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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
Hearing happens when we’re able to recognize a sound. Listening happens when we put in the effort to understand what it means. Yesterday I wrote: "Listen to the narrative of the other". I have been following Seth Godin and been a subscriber to his daily posts for well...
Now may not be the time to pause. Rob Poynton Am excited for the launch of our new weekly podcasts, recorded live each Tuesday afternoon UK time. For full show information and listings, visit WhatComesNext.Live. At the time of writing our first nine weekly guests are...
"The window for change is closing" I came out with this phrase earlier this week when talking to a client I am working with to make changes to some deeply ingrained ways they run their business. As with so much, those patterns had slowly and gradually evolved over...
the late, great, "yoda", Ed Percival Today is the fifth anniversary of the passing of my greatest mentor in life, Ed Percival. Naming a core page on this site BeMoreYou was done is in his memory. Ed was a real master of language, so I thought of him yesterday when in...
Yesterday I wrote: "Nobody wants to get rich slow", focussed on what it takes to build something of lasting value. In short, it takes patience as you work on the "source" elements that will build the foundation for the "outcome" you seek. Later that day, having...
Sunrise at Callanish - (c) https://www.saga-photography.de/ Innovation is simply doing things differently and doing different things My simple definition of innovation. It can be as easy as working with what you have available to do things differently. Today let's...
My favourite Frankl quote At this time of crisis and division among people, a Sunday morning is often a time where I reach to great thinkers for wisdom that both makes me think and reminds me to have hope. As I have written about before, the book that has means the...
from "Cautionary Tales", a podcast series by Tim Harford "A cautionary tale for your weekend pleasure". Language is fascinating, eh? Am sure that title felt like an odd combination to you, perhaps compelling you more than usual to open this particular daily post?...
WhatComesNext.Live is a podcast recorded and broadcast live. On each show our guest first shares their story, then together we seek to draw out actionable insights, through exploring the intersection of first having the vision to see what comes next, then finding...
A short and powerful article written in April and published in a Journal in May 2020 from people who know about human behaviour and response to pandemic threats. Image (c) Sky News When you knew lockdown was coming, did you fill your car up with petrol? I've asked...
I'm going to let you into a key psychological trick that coaches use to get inside the head of our clients when they can't or won't say what they really think. We ask "so, what do other people think?", or similar linguist devices that don't directly ask for their own...
Be a point of light to bring change in the world. "You can be a point of light in this and nobody will know, except things will change."John Amaechi If you are white, I hope this post makes you uncomfortable as it does for me to reflect on what it teaches us. It is...
inspired by this recent quote by Jerry Seinfeld, this drawing from Jack Butcher at Visualize Value Love is a word I wish leaders used more often. Talking about love is strength, just as humility and vulnerability are strengths, just as giving a full apology shows...
Specialist? Generalist? Or.. Specialised Generalist Are you a specialist or a generalist? Simple enough question, yes? Also a common one posed to Tim Ferris, and today I share his five minute Youtube video where he talks about this. I love how he makes it simple:...
At the heart of my writing is a passion to elevate Leadership, so much of which comes from the understanding of self and others. Words that are rich in meaning can also facilitate awareness and understanding of other areas, fields, dimensions. Yesterday I shared a...
Here there be dragons. Pirates, Dragons and going off the map This week I was on a great and highly interactive zoom event hosted by the Reinventing Work network. The guest speaker was my friend Alex Barker of Be More Pirate, who highlighted some of the core ways in...
"Jaws" is a classic film, despite the fact that the film-makers faced a flaw in that their mechanical shark was both not very realistic and also often didn't work when they needed it. Faced with this "flaw", though, they turned it into a feature. Did you realise, for...
Since the pandemic accelerated into lockdown around two months ago, I've been providing many thirty-minute sounding board calls to support individuals with clarity around one or more leadership questions they are focussed on in that moment. This morning I'm musing on...
Keep calm because this too shall pass “If you feel sure you have over-communicated your message to your people to the point where they are bored of hearing it from you…. you are probably about halfway there.”From the post: "Repeat after me. Repeat your message" I...
People are intrinsically good. Those who know me and follow me know that I am deeply grounded in experience, numbers, facts, science, as well as decades of first-hand experience in business and leadership. Today, I share one message for you to consider from all of...
Trusting people is the only way for any government to get through the pandemic, to "dance" as a society and as an economy through to the other side, whatever that may look like. Control is not the answer. Trust is. The "hammer" phase was all about simple messaging and...
Today a meandering musing around Creative Destruction and then three questions I'd love for you to consider for yourself to enrich your life after lockdown. Why focus on Creative Destruction? My professional focus is as a Sounding Board for Leaders. Leadership is...