Year: 2024
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The Art of Noticing
‘Interesting isn’t a personality type, it’s a set of habits and a way of seeing the world‘ Russell Davies The other day I came across this extract from Russell Davies’ book Do Interesting: Notice. Collect. Share. In the post Russell writes about a talk he gave years back on ‘How to be interesting’: ‘The way…
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The Downside of Sector-Relevant Case Studies
I use a wide range of case studies in workshops and consultancy. They can be really helpful in demonstrating real-world scenarios, exceptional strategies or choices, poor decision-making and disruption. But there’s a problem that we don’t talk enough about. Some leaders and executives want to focus (and sometimes insist) on using only sector-specific case studies…
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Chalkboard decisions
I liked Shane Parrish’s notion of ‘chalkboard decisions‘. These, says Shane, are the kind of decisions that ‘work well in the classroom but not in real life’. The maths may be right but you can still make the wrong decision if you follow the maths but don’t use judgement as well. The simple example that…
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High-reaching informality
The best leaders that I’ve worked with and for have typically all had one characteristic in common – what you might call a ‘high-reaching informality’. High-reaching: what I mean by this is that great leaders get the best out of their people by encouraging their teams to think bigger, think harder, aim higher, be more…
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The Generalist Value Pyramid
I had a great chat with the super-smart Robin Bonn in which we talked a little about the challenges of being a generalist type of consultant, and the idea of ‘becoming the only’. This is, to remind you, Kevin Kelly’s idea around becoming a true reflection of what only you can do, in your unique…
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What shockwave jams tell us about getting stuff done
Ever been driving along a busy road with the traffic flowing along nicely and then for no apparent reason and with no obvious obstacles or changes in road conditions it starts to jam up? We’ve all been there. Believe it or not these types of traffic jams have a name – shockwave jams – referring…
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Red Teaming
I was in a client workshop last week and we were discussing the benefits of having an organisational culture and environment that encourages comfort with dissent. Many teams struggle with conflict but the ability to healthily disagree with each other is one of the foundations of psychological safety and high-performing teams. One of Amy Edmonsdon’s…
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On First Principles
My favourite example of the power of first principles in coming up with breakthrough ideas is an experiment run by Dr. Tina Seelig, at Stanford University. She split her class into fourteen small teams and gave each group five dollars and two hours in which their challenge was to make the highest possible return. They…
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Why culture is at the heart of Boeing’s problems
‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’, or so the saying (from Peter Drucker) goes. Boeing’s long list of recent problems have been well documented. And there’s been a number of good analyses of the real causes behind them, amongst which this Harvard piece is probably the best. What has struck me as I’ve read more about…
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On getting older
‘Ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been.’ This quote from David Bowie has long been my favourite way of thinking about getting older. His description of it as an extraordinary process seems about right. You slowly become the person that you always should have been. You know…