Success
213 posts
Opportunity Knocks
There was a talent show on television when I was a child called, Opportunity Knocks. It wasn’t unlike some of the reality talent shows broadcast on TV today. It was lower budget and had a lot less glitz and glamour. Prospective contestants wrote to the show’s producers via snail mail pitching to aud
On Tipping Points
Life, as the well-worn adage, written on many a motivational fridge magnet, reminds us, is a journey, not a destination. We know this. Yet we strive for our tipping point—that moment when the series of small steps we’ve taken towards our goal will be significant enough to cause the big breakthrough
Why This? Why You? Why Now?
Why This? Why You? Why Now? Three simple questions we are often reluctant to answer. When you sit with the discomfort of reflecting on them before you embark on a project, you’ll be clearer about what the world needs from you and why. You’ll also have the beginnings of the story your audience wants
The Metrics Of Belonging
The things we measure most are the most tangible—sales, clicks, votes, bums on seats. They can be seen and touched, counted and compared. The metrics of belonging are felt and harder to quantify. But it is those intangibles—often only evidenced or experienced over time, that are the backbone of stro
Valuing Your Expertise And Effort
My dad had many manual jobs during his working life, but the one he loved most was being a painter and decorator. It was the only job he did, where he could stand back and find joy in his creative output at the end of the day. Painting was something he could say he was…
The Power Of Reflective Practice
My mother can practically bake a killer apple tart in her sleep. It’s a skill she’s learned over decades of trial and error. We hone any skill by doing. We get better by practising and observing, then reflecting and iterating. The doctor perfects her bedside manner by reflecting on how a consultatio
In Praise Of Incrementalism
One of my favourite TV programs, when I was young, was Columbo—which followed the sometimes scruffy, seemingly absentminded, always polite, homicide detective, who solved murder cases in Los Angeles. What struck me about Columbo was the stepwise way he made progress towards solving the case. He wasn
Giving Attention Vs. Getting Attention
The more people have to attend to, the harder it is to get their attention. Attention is a precious resource. And as with any resource, scarcity creates value. Our culture has taught us that those who can capture the most attention win—never more so than in the digital age. So, we devote a considera
Empathy Creates Value
A restaurant host has one job to do—meet and greet diners and show them to their table. It sounds easy enough, but the difference between a good host and a great host is underrated because where people are seated directly impacts their experience. Seating arrangements can influence how long diners s
Powering The Future
The leaders of this business must plan for the future without depending on it, by it’s getting closest to the people they want to serve.
Reclaiming Old Marketing
It turns out that the tools and the tactics of new marketing aren’t a shortcut. The tried, trusted and true methods of old marketing help us to maintain our integrity and get to where we want to go.
The One Thing
What one thing are you willing to do today in service of tomorrow?
The Best Laid Plans
This day ten years ago you probably had plans in place for the year ahead. Maybe you achieved some of those goals in 2010. But I’m guessing that you could never have planned for some of the unexpected events, opportunities, twists and turns of the decade you’ve just lived. It turns out that it’s har
The Advantage Of Not Knowing For Sure
Success is as unpredictable as failure. Nobody knows for sure what will be a hit or a miss. Every runaway success is only obvious with hindsight. And yet we expend so much of our creative energy trying to be successful to our detriment. When you liberate yourself from the pressure of having to win,
Care Most
We mistakenly believe that we are powerless to make a difference in an all is lost moment when in fact the opposite is true.
Gap Bridging
What gap does your product or service help your audience to bridge?
Needs And Wants
If we are to do our best work, we must also be intentional about the kind of business and life we want to build. We often default to prioritising our needs while neglecting our wants.
A Question Of Choices
Our choices not only determine our priorities, plans and results—they are also clues about what matters to us.
The Daily Opportunity
Meaningful progress doesn’t happen in a single, magical alignment of the stars. Opportunity can’t pass us by because it’s available to us in this moment and the next one.
By Heart Vs. With Heart
We have the opportunity every day to work by heart or to choose to do it with heart. The more often we choose the latter the better for all of us.
