The Help

 

 The notation on the front of 'The Help' says "Change begins with a whisper"

For me the book (and the film) were captivating and encouraged me to think that anything pursued with a passion and conviction can infact change the world. In a previous post I talked about the lollipop moment and that we are often too frighted of the enormity of the task of leadership that we fail to recognise the opportunity within ourselves but infact, when caught up with enthusiasm, a seemingly fleeting thought can lead to enormous opportunity.

Seize the day and see what you can achieve.

85% is a really big number

Building on the theme of challenge. This is a wonderful narrative by Margaret Heffernan of the benefits of exploring disconfirmation and constructive conflict. Openness alone isn't enough to create change, she says; constructive conflict challenges assumptions and is a sign of love. If it weren't why would people commit the time and energy required. So rather than seeing conflict as destructive how can organisations embrace it to help them and the people within them flourish?




85% of exectives in recent european surveys say they had issues or concerns that they are afraid to raise. They are afraid of the conflict that would be provoked or the difficult conversations that would ensue. So the staus quo remains. In times of trouble, less people will raise thier head above the parapet to challenge for fear of the loss that might come as a result.

But when we dare to create conflict, dare to be bold we create an environment where others can do their best thinking.

Dare to be bold, be a hero today!

Are you passing the buck?

Saw this short poem and it is a quick reminder of the need to grasp the nettle and take action - enjoy it

Passing The Buck

Whatever the task that comes your way,
Just take it as part of your luck.
Look it right square in the eyes, and say,
'This is my task, I'll do it to-day':
Don't pass the buck.


Oh! whether you cook, or whether you fight,
Or whether you trundle a truck,
Just tackle your job and do it right:
Don't pass the buck.


The wheels of the earth have gone, alack!
Deep into war's mire and muck.
If you want to put it again on its track,
Don't shift your load on another man's back:
Don't pass the buck.

 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

With Hind-Sight

As scores of teenagers get their exam results today, emotions will be high. Those with the results they wished for (or better) may be planning University life or envisaging their great career prospects. Those who fared less well may consider their dreams to be shattered, if so then please DON'T think like that.......

Going back many (many, many) years to my own A-Level results. They were not good. In fact they were flippin' appalling. I can remember a sense of failure, shame and a 'well that's that' mood. But if I had the hind-sight I now have I would have said to myself that day, that the path I will travel may be different than that I had planned but I will travel and I will succeed.

Umpty tumpty years later I have achieved all the qualifications I could wish for, I have had a fantastic and varied career taking me through IT, project management, learning and management and importantly I am happy with my achievements and experiences.

For all you students who may not have achieved the results you were expecting today. Take heart from my hind-sight, see this as your chance to be different, to take a new path, to achieve your dreams a different way or even to form different dreams. Life has many paths, there is no one right path for you, just a plethora of exciting options waiting for you to choose and make the most of.

Live life and live it to the full people!

Join In - taking forward the Olympic legacy

One thing the Olympics has shown is the capacity for individuals to come together voluntarily to achieve great things, hats off to the Olympic 2012 volunteers! I have heard people contrast the 'feel good' factor of August 2012 in the UK to the anger and riots of just one year ago. Yet even then there was the enormous public response to the riots with people using social media to bring together large groups to undertake the post riot clean up. We saw armies of individuals with their mops, buckets and brooms descend voluntarily onto local high streets to scrub, brush and clean business premises of complete strangers.

Post Olympics there is a drive to keep the momentum of interest in sport moving forward, to help get more people involved and to either take up sport or provide support for those that do. The chance to become part of this movement begins on 18th and 19th August (yes next weekend). This Eddie Izzard video gives you more information.

Pass the message on and lets continue to build on this force for good that is in all of us!

Is regret a good thing or a bad thing?

I am sure if we think about it we all have something we regret. Some regrets will be big, some small and some not important in the grand scheme of things but they still niggle at us from time to time. 

I have a niggle from early in my career which was when I completed two thirds of a Dale Carnegie course and then pulled out due to pressure of work. 

These days this is a cardinal sin to me but back then I just felt unable to cope with everything that was happening and took the easy way out and gave up.

Did it matter, in the long run? No. Has it made a difference to my career – I doubt it. Has it affected my personal behaviour – oh yes! These days I never fail to finish anything. So is regret a good thing or a bad thing – well for me it is good and has spurred me on to behave differently and that is what life is about – lessons learned! How have your regrets spurred you on to great things?

The Power of the To Do List

As another week begins, my porridge is eaten and Milly cat survived her first scrap of the working week (lots of meowing in a neighbouring garden then a scurry back over the fence at high speed), I set about creating this weeks To Do list. 

There is something calming and focused about this for me. It gives shape to the tsunami of thoughts kicking around in my head and creating a slight aftershock in my belly as the number of 'must do's, should have done's, have to begin, must finish..' type of thoughts echo relentlessly in my head. The fact is that letting these thoughts continue unformed creates more anxiety than just pinning them down in a list.

The trick for me is to write it all down and then highlight my priorities of the day in a highlight colour of my choice - today is yellow. Now I have tried using electronic lists (Outlook, Blackberry etc) but there is something completely satisfying at taking an ink pen and crossing something off the list. At the end of the day you can see the progress. Deleting tasks or calling them 100% complete doesn't come near for me. Also electronic To Do lists always get lost in the myriad of other windows I have open on my PC. Whereas the paper copy on my desk is visible (especially with the highlighted bits). 

Call me old fashioned but long live the paper 'To Do!' Oh and I will now cross 'Do Blog' off my list - whooo hooo!!!

 

China Leaves UK Behind

Ok if you are reading this and thinking it is about the Olympics then you are forgiven. At the time of writing this, sure enough China have 30 medals to our 10 but that is not what this is about. A recent article in People Management  discusses research by the Credit Suisse Research Institute claiming that companies with at least one woman on the board produce a 16% return on equity, 4 percentage points higher than companies with no female board members.

Now the discussions then ensue about reliability of data, sector specifics and so on. But the statistic which is more thought provoking is shoved down to the bottom of the article. The number of female board members is growing in the UK, up to 16.7 from 12.5% a year ago, but in China it rose from 6.5%  in 2005 to a whopping 50% in 2011. What did they do? Did they just mandate it, are these women truly influential on the boards. Gosh, so many questions. It will be fascinating to see what difference this makes to the Chinese economy. Maybe the medals will be in the board room as well as the sports field in future years.