Writing
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Earn Your Saturday
My Grandad used to say to me when I was complaining about a hard work week. “stop complaining, get on with good work and earn your Saturday”. I think I have earned this Saturday, I hope you have earned yours too. The part of the phrase he always used “earn your Saturday” always stuck with… Read more
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110% Is for Idiots
I can’t abide the term overachiever, It’s not possible for people to rise above their level of competency. We are all in some way under achievers to varying degree. Have you ever been told to give 110% effort? It’s a common phrase used in motivational speeches and self-help books, but the truth is, it’s a… Read more
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Leadership Quote I Love
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery Read more
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Learn by Doing & Quantity Has Its Own Quality
I spend just 30 minutes a day on learning to draw and sketch. I am not looking for perfection, I am looking for gradual improvements. I am looking for learning from errors. In it’s own way quantity will have therefore it’s own quality. Let me illustrate with a story I found in a self help… Read more
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The Dog, the Porch and a Nail
One morning, a man was walking down a country lane and heard a horrible noise. He looked up and saw a dog on a porch that was just sitting there, whimpering, whining and moaning. The man was curious as to why he was whimpering, so he went and knocked on the door and a guy… Read more
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Servant Leadership: Leading With Humility and Empathy
I Just walked to the Coffee shop this morning. My son Xander is participating in a park run preparing for the Brighton Marathon. A cappucino in hand I turn my thoughts to a subject which means a lot to me. I wanted to share my thoughts on Servant leadership. It is at its heart a… Read more
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Worry Often Gives a Small Thing a Big Shadow
Life is hard. My mother used to say often, “Nathan, no one promised you a rose garden” Everyone of us experiences difficulties that are hard to overcome. It was Buddha that said “Pain is certain, suffering is optional.” No matter what we’re going through it is better when we take ownership and accountability for making positive… Read more
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Putting Things Away, 2023 TGIM
This weekend was an important weekend in our home, it is the weekend we put the Christmas decorations away and begin to think of returning to work. As much I love putting up the decorations, I have learned to love when it ends. You have to, if you want to achieve anything in life. So… Read more
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Confirmation Bias
There is a joke that goes something like: A few days ago I learnt what confirmation bias meant. Now I see it everywhere OK maybe I stick to writing. Where was I? Oh yes, I have always felt people are more comfortable to feel a person was born with certain talents. They are comforted that… Read more
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Desirable Ends With Available Means
I have been in strategy for nearly three years now and it is the most interesting business area I have worked in. It has tested me more than any other role and still three years on I am learning things daily. ‘STRATEGY’ is however the most misused word I can recall, except maybe the word… Read more
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Ask, Don’t Tell
Have you ever purchased anything in an elevator? Nope, me neither. Yet the business world loves the idea of the the elevator pitch. Don’t get me wrong knowing a plain, simple way to describe your business idea, Or what’s new in release 21r3 for instance is needed. But far more interesting to me is what… Read more
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Mentoring: My Journey
Mentoring has had a profound influence in my life and I think always will play a huge part. Through the position I have attained I continue to pay that forward with how I mentor my children, colleagues and the wider community. My children as adults are both paying it forward in their professions as a… Read more
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Bad Parenting: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Author’s note: I have for the last twenty years or more kept a daily notebook/journal and the things I hear and see I squirrel away for myself, the future or just because I must write something. Now I have kept this daily blog thing up for 150 days I put ‘some’ of the things up… Read more
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Tangibles and Intangibles
I am off to bed without knowing the result of the Superbowl but regardless of the result it will be a good day for Quarterback Tom Brady. Who must surely be seen as the greatest of all time now? It pains me to say it but well, you have to recognise greatness. Why I mention… Read more
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Lessons From the Penalty Spot
I am looking out on a wet cold Sunday morning, planning the week ahead and I caught myself thinking of the obstacles and blockers of the week and not the goals and objectives I have for that week. This is a trap I fall in on occasion and I say to myself when I do… Read more
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Reading Is Not Slacking
Meetings, team calls and 1:1’s are part of our working day culture and no one questions them on a calendar. What if you saw ‘Read a Book for an hour’ on someone’s calendar what would you think? Reading can change your perspective. This in turn can lead to improved productivity or you and your team… Read more
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Learning From Puzzles
I love a puzzle, it can be a Rubik’s cube, a crossword puzzle, an escape room or just a jigsaw puzzle. When I say ‘just a puzzle’ I don’t mean it like that as my favourite thing to do down by the beach on a rainy afternoon is do a 1000 piece puzzle and listen… Read more
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A Quick Fun Way to Improve Your Memory
I had the pleasure over Chrimbo Limbo (if you don’t know what that is click the link), anyway I had the pleasure to read a cracking new novel. A Crime novel by Richard Osman called “The Thursday Murder club”. It is truly a charming and delightful cosy crime debut about four amateur sleuths in a… Read more
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Just One Book
My posts of late have had an air of self help about them. I want to mix things up a little in 2021. So today I was listening to the radio in the car and just caught someone asking a question, I never heard the answer, I switched channels and could not find my way… Read more
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2021: Don’t Be This Person
So you want to lose weight, get fit, see some gain physically in 2021. You have been a member of a gym but its too far away, OR the equipment is too old OR you don’t like the staff. You learn of a gym closer to work, its has new equipment and the people look… Read more
