Awareness of choices, illustrated by commuting by river boat rather than cramming into a tube.
OpenLeadership
What is a Paradigm?
A paradigm is a typical example or pattern of something; a model. Before starting the post proper, recently I wrote the first "Movies with Meaning" post in which a quote from the movie "Lucy" was : "The whole purpose of life has been to pass on what was...
Avoiding group think – Ipcha Mistabra
Two phrases that have raced towards the top of the jargon list are "Group Think" and "Echo Chamber" They are so common now I won't explain, only noting that this will get more and more prevalent, not least because our media / social media platforms are actually...
A leader is someone others choose to follow
My definition of a leader is: A leader is someone others choose to follow. What type of leader do you want to follow. A recent post was on "How far is it acceptable to push ?" and reflected on the difference in two teams in pro cycling. One driven by fear and control...
Pushing too far, and learning from it!
Motor racing stories about limits and exceeding them
How far is it acceptable to push?
How far is is acceptable to push? What can business leaders learn from the Team Sky example?
Knowledge, Belief and Leadership
Bridging the gaps between knowledge and belief so as to support leadership for transformative change. https://youtu.be/KgUemV4brDU A reminder of the genius of one of the greatest comedy series of all time: Sir Humphrey: "Have you read the Financial Times this...
How do we know what we know?
How do we know what we know, and how do we know we know what we know?
Love, trust and Distributed Trust
Love is about trust, and I do believe we are entering into an era of Trust and Love. I am hugely excited about the future of our world. Yes, we live in an UNTHINKABLE time and the speed of change renders the way we historically have learned and lead obsolete. However,...
Distributed Trust in the UNTHINKABLE age
Distributed trust is going to change our world, and at such a speed we cannot even imagine. As regular readers know, I'm obsessed with the idea that #OpenLeadership is a radical approach that can make a massive difference for humanity and our planet in this...
Why humans will always stay ahead of AI
I feel positive that humans will keep ahead of artificial intelligence (AI). The need for human compassion will always be there. "May you live in interesting times" A little research attributes this to Sir Austen Chamberlain in 1936, soon before his brother was...
Forget knowledge, simply lead
What do YOU know and understand enough to apply in your life? Learn to lead, don't simply seek a mountain of knowledge. Moore's Law (simplified) states that computer processing power doubles every 18 months. Gordon Moore was one of the founders of Intel and he posited...
Zen and teaching your son to drive
Why do experienced drivers struggle when teaching an absolute beginner to drive? They need to practice zen. When I turned 17, I excitedly got my "L" plates and attached them to my Dad's car and asked him to take me for a driving lesson on the quite and straight...
Story time. The hat that caused chaos
photo : Cayman Compass Chaos? A hat? Yes, a hat. Not even a hat, a latex swim cap. Trouble, you say, what do you mean trouble? Chaos! International incident! (well, nearly 🙂 ) Pull up a chair, I'm going to share a story in writing I've told many times. Perhaps it has...
Captain Kel – Seize the Day
Cayman Airways pilots Kel Thompson and Steven Coe In writing another article on "Leadership lessons from a Swim Referee" I was reminded of something a mentor and dear friend often said to me. Captain Kel Thompson described being a commercial pilot as "endless hours of...
Leadership lessons from a Swim Referee
Leadership Lessons from a swim referee
To burn out or to fade away?
To burn out or to fade away? Remember, “life is just a ride” #BillHicks
Keeper of the Vision
I'm about to give you the sum total of all my learning on leadership from many decades of devoted work, research, curiosity etc Want the secret to great leadership? The role of a leader is a one-line job description : Keeper of the Vision That is it. Simple. Nothing...
Take time to think
“Leaders of industry are extremely bad at thinking”, are you?
Power of Silence
I'm exploring the concept of silence, including reading this book : The author once spent fifty days walking solo across Antarctica with no radio and I'm fascinated by his observations on silence. To me it is far deeper than being in nature, it is about silence within...
Pesky Humans and Kilkenomics
In workshops, leadership off-sites, retreats etc, a few themes typically emerge when wrestling with the toughest of issues. One of those is around people. I often lighten the tone when leading these by saying something like: "wouldn't your business be simple if it...
Pendulum Leadership
A pendulum is a favourite device for me as a coach. So often I find people beating themselves up around their behaviour, and, more particularly, how when they choose to change a behaviour they often "overcorrect". Imagine a pendulum that swings to the far end of its...
Ok is not ok
Thank you to Alton Byrd for posting this online. Alton was one of my first sporting heroes, the greatest player I ever saw in British Basketball. He and I were both fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of the late, great Ed Percival, who Alton calls his rabbi,...
What a Fool Believes about Bitcoin
It seems everybody is talking about investing in Bitcoin. The current craze to invest in cryptocurrencies is very much an example of the greater fool theory. "But what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away."Â https://youtu.be/qKYQNtF11eg...
Who are you NOT to be ?
In a similar way to feeling inspired (as I wrote here) by the line from Mary Oliver : "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" This quote from Marianne Williamson is a touchstone for me in many ways. In my years as a leader and...
Presence…and Vulnerability
The new paradigm of leadership has presence and vulnerability at the core. https://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc One of my favourite TED talks of all time is this one from Amy Cuddy. I recalled this as I was going to write about the power of self-awareness of the body,...
Never in the history of calming down…
Never in the history of calming down has anyone ever calmed down by being told to calm down.
Ikigai, Pleasure and Meaning
In this modern world that we make so complex, what does it teach us to take pleasure and meaning from the perfection of one simple task? I've been drawn to the concept of Ikigai for some time. In September 2017 Ken Mogi published "The Little Book of Ikigai" and...
Life is Wild and Precious, Be Present
January 2017, a glorious winter's day at the top of a mountain in the Alps with an amazing group of inspiring entrepreneurs, or "Snowhowers", including Dr Rachel Morris, who had been so inspired by this phrase that she used this when she left the mountain as...
UNTHINKABLE – a series on #OpenLeadership
The UNTHINKABLE articles were first posted on Linked In. **I smile as I recognise that the speed of change and evolution now means that I’ve put developing this leadership model on hold for now. I am, however, leaving these 7 articles up as I feel they do...