The model above is referred to as the "Competence Model". I wrote a long personal story about my father trying to teach me how to drive to illustrate this in depth. You can find it at: "Zen and teaching your son to drive". Today some thoughts on how it feels to be at...
Only one part of my current "pile of books" to read Do you have a "pile of books?" Mine never seems to get anywhere near "manageable", as I simply keep buying more and more to read. This pile is only the ones that are loosely to do with business and leadership, there...
When my two oldest sons were very young, one summer we visited great friends in Norway. One day my friend and I took his two sons and mine, all aged between about 3 and 8, for the over two-hour drive from Oslo to their cottage on a lake for an overnight trip. It was a...
So, we are now at 500 posts since I committed to posting every day on this site. Today I am thinking about marking occasions. Marking Occasions As I go about my day, it would have been easy to miss this minor milestone of 500 posts, as I find writing daily a natural...
“Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note, y’know? And don’t play one note unless you’ve got a reason to play it.” ~ Mark Hollis Yesterday Mark Hollis died. He was the leader of Talk Talk. Their music really touched me in different ways, then he stepped...
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards" ~ Soren Kierkegaard Today a simple thought around living life. Learn from the past, analyse it, study it all you will so you can learn more about yourself, others, your business, your leadership....
So, as I approach my 500th consecutive daily post, today the magical secret of how to write. How to write? Stop not writing. Thanks to Anne Lamott on Twitter for this ultimate in concise wisdom. She goes on to say: How to write: Stop not writing. Get and keep your...
Recently I wrote : "Cascading Leadership – a new way for transformative change". That post is a synthesis of many years of learning and practice in supporting transformative change. Please do read the full post, but for today I highlight: "Which comes first, to Engage...
To lead or to follow? I recently took a week out at a workshop in Baja, Mexico to focus on my own professional development. I've spent most of my career identifying leaders who would benefit from my support, solidifying that in the work I do now as a sounding board to...
A few weeks ago I wrote "Purpose, People, Planet - the new triple bottom line". That article is a synthesis of learning from many years of building businesses and supporting leaders of businesses and other organisations. In short, I said "we need a new triple bottom...
Look up income inequality and you'll see chart after chart showing how this has radically increased since the early 1980s. To me this has to change, it is simply ugly leadership for the richest to earn so much more than others. For today, let me write about the rabid...
I love this quote from Peter Drucker, one of the few people I'd give the term "guru" to around what he has taught around leadership. "You are what you measure" This is also a phrase I love, and I've written in various ways around this, including "Time for new metrics...
Yesterday I wrote: "Doing the right thing when everyone is watching", sharing an idea for leaders to model the behaviours they wish to see. Of course, sometimes we do the wrong thing when everyone is watching, and just after writing that blog news came out of a golfer...
A few days ago I had cause to focus on three values very dear to me, fairness, integrity, and bravery. I'm very familiar with the C.S. Lewis quote above. It is one reason why I love to play golf, it is the only major sport I know of where players call their own...
Recently I wrote: "Beautiful Leadership – Purpose and the Corporation" in which I talked about what I called a new triple bottom line of Purpose, People, Planet. I fundamentally believe the world needs new ways of considering what is prosperity. For today, I am simply...
What do you see in this picture? Two black men in hoodies, yes? What is the first impression that makes on you? Today I'm going to talk about biases around gender and race. Sure, everyone reading this will say, I'm aware of bias and I'm not biased. Well, sorry, but we...
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them" This is the title I gave to a recent post in which I referenced three leadership examples, including a quote from James Timpson of the family-owned UK firm of the same name: "The easiest way to...
Work Hard.. by Being Still What do you mean Tom, are you talking in riddles? Perhaps, but as Seth put it in a recent blog: "For most of us, hard work is measured in insight, emotional effort, and connection. It’s been a long time since the economy fairly rewarded...
"Notice now. And above all, notice the magic in the everyday things you do and things you say. It’ll change your life for the better. Forever." While I was at the Modern Elder Academy last week, my friend Justine Clement posted an article reflecting on the...
A few days ago I wrote "Presence and asking the right questions" and used this same image of rock balancing. Today the post title is a riff on a phrase Chip Conley uses in his book Wisdom at Work in encouraging us to listen more and talk less: "Knowledge talks, Wisdom...
I love what I do and have found, over time and practice, that I have developed a level of mastery at being a sounding board, with the key to that having little to do with knowledge and experience around leadership and business, it is far more to do with the ability to...
This week I am at the Modern Elder Academy at a week-long workshop entitled "The Psychology of Presence". This is a week I am taking to "deepen my practice" in my work. What do I do? Fundamentally I listen, ask questions, reflect, sometimes (only sometimes) advise,...
"we risk being deafened by the negativity all around us here in London" Part of a message I received from a friend in London as I am in Baja at Modern Elder Academy. Later that morning, as I sat on the terrace with the Pacific in the background, I had a call with...
"Look for the spaces between" This week I am at the Modern Elder Academy in Baja. On the first day, one of the directors, Christine Sperber, took time to give us a "level set", positioning the week for us. One key phrase that resonated for me is that she encouraged...
“You can only join the dots looking backwards” ~ Steve Jobs This past weekend I was in San Francisco spending time with friends before heading to the Modern Elder Academy in Mexico for a week. My lovely hosts arranged a relaxed get together on the Saturday night and I...
Friends and regular readers know that I am a HUGE fan of Seth. He has inspired me many times, including to write daily (now at around 500 posts on this site and only getting more and more committed to it!). I also still get his daily posts, one of a very few I kept...
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a powerful tool for understanding what drives us. I've used it often including this post on "At risk versus taking risks". My friend and business hero, Chip Conley, is a leading expert on Maslow through his work in taking Maslow's...
Last month, in my post for Christmas Day, I wrote "Happiness and Gratitude". That post featured the beautiful TED talk of David Steindl-Rast. Today a brief story of a moment of presence, around his use of the phrase: Stop, Look, Go David's TED talk is about the secret...
Sometimes life can feel too much. Speed, complexity, demands, deadlines, all can mount up and create a feeling of overwhelm in any of us. At such times, rather than trying to think our way out of it, to analyse to a solution, perhaps pause, get out, take a walk, be...
The "Cascade du Rouget" in Dream Valley. Last summer, on the way down from an amazing overnight traverse hiking three mountain passes with my three sons and my friend, the amazing guide Arno de Jong, we came to this waterfall. The term cascade in this form typically...
Slow down to speed up later This was the title of a post I wrote some time ago, and ad adage I use often. Today a concise thought around the power of slowing down to build trust and how that can then accelerate decision-making and action. I encourage the adage "slow...
Tim Harford writes for the Financial Times and is an author of great curiosity about many things. I first came across him as the author of "The Undercover Economist", one of many, many books I've read about and around the topic of Economics. Today, sharing Tim's...
The phrase triple bottom line was coined in 1994, those three drivers being people, profit, planet. However, I believe it is now time for new thinking around the drivers of a corporation and removing profit as a source driver. Bold, yes, but please read on. At the...
Despite the tongue in cheek humour of "The Greatest", Muhammad Ali, today a simple video clip from one of the greatest athletes of all time showing just how humble they are. I have written several times on humility of leaders around the phrase: “How you do anything…...
Yesterday I wrote "The fish rots from the head", highlighting the importance of addressing cultural issues in an organisation first at the top leadership level, as otherwise if it starts from grassroots it will simply not work, as people will watch the leaders and how...
I am often asked by client leadership what to do first when there is a sense that the culture and behaviours of the organisation need to be focussed upon. In fact, I am often brought in by open and brave leaders who are humble enough to turn the focus upon themselves...