The runner: "I've got a hamstring problem, I am going to see a physio to get my hammie treated".
Me: "Are you sure it's your hammie?" Quite often we treat the symptom not the cause. We go to the issue at hand and don't take the time to go upstream to establish what the root cause is. We see it in medicine. I am sick... ok, take this. It's not why are you here, what's the cause of this situation, your lifestyle, habits, nutrition, lack of movement, stress, overwhelm, workload. Late for meetings? Why? Poor planning, no prioritising, lethargy, historically we always start late (leadership and standards), everyone else is late (extrinsic validation). Going upstream is an important thinking tool. The Japanese leader would ask the why question 5 times to get to the real cause. Most ask the question once (if any) and treat the symptom. Turns out the upstream cause of the hammie issue lay in their shoulders... tight shoulder, caused the body to be out of whack, so then hips out of whack, tightens their glute, tightens the hammie, strains hammie. Look for the cause before treating the symptom. Thanks to Annie Spratt for the pic.
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American rapper Rakim, is one half of golden age hip hop duo, Eric B. & Rakim. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled rappers of all time. In his book "Sweat the Technique", Rakim said when he wrote a lyric he wanted not just the applause, but to educate.
How often are people on socials, even on Linked In, posting for applause? Rarely do we find people sharing to educate or add value to the reader. Most post, the few write. Rakim sets the bar... do we post for applause or do we really believe what we share can educate? It's a useful audit. Wait till people start to rationalise this one! On entering the gym, the first thing to see was a table of lollipops and chocolates. The owner said "Oh, it's Valentine's Day." Walking into the boardroom for a group that's there to enhance the life of leaders, they are serving choc muffins, cakes and sporadically down the table of the boardroom are lollies. The organiser said "Ah well that's what we always do, it's what the young staff member got from the shop." We can rationalise these things anyway we like, but rationalisation is a trap. You can justify it all you like. But downstream the future you is saying why would you do that? Downstream is where rationalisation really hurts. Rarely do we consider our future you. It's easy to rationalise why we take calls at our kids soccer match. Why we accept calls or check emails on holidays. It's easy to rationalise why we miss our morning workout. It's easy to rationalise eating rubbish at the Qantas Club. It's easy to rationalise sitting on a train scrolling mindlessly through socials. It's easy to rationalise poor behaviour or things you know aren't going to empower your future you, make you better or take you towards your goals. Short term gratification rationalised at the expense of long term damage. To understand how this rationalisation works, read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, a book about the Resistance. It's why in so many areas of our life we find ourselves struggling ... where we give in to the resistance, and one of it's key soldiers is rationalisation. Soon those chocs at the gym will be Easter Eggs, then Halloween... it's a gym! Great snap, thanks Nick Fewings.
This guy would often reply "It's the best I can do, I've given it my best". It made me reflect on a conversation for The Mojo Sessions with Dr Jeff Spencer a high-performance coach who works with the likes of Tiger Woods, U2, Nike, a host of Tour de France champions and even Richard Branson. Jeff said when we think we have given our best we are actually creating a perceived limit by saying we think we know what our best is. Quite often it's not your best, it's what you're willing to do, not what you are capable of. Our language matters. Many high-performance coaches will say that we don't really know our own potential and fall short often by giving what we believe is our best, but in actual fact we are probably sitting at 40%, or at the most 50%, of our true capacity. Language sets limits. Don't set limits on yourself by seeing or believing in what is your best. This is particularly important with our children, which is why we should praise and commend the process with kids not the outcome. Hear the full conversation with Dr Jeff Spencer Ep 210 at https://shorturl.at/mzHW6
Quentin Tarantino learned a valuable lesson from Harvey Keitel in the making of Reservoir Dogs. He told Tarantino when an actor first comes in to read for a part "Don't help them out in that very first reading. Don't give them any guidance, don't tell them how you want the scene, don't tell them what you are looking for... they have the material themselves and they have come up with their own things. You will never see what was in their head the very first time unless you let them do it" This is a valuable lesson in creative thinking. Many are too quick to jump in with children or team members, and guide the discussion, or share what they think, solve the problem. When you jump in like that, without letting them have a good go.....you never see what was in their minds, what they had been thinking, where their ideas were going. Tarantino said to this day, for the past 21 years, he keeps it front of mind. Good lesson. Thanks to Mike Von for the pic.
"Make 2024 your best ever" "2024. Let's go" "New Year new you" and all the other cliches that are rolled out this time of the year. But if nothing changes nothing changes. The problem is we set all these goals, but we maintain the same standards. The Mojo Reset Live Event 2nd & 3rd February 2024 at the Green Square Library is your opportunity to dream, plan, prioritise, gain new skills, and set the standards required to achieve everything you imagined in your world for this year. If it's time to reset, and actually raise the bar this year, The Mojo Reset is your ticket. Gary has curated the thinking of some of the world's best and most progressive thinkers on topics like identity, discipline, energy, relationships, energy, relationships, learning, creativity, strategy, leadership, and progress. The thinking from these interviews sets the foundation for this one of a kind live event. You'll also be part of a live recording for The Mojo Sessions with global listening expert Oscar Trimboli, who will share the impact of deep listening for you and those around you. Oscar's work is recognised around the world and surely listening ... the ability to be understood, to draw out great ideas, and facilitate a productive, and meaningful conversation, is one of the great skills of any leader in today's world.
Book tickets at: https://www.garybertwistle.com/store/p30/The-Mojo-Reset.html “I write for fun. I write for play… I write to discover what I want to say and how to say it… and the nerve to say it.” - Greil Marcus on why he writes.
Many write to impress others, to get the likes, to get the extrinsic validation from the crowd, or to have beautiful journal notes that are insta worthy. Many won't write in their own personal journal for fear it is not arty enough like the stuff we see shared, or worry what would we say, what if we make a mistake, what if we just write crap? The quote above gives us approval to just... well....write... to just get your random thoughts on the page. For the joy of putting words on a page. To express ourselves for your own intrinsic approval. Write for yourself, no one needs to see or read it. Be surprised by what presents when you write for you and not the approval of others. It unlocks your imagination, it fuels your creativity, it reflects back in children who see you writing, it's reflection, it's gratitude and what's more... it's just for you! GB. Photo Sarah - Jane O'Hara. What's your return on attention on any given day? You give loads of stuff your attention throughout the day, what return are you getting? Can we remember what was said in the meeting we sat through? Who is going to action what? We skim socials on the way to work on the bus, any return? The podcast we listened to, what did we take out, where is it stored? We go to conference after conference, sit through plenaries, what's our return? Time after time we see people in these situations without even a pen and paper. What chance do we have of a return on attention if we don't take notes? Rely on your memory? Forget it. We are forgetting how to remember. We know what to do... ask questions (helps you learn better), write it down (helps you recall better), store your notes in a Second Brain (easy to retrieve), compartmentalise your day (helps your focus on a particular task). Above all else value your time, your attention and your learning. Create the desire to be better today than yesterday... your competitor could well be about to get a better return than you! Thanks to Romain Vignes for the pic.
The Mojo Sessions recently did an interview with Dr Gloria Mark, Ep 419, who has studied attention for decades, fascinating conversation, for details visit https://www.themojosessions.com/season-4/ep-419-dr-gloria-mark The runner: "I've got a hamstring problem, I am going to see a physio to get my hammie treated".
Me: "Are you sure it's your hammie?" Quite often we treat the symptom not the cause. We go to the issue at hand and don't take the time to go upstream to establish what the root cause is. We see it in medicine. I am sick... ok take this. It's not why are you here, what's the cause of this situation, your lifestyle, habits, nutrition, lack of movement, stress, overwhelm, workload. Late for meetings, why... poor planning, no prioritising, lethergy, historically we always start late (leadership and standards) everyone else is late (extrinsic validation). Going upstream is an important thinking tool. The Japanese leader would ask the "why" question 5 times to get to the real cause, way upstream. Most ask the question once (if any) and treat the symptom. Turns out the upstream cause of the hammie issue lay in their shoulders... tight shoulder, caused the body to be out of whack, so then hips are out of whack, tightens the glute, tightens the hammie, strains hammie. Look for the cause before treating the symptom. Thanks Jozsef Hocza for the pic. For some people, having to sell carries a negative vibe, being in sales, a salesman. However if we step away and consider our identity, there is another way to approach sales. A lady was being interviewed for a sales job at a brewery. The head distiller asked "Have you worked in Sales?" The lady said... "No, not really, I worked for a coffee company going around to businesses but I wasn't really selling, I felt like an ambassador for the company, I just loved the company, the coffee, the people and I wanted to share that with coffee shops". Different IDENTITY, different approach to selling, it's more storytelling with meaning, purpose and a genuine desire to help the other person because you believe the product is something great. If you are an ambassador, defined as "a person who represents and promotes a company, supports its offers and acts as the embodiment of the company's corporate identity through words and actions" then you sell/share stories in a different way. I believe she got the job, not to sell but as a brand ambassador of the brew house. Photo thanks to Elevate. GB
Will we ever have enough confidence and courage to get around the stigma of non-alcoholic beverages in a social gathering? This guy asked me for a stubby cooler as he was heading out to a motorbike event with the boys. He knew they would be getting on it. He didn't want to drink, but he had non-alcoholic beers and he put it in the stubby cooler so it would look like he's drinking. Another guy at a recent party was filling his can of VB with mineral water to make it look like he was drinking all night. I met another guy who was drinking Heaps Normal non-alcoholic beer, but he had it in a Bintang stubby cooler to make it look like it was alcoholic. Three different scenarios which make me question whether guys can ever get their heads around the stigma of not drinking alcohol in social surroundings. "I'm driving" of course was the leave pass. But if you just don't need the alcohol, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Given the amount of different non alcoholic beers and spirits available now, there must be a market now (story below re non alcoholic bars)... and into the future for the investments that are being made... but psychologically, I know guys who won't go without the alcohol in beers in a social surrounding.... it's a curious situation.
A lady in the audience said "That's all fine, but it's different in the real world". That sort of comment always makes me think back to the statement I read in a book called Rework. "Ignore the real world: The real world is a toxic place where dreams are slaughtered by those who are too coward to try. Somebody else's reality doesn't have to be yours, so define your own reality with your own existence and ignore the rest". (Rework, a Book by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson.)
Many use the real world as an excuse not to have a crack. ... a reason why something cannot be done. A reason not to put themselves out there. "The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly". Not to the person in the grandstand critiquing and blaming the real world.... the yeah but people. Shoutout to Ben White for the pic. Dr Gloria Mark is the author of "Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity". Last week's guest on the Mojo Sessions, Dr Mark talks about expanding our attention span, how we focus better, how we develop our power of observation, and how we are more in the moment and take agency over our attention. Fascinating conversation. Case in point of the power of attention and observation: The inventor of instant ramen noodles, Momofuku Ando, got the idea for his Cup Noodle when he witnessed the crowds lining up for ramen on the war-ravaged streets of Osaka in 1945. Decades later, he had finally perfected a technique for flash-frying noodles, making them both speedy to reheat and almost infinitely shelf-stable. Today, more than 121 billion servings of the quick noodles are eaten each year. How? A guy paid attention. Somebody had to notice what was going on. Somebody had to detach from the busy distracted world and see or hear an opportunity. Here is a link to Dr Gloria Mark and her conversation on The Mojo Sessions: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mojo-sessions/id1530154809?i=1000628672674
Years back, in the late 90's, when I worked in radio, The Body Shop was all the rage. It's founder Anita Roddick was a rock star, up there with Branson. Last week I met a lady who worked there during that halcyon period. She said "The Body Shop was my second home, we loved it, we were in it together. It was commercial with a heart and soul, they had an ethos." Back then they fought for animal rights, no testing on animals, great product, a real vibe.... they fought and sacrificed for a mission. Some years later, the media reported, "hundreds of consumers declared a boycott of The Body Shop in 2006, after its owner sold the cruelty-free brand to cosmetics giant L'Oreal – which was well-known for testing on animals". I walked past a Body Shop recently and although terribly quiet compared to neighbour Lush, The Body Shop would not be in my top 25 brands to shop for body products. I wonder how sales are? Converesly, Lush reported their highest sales on record in the month of December 2022. Shopping at Lush is a great experience. My recent experience is below. In summary ...When I spoke to a team member at Lush he said "I love this place with all my heart." Why... "I love the experience and the ethos. "
Enough said. #transferofpurpose There's always plenty written about finding your why. Productivity experts focus on what you do, and when you do it. Little is talked about in considering the where. Steven King would hit his writing chair and table each day at 8 am, have a glass of water, his vitamin tablet and think "now it's time to dream." It was his writing chair. Other leaders have a favourite coffee shop, they enjoy the white noise and visual surroundings. Bill Gates had a cabin in the woods. Steve Jobs would walk the campus at Cupertino whilst conducting important conversations. Consider your where. What's it like to come to your office? Is it stimulating, is it a place of creativity, is it inviting and engaging.... the boardrooms, the offices, the lunch room? So for you.... what does your ideal space look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity? What do you need in order to fuel your learning or imagination? Home, park, train, plane, coffee shop... where is your best where? I recently met a guy who felt his workouts were flat, so he changed the where... new gym, new surroundings, and he got his workout mojo back!
For 25 years I have had a problem with gluten. For decades I've accepted that gluten-free bread, that in some cases is like cardboard, comes in a loaf that never replicates a fresh loaf of traditional bread. Travelling through Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands recently, it was time for a brew. I pulled in at the What If Society. After ordering my Machiatto, I asked whether they had any gluten-free bread. Someone appeared from the kitchen, grabbed a fresh loaf out of the window and said "would you like me to cut a piece for you?" I bought the loaf. The bread was sensational. Probably one of the best gluten-free loaves I've ever tasted. The only rival would be Gordon Ramsay at the Savoy in London. My story is not just about the bread, it's about the intention. The lady brought me my toasted GF bread and explained how she made it.... seeds, sprouting etc, then explained how she made the butter and how she made the rhubarb jam. The coffee was great. On the wall was a poster that showed all the food producers they used in the cafe and not only the farm it came from, but where it was geographically located around the cafe. Everything in this cafe was intentional.Intentionality means you need to slow down. Haste does not bring intentionality. As the Navy Seals would say "slow is smooth and smooth is fast." This lady was not only the owner, the chef and the baker she was an artisan. Intentionality came in every aspect of her work, her standards, her product and her business. I would highly recommend The What If Society when you're passing through the Southern Highlands. It's worth a detour to find this hidden gem. But you'll need to be intentional as it's off the highway.
He said, "Burning Man changed my life. It changed my business. It fired up my imagination. It refueled my creativity. It made my life better." He would come back from Burning Man pumped, and want to tell everybody he met about his experience. He'd tell his story and people would glaze over, then move on. Then a friend said "Most people are asleep. It doesn't matter what you say to them. They're asleep. Then there are those who are dozing. If you can peak their interest, you may wake them up. Then there are those who are wide-awake. He said, go for those people and tell them all about it, because they are the people open to a new idea, they are curious, are actually listening and hearing, they want to explore a new idea. But most people are asleep." Since that conversation I have thought about most meetings, conferences, social gatherings, board meetings....and most people are asleep. Distracted, not listening, not asking questions, not probing, not taking notes... asleep. There's always one in the group who is wide-awake, asking questions, taking notes, asking a question, then a follow-up question, truly attentive, in the room, not distracted....there's always one person who is wide-awake. Most are asleep.
Thanks Christopher Kuzman for the shot from BM. A car dealership in Adelaide has moved the service and parts area of the dealership to the front window.... you can see the guys working on your car. Driving past last week at night, instead of the front windows being lit up with new vehicles, they were lit up with cars on hoists, parts, toolboxes, all looking pristine, organised, and yes, it was behind huge plate glass windows on full display on a main road for all to see. Why?
I find it really curious when all of my life when you've dropped your car off for a service, you hand your keys to the front desk and your car disappears behind a large wall. It only reappears in a car park where you receive your keys back, your invoice and the pain of having to pay for what happened behind that wall. Now it's a feature, front and centre, looking clean, efficient, and seemingly something that's not hidden from view. Key take outs: The service part of the dealership is quite profitable I understand. Makes sense for it to be on show. It probably makes the mechanics feel more pride in their work to know that people can see their craftsmanship. It's contrarian to every other dealership who focuses on flogging cars. No doubt this will be something you will now start to see across the country as more dealerships start to redesign their dealerships to change the perception of service, the people who work there, the importance inside a dealership, and if nothing else .....to be different. I took a double take driving past to get my head around the fact that there were hoists and guys with toolboxes on the main road behind these massive plate glass windows and not brand-new cars with hefty price tags. 8 out of 10 people in every company globally are believed to be indifferent about their work. Love your work verses indifferent about your work. It's a great way to categorise where we are today with people and teams, and perhaps the basis of why so many people are disengaged according to Gallup, and happy to up and leave an organisation because they don't ... well, love it. Loving your work means you like the people you work with, you find true meaning in your work, you fulfil your own why, you can match your personal values with those of the company, having leadership you admire, having a direction to head in and trust in the leadership, they know how to get there, and a place where people feel trusted, a place where they feel safe. It's a lot to ask a leader to create that environment, but surely that's a good starting point as a checklist to say, "How do you have people love the work they do in your company?" When most are indifferent, the few are in love. What if you could...
Joel Green is a former professional basketball player & National Director of Nike Sports Camps. Joel had a challenging upbringing, growing up in an abandoned house in North Philadelphia. His cousin was murdered, he had a knife pulled on him, and he stood just 10 ft from another shooting. Years later, he tragically lost his older brother. In a profound moment in our conversation for The Mojo Sessions (link below) I asked Joel, if I could give him a quiet moment with his brother one on one, and he could ask him one question, what would he ask? Joel said "I would ask him if he was proud of me and what he was proud of." How often do we hear people say "I just want to make my parents or someone close to me proud." Perhaps we should be letting people know, those closest to us, that we are proud of them daily... so there is no doubt. The second part of Joel's answer is the profound moment. It's easy to tell somebody you are proud of them, but we must know what we are proud of them for. That takes observation, watching, listening, thinking, pondering, and appreciating with gratitude what it is that makes that person special, so when they say, "What are you proud of?" you are able to look them in the eye and tell them specifically. There's so much power in this simple act. Not just I am proud of you - we want to know what they are proud of us for. When I asked former Navy Seal, Andrew Paul what he believed were the most important things to say to a child he said "I love you and I'm proud of you". Enough said. GB
LINK to the conversation with Joel Green https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mojo-sessions/id1530154809?i=1000610062444 We all want to level up. We all want to be our best. To improve on yesterday and continue to progress in our growth. Over four seasons of hosting The Mojo Sessions, some definite themes have appeared... And one of the popular areas is certainly performance and mental toughness. This edition of The Espresso is based on performance. The Mojo Sessions Rewind is a collection of specific conversations that tieback to a particular topic, in this case performance - being your best, levelling up and moving yourself towards your goals.
One of the major benefits of podcasts is that they live in the cyber world and can be saved and replayed at any time. I thought that occasionally I would do a 'rewind' and share a list of past episodes of The Mojo Sessions on recurring themes and topics that have resonated not only with me, but also with other listeners of the show. I hope you find this 'rewind' on the theme of Performance of value to yourself or someone you know. The Mojo Sessions: Episode 306 - Mike McCastle Unquestionably one of my favourite conversations ever was with Mike McCastle, Ep 306. When I said that all of us want to level up and improve...most don't...the few do. This was a conversation that sparked that narrative for me. That made me realise the most talk about it, read about it, listen, but do nothing about it...we want to be the few. The few that listen, take notes, curate our thinking, set a plan, execute, reflect, then do it again. Mike McCastle is an amazing example of how much potential lies within all of us, if we just go to that place to find it. The path out of mediocrity. The few loyal to the standard. Mike McCastle, inspired by Greek mythology of the 12 Labors of Hercules, undertook 5,804 pull-ups in a day to break the world record, pulled a 5,000 pound pick-up across the Mojave Desert in summer, climbed a rope to the equivalent height of Mount Everest, and recently broke the record for submersion in an ice bath...all for a greater purpose. Mike raises funds and awareness for causes such as cancer research, mental health for military veterans, and Parkinsons disease. Mike shows us the golden door way, the process we can take to be loyal to the standard. EP 306: Mike McCastle The Mojo Sessions: Episode 401 - Justin Su'a All of us go through times when we get knock sideways. All of us have times when we finish one season and start a new one. Finish one year, start a new one. Finish one job, start a new one. I was really curious about how the mental aspect would play into a reset and restart. Justin Su'a was such a nice guy, so easy to talk to, but I found his philosophies very valuable. The Mental Reset for a High Performance Season Ahead Justin Su'a is Head of Mental Performance for leading Major League Baseball team the Tampa Bay Rays. Justin works with players in the NFL, WWE, PGA, the U.S. Army, the IMG Academy, the Boston Red Sox and Google and hosts the super successful podcast "Increase Your Impact”. Working with the highest performers in the world of sport and business, Justin has a unique perspective on what it takes to operate at the highest level, recover after a loss, and reset for the new season ahead as a leader, a player, coach and as a team. EP 401: Justin Su'a The Mojo Sessions: Episode 230 - Jay Morton Jay Morton is not a guy that just talks about mental performance, he puts on his climbing gear and gets after it. After summiting Mount Everest a number of times, taking on plenty of mental and physical endurance events including racing cars, former Special Forces operator Jay Morton is just a normal guy. When he said, "I'm the most disciplined, lazy person you'll ever meet" he had me at hello. This is a great conversation with a guy who seemingly is pretty normal, but the mental strength he draws upon from within has him doing things that probably most of us could do ...we just don't get off the couch and do it. The Special Forces on Mindset, Strategy and Excellence Jay Morton spent 10 yrs in the SAS, 4 yrs in the Parachute Regiment, then summited Mt Everest twice. Jay is a guy who knows what it takes to become the best of the best. Whether serving as an elite soldier, training as a high-level shooter or becoming an expert in HALO (high-altitude low-opening) parachuting, Jay has always strived to be at the very top of the game... to find his greatness. Many of us are prone to underestimating ourselves but physical and mental endurance and resilience – as well as realising our own full potential – are well within our reach... if you have the desire to do the work. EP 230: Jay Morton The Mojo Sessions: Episode 210 - Dr Jeff Spencer He's not a coach, he's a corner man. He's been the corner man for multiple Tour de France winning teams, Le Tour arguably, the greatest endurance event, mentally and physically each year. He's worked with some of the biggest names in business. He is the guy that people go to to level up, cut through the chaff and achieve our ambitions. The thing that I took from the Champions Blueprint that Jeff developed is the first step in that wheel is legacy, having a mission, operating from a purpose. That's why his athletes and business leaders have such a sustained career, and don't flameout like most. Meet the Cornerman That Titans Turn To Dr Jeff Spencer is cornerman to some of our greatest achievers. A former Olympian, Jeff's client list boasts names such as Tiger Woods, U2, Nike, Richard Branson, as well as Tour de France winners, so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about becoming a world class performer! Jeff specialises in helping would-be high achievers who currently feel over committed, over extended and overwhelmed, find clarity on why they’re stuck, get un-stuck and go from ‘over it’ to ‘killing it’. EP210: Dr JEFF SPENCER The Mojo Sessions: Episode 303 - Coach Dana Cavalea The high-performers in any industry, are ritualised. It's about their habits. Their habits, rituals, routines are the things they deploy day in day out under any circumstances, in order to ensure that what is a priority, what's important, gets done. Rituals and routines also ensure you don't focus on the stuff that's not important. Coach Dana is a master at setting up the habitual approach to high-performance. Embrace the True Habits of a Champion Coach Dana Cavalea spent the majority of his career as the Director of Performance for the New York Yankees. In 2009 he led the team to a World Series Championship and was voted by his peers as the top Strength Coach in Major League Baseball. The author of "Habits of a Champion: Nobody Becomes A Champion By Accident", Dana writes about the mindset and habits we can use to elevate ourselves to Champion status. Having worked side by side with some of the greats of Major League Baseball, Dana is the go-to guy for performance habits. Ep 303: Coach Dana Cavalea "Let's get our to-do list done, get our revenue in order knock over a few of these big projects and then we can worry about culture. Yes, I know culture is important but we need to get this stuff done first, then we can do culture." This sort of comment is becoming more and more prevalent. Leaders know that culture is important, well, at least they say they do, but they are happy to focus on projects, to dos, busy, and revenue, and push all that before their most important asset ... their people. So now the people are speaking!
These same leaders are the ones who complain they can't find good people, they can't keep good people, that people won't go the extra mile, that people won't take the initiative, that people aren't satisfied and so it goes. One EXECUTIVE even said "we don't need to do it for the moment. Unemployment is so low it can wait." Unemployment may be low, but so is quiet quitting. The term has been given to people who are turning up to work, going through the motions, feeling unfulfilled, doing work that they feel has no meaning, working in a company with no direction, and basically not knowing what's expected of them. All the ingredients that make up culture. These same people are also looking around. The Most know it's important, it's only the Few that know it is the most important thing to do - prioritise it, set the plan in place, execute every day, demonstrate it through their leadership and play the LONG GAME...whilst at the same time, working on their strategy. Photo credit Redd F During a break at a keynote in Sydney a guy approached me to share a story. He said "I have been advertising for a tradesperson on Seek.com and a bunch of other employment sites for two months and got zero enquiries. Zero replies. When I change the ad around and lead with, here's what we value the most in our company, here's what we believe in, our mission, here's what's important to us in our company...Oh, and by the way, here is the job we have available, he said I was inundated with replies."
Time and time again, we hear that we want meaningful work, with a company that shares our values, and leadership that has a direction, a plan, and cares for it's people. A company who will close the gap between say and do. Yet so few companies actually do it. So much time and money has been wasted on tactical execution of product and price alone and although we talk about it, we are forgetting the most meaningful part of the equation, the people. This is a true story and given the fact it was based on a trade when so much media is focused on the lack of tradespeople, it does beg the question... Why? To understand your Why, how that can co-exist with your Company WHY and then the outgoing message, listen to the excellent interview with Dr Gary Sanchez of the Why Institute... the feedback on this conversation has been overwhelming... it's very, very good. LINK to the interview https://shorturl.at/defIL The Mojo Sessions Rewind “The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.” Sun Tzu THE STRATEGIC EDITION Over four seasons of hosting The Mojo Sessions, some definite themes have appeared. This edition of the Espresso is based on strategy. If there's one thing that "most" do is have a massive gap between the strategy they set a what actually gets executed. Off sites, conferences, strategy sessions, get-togethers with a whiteboard that all end up being forgotten, dismissed, never executed in the next 6 to 12 months. It's only the few that I actually implement the plan. Hell most leaders can't even remember what the strategy was! When considering this conundrum, I created a list of my favourite conversations on that topic of strategy from The Sessions that I hope might be of value to others. One of the major benefits of podcasts is that they live in the cyber world and can be saved and replayed at any time. I thought that occasionally I would do a 'rewind' and share a list of past episodes of The Mojo Sessions on recurring themes and topics that have resonated not only with me, but also with other listeners of the show. I hope you find this 'rewind' on the theme of Strategic thinking of value to yourself or someone you know. The Mojo Sessions: Episode 321 - Bryce Hoffman EP 321: Bryce Hoffman Red Team. Staying Ahead of the Competition in an Uncertain World Strategically, this was unquestionably, a key take out for me on strategy. The ability to be the one regardless of how improbable thinking like the enemy, and secondly having the courage to speak up, was a huge take out for me. Bryce Hoffman, the bestselling author of 'Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything', helps companies worldwide plan better, using systems learnt from business and the military. Bryce became the first and only civilian to graduate from the U.S. Army’s Red Team Leader Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Red Team Thinking is a systematic way of making critical and contrarian thinking part of the strategic planning process of any team, providing a robust set of tools designed to challenge assumptions, expose hidden threats and stress-test your plans and strategies. Drawing on the latest research in cognitive psychology and human decision-making Red Teaming is a critical thinking tool to stay relevant, keep ahead of your competition, and cope with an increasingly uncertain world. The Mojo Sessions: Episode 209 - Jay Samit EP 209: Jay Samit Your Hidden Superpower Can Future-Proof Your Business At the centre of every strategy is the problem to be solved. Jay Samit has an incredible resume of problems he has solved for some of the biggest and most highest profiled brands in the world. For this Session, he talks specifically about understanding the problem, then solving the problem and how, although it seems 101, so few actually do it. Jay Samit has an incredible resume. He's created disruptive ideas for Adobe, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Clinique, Coca Cola, Disney, Ford, GE, IBM, Intel, LinkedIn, McDonalds, Microsoft, Starbucks, Unilever, Visa and more. Jay held senior roles at EMI & Sony where he pioneered breakthrough advancements in video, ebooks & digital music that are used by billions of consumers every day and worked closely with guys like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Reid Hoffman. The Mojo Sessions: Episode 404 - Mike Sarraille EP 404: Mike Sarraille Your Path to Becoming an Everyday Warrior It's not easy being the leader charged with overseeing and taking ownership for the strategy and the execution of that plan. Mike has a long distinguished history of being the trusted guy to set and execute strategy... in the brutal world of combat and the brutal battles of the boardroom. It takes courage, it takes becoming an everyday warrior. After 20 years of service as a Recon Marine, Scout-Sniper, and U.S. Navy SEAL officer, which included ten combat deployments, Mike Sarraille turned his attention to using the lessons he’d learned on the battlefield to help businesses develop strong leaders. Mike has seen a great deal in combat. Today, he brings the lessons he learned from the battlefield to his successful management consulting firm, Talent War Group, an elite consulting and executive search firm specialising in world-class leadership development and attracting the top talent out of the Military. We discuss Mike's journey so far, and his new book, 'The Everyday Warrior.' The Mojo Sessions: Episode 317 - Dorie Clark EP 317: Dorie Clark Becoming a Long-Term Thinker in a Short Term World Any great strategist has a long game in mind. In a world where the most have short term, tactical, revenue driven goals. It's hard to find a leader who can tell you where the industry will be in three or five years time let alone how their company will fit into it. The people who work in the business are craving direction and belief in a leader who can see the future and a way to get there. Most work on the short game. Great strategists play the long game. We live in a short-term, reactionary world. It's rare to meet a leader who has a long-term view beyond short-term metrics, a leader who has a hypothesis about what the future holds for their industry, category or their company. Named in the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, Duke University Professor Dorie Clark is described by the NY Times as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” A frequent contributor to HBR , Dorie consults to Google, Microsoft, & the World Bank. This conversation uncovers her new book The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World. The Mojo Sessions: Episode 320 - Annie Duke Ep 320: Annie Duke The Good Quitters Guide to Quitting So anyone who heard the show will know I'm a fan of Annie, her backstory, her work, and in particular, the idea of this latest book. The reason I've got Annie to finish off this Strategic Rewind is that in order to do the work above there are somethings you are going to have to quit. Quit the assumptions and constructs of doing what everybody else does. Quit being busy, distracted and not focusing day in day out, hour by hour on the set strategy. Quit breezing through meetings, emails and texts, and not talking face-to-face in person with people about the agreed strategy and the execution. Quit believing that having it in a spreadsheet is enough. We are told that the secret to success is hard work, determination, hours of practice and a never quit attitude. In this fast-pace changing world, what if a crucial skill is knowing when to stick at something or when to change track and walk away - to quit? Annie Duke, World Series of Poker championship bracelet winner & winner of the WSOP Tournament of Champions, specialises in decision making and in this conversation explains why learning to quit well is often crucial to our success. Annie gives clear strategies for working out when to cut your losses in business, a relationship or a career that's not taking you where you want to go. Perhaps making the choice to quit and being a quitter is the best and most profound choice! About to run his dog at the sheepdog trials, I saw Peter in the corner of the yards. I asked "How you going today?"."Yeah, doing pretty good. Better conditions than last year when it was a bog and they were putting down sawdust on the mud so the sheep could move" Peter replied. "Not sure if that is the right term - not better, just different. Two years ago during the drought no one said a word when we had mud, it's all to do with your attitude isn't it." That day at the dog trials I was schooled. It's all about your attitude. Being better than last year was a judgement. It wasn't better, it was different. Only years back, Peter was diagnosed with cancer. It's been a tough ride, but here he was jumping fences in the yards with his faithful dog, rounding up sheep and competing with the best. He approached his diagnosis with the same attitude. It's not better. It's just different. It all depends on your attitude. Judgement, comparison and envy heavily influence and impact our attitude... oh, and he won the trial. GB
Photo credit Janko Ferlič - thank you. |
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