What a tumultuous time we have been through with covid-19

How extraordinary it is to have large parts of our country 90% double vaccinated. Up from 21.6% on 12th August. What immense and inspired efforts by health workers and communities around the country. Disappointment in having events cancelled has loomed large in both my personal and professional life. Finding attractive options B and C has at times tested my spontaneity. Like many of you, anticipating being with family and friends and refreshing our lives over the summer break is immensely...

What are the Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make Regarding Relationship Building

My editor at Routledge’s Productivity Press Michael Sinocchi, asked me this question. He posted this response on the Lean Insider blog. At the beginning of this month, Diana Jones published an insightful book entitled Leadership Levers Releasing the Power of Relationships for Exceptional Participation, Alignment, and Team Results, which contends that leadership and collaboration are primarily a matter of principles and process and not personality and content alone. Her book reveals the leadership levers to release the power of relationships for exceptional participation, alignment, and results...

Urgent but definitely not important

Early in October I received an email headed URGENT INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR xyz INVOICE PAYMENTS. The following day I received a second email URGENT SUPPLIER UPDATE FROM XYZ. They let me know they were changing their invoice system from 1 November, and that the request was legitimate. While it might have been legitimated from their perspective, from mine it was an unwanted intrusion and unnecessary pressure on my business for some problem the organisation had created for themselves. With Stephen...

Surrealism art inspired by tragedy

I was lucky enough to visit the Surrealists exhibition in Te Papa this month. Extraordinary art works by Magritte, Salvadore Dalí, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Leonora Carrington, and more. Most of the works were extraordinary and captivating. My favourite was Carrington’s Again the Gemini’s are in the garden. Surrealism was the artist’s creative response, born out of horrors of world war, where the worst imaginable had occurred, and then some. Artists of the time chose to tap into the subconscious...