September 2011
2 posts
Who is your boss?
A kid gets a paper round. The newsagent pays him but it was his Mum who asked him to start working.
A designer reports to the Creative Director yet her motivation is to be admired by her fellow graphic artists.
An up-and-coming writer takes a job with a popular magazine. It will look good on her CV. She’s no longer thinking about what she can contribute, but how the company enhances her own...
Nostalgia and Novelty
Nostalgia and novelty are the ditches on either side of the path.
Content that speaks to people comes from the gut; not from the memory.
Work that moves people comes from following your heart; not from following trends.
Believing that just because something worked in the past, it works now, is naive.
Applauding something simply because it is in vogue is shallow.
Nostalgia can say...
August 2011
4 posts
Know thy audience
It’s not just how you look but how they see.
‘Everything communicates’ but you have to understand how your audience sees if you want to win them.
A premium venue can lend your organisation credibility or paint you as wasteful and opulent.
A statement can be challenging or offensive.
Budget coffee can appear frugal or cheap.
It may not be important to you but how important is...
How to recruit « Live Audacious →
Article I wrote for Audacious to help leaders recruit and keep volunteers. Thanks to Paul Gibbs for kick starting my thinking.
Everything Communicates
“The medium is the message.” - Marshall McLuhan
Everything Communicates.
The clothes you wear, the coffee you serve, the building you choose, the people you promote.
Writers don’t want a book to be judged by its cover.
Speakers want people to hear the words they say (and ignore the way they say it, their dress or the stage set).
Leaders want people to buy in to the rhetoric… but too...
3 tags
Leadership is not influence
Influence is a measure of HOW BIG your leadership is.
Everyone has some influence with someone. It does not make them a leader.
I think leadership is being different.
By doing something different you lead. You set an example and give others permission to follow.
Normal is boring. The accepted has been done before.
Take a lead today. Be different.
July 2011
2 posts
2 tags
The Right People in the Room
Leaders have an agenda; they want to lead people somewhere. Else they’re not really leaders; just control freaks.
Some spend a lot of time trying to lead those who don’t want to be led. A fools errand.
Others do not want to go where you’re going.
Others want to… but are unable to.
Meetings are held, vision is cast and projects are announced… but real progress isn’t made.
It feels...