The best-laid schemes o' mice an' menGang aft agleyRobert Burns, from "To a Mouse" As my most recent two daily posts shared, I have a minor injury to my left ring finger which finds me dictating my daily writing, as well as struggling with all typing of emails sending...
I'm dictating this entire post rather than typing it. As I noted in yesterday's post, I have a strange injury to my left ring finger, which leaves me with difficulty in typing at any reasonable speed. Luckily, all that it takes to heal this is eight weeks with a...
So. Just before I flew to Cayman I somehow jammed a finger on my left hand and so the last joint won’t straighten. I can’t type on my laptop and I’m waiting to see an orthopaedist to see if it needs an urgent operation. Sometimes I’m not the most patient person and...
Create a small group of expert people with a diverse range of skills and experiences and high levels of peer trust to challenge the status quo and each others ideas. Thanks once again today to my brilliant friend Ian Armiger, who is, like me, obsessed with...
I've often written about six of the most dangerous words in business: We've always done it this way Taking to a granular level, today am sharing one of Seth Godin's recent posts, called "How we do things around here". I love this list, and reminds me of a few thoughts...
The most-read post on this site so far in 2020 is: "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards". It begins with these thoughts: Learn from the past, analyse it, study it all you will so you can learn more about yourself, others, your...
Yesterday I wrote: "You cannot not communicate" and tweeted out: https://twitter.com/TomCayman/status/1230401860282068992 Jason then retweeted it, bringing lots of additional visitors to read the post. This really energised me as my writing is from my passion to...
Today sharing some gems from the Basecamp Guide to Internal Communication. Regular readers know I am a HUGE fan of Basecamp founders @DHH and @JasonFried, founders of Basecamp and passionate about sharing what they learn on the journey. This guide has 30 rules of...
To have fewer conflicts, disagree more. Yes, really. So many organisations talk about "Conflict Resolution" around issues and relationships in the workplace. The thing is, conflict is such a strong word, with synonyms such as "war", "battle", "struggle", "clash",...
My favourite "virtuous circle" from Hugh McLeod of Gaping Void I've run out of inspiration. As I write this, I've posted a daily article on this site for over 850 days straight. I'm also lacking inspiration on what to write today. I've got lots of things listed in my...
The Peninsula at Grand Harbour - for sale Today musing on patience and waiting, both personally and for business. “It’s waiting that helps you as an investor, and a lot of people just can’t stand to wait.”Charlie Munger "Time is a friend to a good business and the...
Good to Great Visual Synopsis by Dani Saveker Over many years of facilitating leadership team meetings for clients, I've evolved a "less is more" process where the end result is captured on one page, even sometimes as succinct as one word. In: "Take the time to write...
What are you afraid of? Yesterday in "How are you Brave-ing?", I asked you to consider three times you have been "brave-ing" in the last week. I am musing on Bravery often at the moment, including "What is Bravery?" and "Inspire Bravery". Today two questions for you....
This week I joined the amazing Steve Chapman and his dog Poppy for a brainstorming walk in the woods. The topic I was picking Steve's brain on was the idea of Bravery, a theme I come back to again and again in my writing (simply search this site for the word "brave"...
Ready with beer for Paul Krugman at Tortoise Yesterday I wrote: "We’ve always done it this way", what I call "the six most dangerous words in business", where I talked about how stuck we can be in the familiar, despite the evidence. Yesterday evening I went to a...
"We've always done it this way" I refer to this phrase as "the six most dangerous words in business" It is amazing how hard and fast patterns of behaviour can be and how difficult people, organisations, industries can find it to think differently, no matter how...
Commuters at Waterloo station. Happy, or resigned? "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” - Thoreau This quote has always been powerful for me in checking in with myself (and clients, friends, family) as to how "in balance" I feel. Early in my journey...
A few weeks ago I was in conversation, where, as my friends know, I am often really serious. All of a sudden, I somehow started a statement with: "in all seriousness-ness", which caused the other person to burst into gales of laughter. For the rest of the conversation...
So this is a post on gratitude and about nurturing relationships, but I'm starting with a picture taken from a riverboat yesterday. Allow me to explain... I've just had a great work week, truly feeling I am doing the work I was born to do, really energised and feeling...
Image from my favourite post on Bravery: "What is Bravery?"Read right to the end to find out who that brave swimmer is. This week an experienced and skilled coach and facilitator asked to have a video call with me as they had read some of my posts and wanted to ask...
The new triple bottom line, for more see: "Leading from Purpose" We need to look at success differentlyYancey Strickler, CEO of Kickstarter I'm #ProudtobeaCA and have always felt the monthly CA Magazine has been a first-rate resource for thought leadership on business...
Over several years I have consciously created and curated my life such that space is a priority. Earlier this week I wrote in "Permission Granted" that: "henceforth, I will take at least one four hour chunk of time every other working week to be without any electronic...
Text Think Different written on a pinned white sticker This week's 8am Saturday post is coming to you more like 10:30am, as I did my start of the weekend a little differently this week. I totally acknowledge that many people have to stick to conventional routines of...
Are you, your business, your organisation, truly honest with your clients/customers about what you are truly offering them? Have you ever gone into a supermarket/grocery store simply to buy milk or bread and found you had to walk right to the back of the store for...
This week a group of four people (I was one) came together to look at bringing a new business concept to the UK. The person behind this had spoken to each of the three of us a few times in recent months and had now flown to London to discuss. We had two and a half...
This week it was an enormous pleasure to meet the King of Permission in person, better known as Carl Richards, who has recently moved to London. A few years ago Carl, through one of his alter egos, "The Sketch Guy" (his NY Times column for a decade and more), he wrote...
Yesterday's post on: "The Power of Subtlety" made points that I come back to over and over on this site, fundamentally that a core aspect of leadership is how you show up, the energy you bring to any conversation. Managing your energy is therefore key. Part of this is...
Over the years sometimes I've been asked to lead client meetings in hotel conference rooms in basements with no natural light. Sometimes "needs must", but when a group is looking at brave and transformative ideas, always find a venue away from the office that has lots...
On Thursday afternoon last week in Cayman, I had two hours to sit and prepare my notes for facilitating a full-day meeting on that Friday for a client leadership team. I've had a great week in Cayman on so many levels and at the same time by Thursday afternoon I'd had...
Last Sunday I was Refereeing a swim meet in Cayman at this pool. As one heat was ready to start and the ten-year-old girls were in the pool ready to start their Backstroke race, the starter made an error and announced the race as a Breastroke event. Fast as you like,...
What does it take to make major changes in group behaviour, whether it be a shift in what is societally acceptable, or perhaps for a company introducing a new product to a market when customers are rooted in using the old and established offerings? ..in the 1970s,...
Often when we are in conversation with someone it is a two-way thing, we share thoughts, ideas with each other and bounce things around. In short, both people are looking to share what is on their mind, they are there to both listen and talk. However, sometimes we...
Writing this at 10pm on Monday, my first working day on this one week trip to Cayman. I've just finished 10 meetings/calls/catchups spread over 14 hours. By midafternoon and meeting number 7, I was asked: "doesn't that tire you?" My answer was that no, it energises...
Today a story about the power of not simply believing in people, but actually telling people you believe in them. I constantly am in awe at the difference this can make. People can grow so much in their confidence to act once you have first checked in on their...
“Not all those who wander are lost”JRR Tolkien Today a story as a reminder to consciously look for new perspectives, literally and figuratively. All too often we get stuck in what we know, what we are familiar with. In our businesses, we do the same, we also recruit...
The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.Warren Buffett How often do you say "No"? I am home in Cayman for a week from today, and on each successive trip, I am learning to say...