Years ago I used to cycle to work, almost every day. A full week of cycling was about 120 miles and as a result, I could eat what I wanted with total impunity impunity. Even with all of that cake, I was the slimmest and fittest that I had been since my teens. Then our … Continue reading You only get out what you put in!

Now go and read your team or organisation’s vision statement (assuming you have one). Having read it, how did it make you feel? Did it excite you? Did you have an overwhelming sense of “I can’t wait to get up tomorrow morning to go and make this happen”? Or “THIS is something I want to … Continue reading Stop reading this!

In certain circles, this is not a cool thing to say.  Not everyone likes Coldplay, in fact a lot of people DON’T like Coldplay at all! But I don’t care. And neither do they. I’m sure it was the Seth Godin who wrote (or maybe podcasted) about the fact that, early in their career, Coldplay … Continue reading Confession: I like Coldplay

Remember when you were little and in the summer one of your parents said:  “School’s out!  We’re going on holiday!  Two weeks of fun in the sun!” You got pretty excited about that, right?  I know I did! Now imagine that they’d said: “School’s out!  We’re going to pack our bags, get in the car, … Continue reading Going on holiday!

Sir Ernest Shackleton.  One of my greatest heroes. Trapped with his men on the Antarctic Ice in 1914 - long before GPS and Satellite phones were available to summon help.  And yet against the odds, he led them all out to rescue.  All of them - not a single man was lost. There’s an excellent … Continue reading “Five miles a day!”

How important are your shareholders?  How desperate are you to make a profit? Over the weekend I watched “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” on Netflix.   It is a shocking documentary which shows how short-term, shareholder-only thinking ended up costing the lives of hundreds of people. For many years, Boeing had had a fantastic safety culture … Continue reading Profit before lives?

From small acorns, mighty oak trees grow Creating something big and amazing can't happen all at once. At least not if it's worth doing. Those tiny first steps can seem far too small and the end goal a long way off. Tell that to an acorn. Tiny and almost insignificant, yet inside it contains everything … Continue reading Acorns

Today is the 100th day since I last had an alcoholic drink. I’ve never been what you would call a problem drinker, just someone who had a regular beer or vodka and coke. I’ve never crashed a car drunk or badly affected the lives of those around me, but I’d started to notice a few … Continue reading 100 days booze-free

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." Not typically known as a sage but this is something that none other than Mike Tyson reputedly said. I’ll be honest, I agree with Iron Mike on this one. But wait a minute, doesn’t “Proper Planning Prevent P*ss Poor Performance”? Yes it does, but … Continue reading Getting punched in the face!

The first time I heard the phrase “business development” or to give it it’s common abbreviation “BD”, it was in the context of a conversation about increasing short-term sales for an organisation. Since then I have found that the two expressions are used interchangeably to the point that, in many people’s minds, they often mean … Continue reading Business Development is not the same as Sales!