Author Archives: NCS

Lessons can be learned from every experience and from every memory. My mother used to tell me when I was 7 years old “Nathan, watch that man”. She was referring to the street sweeper, a man with a broom and cart who would clean our street every week for years. “Watch that man and tellContinue reading “Lessons from a street sweeper”

‘If you are leading and no one is following you are just taking a walk’, that is the age old adage but it doesn’t mean only leading when you have staff or a following. Whether you are are considered a leader in your organisation/community or not, you can lead and you should be a leader.Continue reading “Leadership or just taking a walk?”

Some of my American readers are wondering what on earth ‘the chrimbo limbo’ is, allow me to explain. The ‘chrimbo limbo’ is the period of time between Christmas and New Year when days seem to merge into each other, nobody really knows what to do and everything just gets a bit weird. “Seriously, What DayContinue reading “You are now in ‘Chrimbo Limbo‘”

Firstly you need to aim beyond what your capable of. You must develop a complete disregard for where your abilities end. Try to do the things that your incapable of. If you think you are unable to work for the best then try that. If you think you’re incapable of running a company make thatContinue reading “End of year musings: Do what you can’t”

I hope you will forgive a reflective post today. 2019 was a year I lost my mother to an 18 month fight with cancer. Since that day I have been reflecting on life and what is important. I was reaching a conclusion then 2020 arrived and I am now certain on what really matters toContinue reading “2019, 2020, realising what really matters – Merry Xmas”

Have you ever heard the word ‘morale’ used when things are going well? No, me neither you only hear of morale when performance and results are slipping downwards. Think about your team, if you are an individual contributor then think about a team you were on once. If every member of that team had aContinue reading “Your attitude determines your altitude”

I am reading a book called ‘if I could share just one lesson in life’ one of those lessons was from President Clinton it really struck a chord with me this morning. I thought I would share it with you today: “I’ve come to believe that one of the most important things is to seeContinue reading “I see you”

Over my 25 years of working, I have worked with professionals from all walks of life. Many of them were hard working, a few were inspiring and demonstrated leadership. However, when I reached the VP level at Veeva I joined a group that displayed a leadership quality I had witnessed rarely but is in abundanceContinue reading “Our greatest fear”

The title of this post is a quote by Walt Whitman. I think it might be my most favourite quote and how I try and live my life. It is a lot easier to be mean than to be curious. So mean people, on top of being jerks, are also lazy and uninventive. Try andContinue reading “Be curious not judgemental”

Before the covid changed the world. I used to love being in the air and unavailable to the world for half the day when travelling to the USA. I would write a letter, draw, write my thoughts down. Write slowly and plan, jot diagrams and concepts, all with a good old pen and paper. MoreContinue reading “Go offline if you can”

I copied this down from a documentary I watched 12 years ago. I found it in an old notebook last night. It’s is inspiring and haunting at the same time. Enjoy! When you die, there’s going to be a tombstone. It’s going to have your name, it’s going to have the year you were born,Continue reading “The dash in between is how you are remembered”

I have had a good run of mentoring new Veeva employees this year and a theme started to form from their challenges. When we got onto the subject of what is holding them back from doing what they want to do, or making progress in their projects/accounts. A surprisingly regular list of what I callContinue reading “7 invisible barriers to success”