms, above, in 1923. Dictum Meum Pactum....
What can I do to support you to do the best work of your life? Yesterday Oli Barrett asked a question on twitter: https://twitter.com/OliBarrett/status/1285897472846499840 For the full post by Oli, LinkedIn users can see it here. This brought me back to a quite...
Understand what you need. Yesterday at 4 pm UK time (8 am on the West Coast), as we have done every week since returning from the Modern Elder Academy in April 2018, our cohort from that week met for a "Zoom circle". 4pm. Every Tuesday. For an hour. A circle simply...
I don't do deadline-based work. But there is one piece of deadline-based work I do continue to do. This blog. Sometimes inspiration comes and I schedule posts days in advance, most of the time I write them the night before, sometimes first thing in the morning....
I'm writing a book in slow motion and have been for many years. What do I mean and what have I learned from this? To begin, back in November 2018, I wrote a "long read" called: "slow motion multitasking", in part of which I shared thoughts from Tim Harford around...
Over 1,000 daily posts in a row. Some are short and make one or two simple points, some are curated from others, some are long and indepth with many linkouts. Once in a while, though, I feel to simply model what I encourage leaders to do for themselves, which is to...
Ben Brabyn At the top of the Writing page on my site, it says: "I get my best ideas from listening to people". Over the last few years, high on that list of people to listen to is Ben Brabyn, our regular meetups have always been high points in my diary. Always...
Confirmation Bias is one of the numerous types of Cognitive Biases or Heuristics (mental shortcuts) that formed the core of the work of Kahnemann and Tversky. So, as I've written about lately, I'm currently looking to buy a house in the London area. I was all set this...
If you don’t adapt to the shape of the day it makes everyday life and work a struggle. Looking at ways we will do things differently. A trio of lionesses rest in the shade, conserving energy in the heat of the day. I currently live in a lovely loft apartment in...
If you are leading long-established organisations, sometimes it takes longer to change, sometimes it takes more effort. When I was competing in sports in my teens and twenties, if I needed to get fitter or stronger, I could do it quickly. If I was injured, even a...
This morning I was dropping into a "trough of disillusionment" for two different reasons. One reason was personal to me, one more global. Gartner : Hype Cycle The curve above is something the research company Gartner uses to interpret hype around new technologies and...
The less you do, the more valuable you are to your business. In recent months I've worked with a number of leaders who have found that, with the extra time they have had during the lockdown, they have found themselves focussing more ON their business than simply being...
Chip Conley "Knowledge Speaks, Wisdom Listens"Chip Conley As Chip Conley says: "Knowledge Speaks, Wisdom Listens". Often the wisest in a room speaks the least. Something to observe. One of my thoughts around wisdom and elders is: "not all old people are wise and not...
Be aware of the balance between patience and instinct. Rock balancing in El Pescadero, Mexico, Takes Patience and Instinct 🙂 Today marks 1,000 daily posts in a row. That's 558,386 words. What lessons have I learned through this practice? Many, but today one is top of...
Michael Holding. All-time great fast bowler in full flight Michael Holding, as a fast bowler for the West Indies cricket team in the 1970s and 1980s, was, indubitably, one of the greatest of all time. Since that time he has been a cricket commentator. Michael is some...
Yesterday I wrote a piece to amplify the voice of my friend, the brilliant economist Marla Dukharan. I then also shared it directly with a number of people I felt would benefit from reading her word and hearing her interview this week. This set me to musing about the...
"{it is simply} another manifestation of a really deep, unshakable predisposition of Europeans to dominate and marginalise the weak and poorer countries {of their colonial past}""we are forever to be subjugated, we are forever to be dominated"Marla Dukharan, speaking...
Want to be a leader? Remember to be humble. Yesterday I was talking with a friend and future WhatComesNext.Live guest when I mused on "what if our political leaders actually admitted when they are wrong, or even when our countries are not doing as wonderfully as they...
Be like water making its way through cracks. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. Last week our first "WhatComesNext.Live" show featured the amazing Mark Beaumont, who shared a number of inspiring actionable insights and ideas (you can see that show on...
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.Albert Einstein The most important and foundational skills often take time and persistence, lots of it. My formal education went through to age 24 when it culminated qualified as a Chartered...
Cooking can be a form of decompression In 1989 I moved to the Cayman Islands, one of the global centres for scuba diving, so naturally, I learned to dive right away. One of the things you learn very quickly in the extensive safety training is all about the need to...
What a view! In this world we currently live in where we "meet" online so much, this week I had a powerful reminder of how a place can mark a moment. First meetings and place I like to start work with new clients by taking half a day with them in their home town, yet...
While the very concept of a constraint that enables may feel like a contradiction, creating the right type of constraint can be very powerful. “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”Dwight D. Eisenhower Time and time again I've...
Mark Beaumont Yesterday afternoon my dear friend Mark Beaumont was kind enough to "go first" and be my very first guest on WhatComesNext.Live. For the full half hour conversation on YouTube, follow this link. For Mark's inspiring and wise final remarks, including how...
If you are ready to make changes, it is key to design, build and implement your strategy for and beyond the "window for change". Last week I wrote: "the window for change is closing", recommending: "If you can see radical changes you want to make, make them now,...