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Running a business vs running an agency
I spotted this post from Gellan Watt and felt like I wanted to take a view on it. Gellan’s viewpoint is that running an agency is about doing work that delivers an output or outcome, whereas running a business is deal making. In some ways I agree, particularly with the idea that we certainly don’t…
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Bad habits. Tips on changing your routine and building willpower.
We all have the capacity for change at any moment. Yet New Year seems a good opportunity to ask if those small steps, your habits, are taking you in the direction you want to move to achieve your longer term goals. If the answer is “no” then consider what you could do about it. If…
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Our most loved articles of 2022
Here are the top ten articles from the year – the ones which got most people talking, elicited the highest response, or won the most clicks.
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Vocal Analysis of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights
As you know, I’m partial to sometimes sharing something ‘just because’ – because, well, why not? This vocal analysis of a Kate Bush classic from Elizabeth Zharoff, an international opera singer and voice coach, with 3 degrees in voice, opera, and music production is interesting because: a. it’s the first time she’s ever listened to…
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23 Laws of Interesting
It’s no secret that I love most of what David Hieatt and the team at The Do Lectures produce and put out into the world. One of their posts I saw recently on LinkedIn was too good not to share. Talking about ‘interesting’, the post says: “Interesting things happen when you do interesting things. It’s…
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Tips on saying ‘thank you’. Make it more than a platitude.
It goes without saying that giving feedback is something you should be doing all year long, but it seems to me that the run up to the Christmas break provides lots of special and deliberate opportunities to express gratitude and deliver heartfelt thank yous to your team. You might already have dropped an annual bonus,…
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Why do we want things we don’t need – and what to do about it
This article from James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) tells the story of famous French philosopher Denis Diderot, who lived nearly his entire life in poverty until his financial ‘woes’ were reversed at age 52. Upon newfound wealth, Diderot acquired a new robe, which when put side-by-side made his current possessions pale into insignificant and…
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Meetings are messing with our brains.
An incredibly interesting graphic I spotted recently on LinkedIn showing the impact back-to-back meetings are having on our brains. The research from Microsoft’s Human Factors Lab measured the brain activity of 14 individuals. In summary, it showed that those *with breaks* between meetings had steady brain activity and experienced “coolness”. For those *without breaks* between…
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Observing leadership.
A short time ago I was invited by Paul Levy, a long-time friend and now senior researcher at CENTRIM, University of Brighton (where we both studied back in our heyday) to join an informal chat with his creativity students. The idea was to arrive ready to impart whatever wisdom I might conjure to try to inspire some…
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Record your problems.
OK, so I’m likely to use the Apple users at this point, but nevertheless this little tip (I’m refusing to coin ‘life hack’) is too good not to share. Steps Recorder (called Problems Steps Recorder in Windows 7), is a program that helps you troubleshoot a problem on your device by recording the exact steps…
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Gossip. The toxic culture killer you’re likely contributing to.
Ask some one if they’re a gossip and you’re likely to receive a short, sharp burst of outrage and indignation, “Well of course I don’t gossip”. But as this article in Harvard Business Review points out, “ask them whether they have ever participated in a “confirmation expedition” — whereby they 1) ask a colleague to…
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Lists that aren’t lists
I’ve always loved lists. Long, detailed lists for everything. It’s this obvious love of lists that has drawn my attention to the sometimes-problematic nature of them. I’ve been working with my coach on my need for lists and the impact they have on me. At one level they are incredibly helpful (see Do Not Forget…
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Watch: Spotify Engineering Culture
A cool video outlining Spotify’s approach to engineering culture. You can see the full transcript here, but I’ve dropped some key points from the video below: Agile > Scrum When our first music player was launched in 2008, we were pretty much a Scrum company. Scrum is a well established agile development approach, and it…
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Don’t democratise your business. Here’s why…
It’s very tempting to over democratise your business. But the truth is that in some instances, your (admirable) desire to empower your teams and involve them in every decision within the business can lead to your decision making lacking in precision and direction. Let me be clear that I’m challenging democratisation around decisions at the…
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Get involved: Reverse Advent Calendar
This year I’m once again joining the #foodbankadvent with a very worthy idea adapted from a conversation I had with Josh Butten at Boosst last year. Starting on the 1st December, I’ll be going about making a reverse advent calendar. The very simple premise is that every day in December I will set aside a…
