I found this on a school report from when I was 12. It’s wonderfully honest. I’d wager he was really thinking “The kid’s a bit shite, but as he’s large, we can use him as an obstacle in defence.” But he was worried about my feelings, so he softened it up. I wish this was […]
Culture
You are what you do, not what you say you are.
“You are what you do, not what you say you are.” Simple truth from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s wonderful book “Let my people go surfing” I’ve known many CEOs launch on an exercise to define their company values. And sadly for most of them, those values rarely make it out of a Word doc (other […]
Here’s my hypothesis
One of my favourite ways of provoking thought and discussion when I’m with a team is to come up with ideas, just shooting from the hip. Depending how well I know you, I’d usually preface it with “I’m just making shit up, but…”. I was recently told that what I’m actually doing is “creating a […]
Build Back Better means Build Back Kinder
Build back better means build back kinder. With a special responsibility if you lead a company. With talk of a K-shaped recovery, where fortunes ascend for some while they plummet for others, it’s up to all on the ascendant leg of the K to look out for those on the descendent. Not (just) out of […]
Should I scale or should I grow?
Business has an obsession with growth. And usually unlimited growth. A target is set, and we always laud people for beating it. Sometimes with an accelerator for beating it significantly. But although growth is seductive, without scale, it ends up destructive. That’s because the growth that we tend to focus on is top line. Usually […]