A simple step

We often refer to people as straight talkers, and we also like to think that we are all just that - straight talkers, you know, we say what we really mean. This week in NZ, there has been quite an uproar about the Government pushing through legislation despite the fact that the nation voted in a referendum, not to pass the law. I was left wondering why that was the case, as after all, a referendum is a means of getting a nation to voice their opinion, in a straight talking kind of way - and the Government decided to ignore what the nation said and do 'its own thing anyway' ... so in essence, that left me feeling that if the NZ Government do not listen to straight talk, then why the hell should anybody? Ok, that's a little bit simplistic, but, we all learn our behaviours from those around us. As a rebellious youngster a few years (well quite a few actually) ago soaking up the experiences around me, I'd have been left thinking "well hey, if the Government doesn't...

The other day I found a piece of paper that I'd created with my best friend a few years ago, and it reminded me of how simple things are when we want them to be. We travel along our path, experiencing this and that - hearing and seeing this and that, and along that pathway we make decisions. Those decisions keep us moving, either in the same direction or in another. Like travelling along a road, we sometimes know our way, we recognise the road - it's a well travelled road as they say - we know where we are going because we have been there before. At other times we see signposts and respond to what they are telling us - we react to them and alter our direction based on what they say. At other times, we register signposts to give us confidence that we are on the right track, we experience 'deja vu' or coincidences we just get that intuitive feeling that we are moving in exactly the right direction. I think this simple little topic is going into my book. Have a gre...

Gets you thinking doesn't it. Are they friend or foe? Ally or enemy? Over the past few days, something hit me between the eyes as things do sometimes. Recently (and in the past) there have been people who have threatened me professionally and personally. Recently I have become aware that this is a common phenomenon, we all feel threatened one way or another by other people sometimes, it's human nature ... The interesting bit is that when someone feels threatened, there is a reaction that often involves the person feeling threatened thinking, hey - is this person who is threatening a friend or a foe? Different races respond in different ways - societies that are generally somewhat hostile in nature naturally foster a fear of others who threaten you and hence, a feeling that someone who is a threat is also a foe, an enemy. The reality is that often that threat is actually a wake up call - a reminder from someone that you can do better, and that person is actually a friend helping...

Today is my birthday and I'll remember it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was reminded today about the fact that people come to things in their own time, and that there is a right time for everything. You know how sometimes you feel that things just aren't clicking - but you know that what you are striving for will happen and that the right things will all connect at the right time to manifest your 'dream'. Today I facilitated a meeting between two people who I respect very highly, both extremely experienced in their fields. The meeting was to bring them together as a final attempt at gettting them to do business together. Until today, both people were focused on achieving the same thing (a business partnership) but for whatever reason they did not see eye to eye and the trust simply wasn't there to 'make it happen'. So we tried a last ditch attempt by asking each of them what they would be doing, on the assumption that they WERE in business together ......

I'm reading a book by Richard Dawkins - unweaving the rainbow and have just read the chapter on coincidence. Richard argues that all coincidences are really in our imagination or the result of a desire to want to believe in a force outside our control that brings things together. This reminded me of the fact that 'like attracts like' and that this is a scientific argument - molecules of water when close together will draw together to create a drop of water - basically that seems to me to be the reason why everything 'hangs together' rather than blending together. (Of course things do 'blend together' - putting two chemicals together often creates a new substance although some things just do not go together, they cannot 'blend'). Coincidence can be scientifically proven - the book talks about the fact that in Britain, there are likely to be 38,000 people (out of the 55million odd) with the same three initials, so finding a watch with your initials on ...

As a little boy, like most people, I used to love doing dot-to-dots. It's one of those things that can be so much fun - at first a collection of random black points and after a while, as if by magic, a picture appears of an elephant, a bus, a truck or Yogi Bear... Today, my dot-to-dots are still a reality. Everything that we do has a connection in some way with something else that we have done. In marketing and sales, nothing is more real - we develop networks of people, like-minded individuals who want to work together to achieve common goals or who simply enjoy helping one another out. In soccer, we join the dots - thinking ahead a few steps, before we take that next step and kick the ball. Connections are often made deliberately, although for me 9 times out of 10, they happen 'by chance', or at least, the ones that really spur me on do! Having a focus and vision and staying true to it is what creates these 'by chance' connections. Going to a conference recently I...

In times like today, with change happening unexpectedly, we all find ourselves wondering how we are going to handle the things that are altering - we have all heard the words of Charles Darwin on the fact that for a species to survive it has to adapt .. if only it were that easy? Well maybe it is. Recent changes for me, that were outside my control, left me standing still - possum in the headlights (or bunny if you're not from round here!) kind of wondering what was going on .. then frustration set in (who moved my cheese - which by the way is an interesting book if you havn't read it) then a bit of panic and finally tiredness. So I slapped myself on the arse and set about restructuring and reorganising the way I handled my businesses and my cash and after a few hours I managed to find a recipe that not only kept me moving forwards, but which also created opportunities that were not there (or which I had not noticed) before.. the result, well it's cool - yes, handling the c...