Wednesday 28 February 2018

"Less But Better" two years and four months on

Acting on this book, in my own best way, has changed my life for the better, forever.

Read my original post two years and four months ago when I added this book to my top 21 list of recommended reading.

Essentially (no pun intended) I have adapted the diagram below.

In the process I've

eliminated time and energy wasting,

increased the value I provide,

and really focused my client services.
Embrace 'Essentialism' in your own best way and you'll be amazed at the positive consequences for both your personal and your business life.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 26 February 2018

The remarkable value of virtuous circles/cycles

My trusty dictionary.com says virtuous circle is a noun meaning "beneficial cycle of events or incidents, each having a positive effect on the next."

It also says that the concept is sometimes called 'virtuous cycle'.

Either way it's a verb too I reckon. And it embraces my key principle for success of 'who before do.'

In my work with my clients embracing the following virtuous circle/cycle, in their own best way, is paramount to their success.

The key to success of this circle/cycle is quantum leaps


Do you have such a circle/cycle?

I call mine a change process. Each step builds on the other and leads to continuous leadership effectiveness and thriving on the challenges of change.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Friday 23 February 2018

Life is so much simpler (and profound) when we see ideologies as operating systems

I love this 5 minute TED talk.


I believe life is so much simpler (and profound) when we see all ideologies (not just capitalism) as operating systems.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 21 February 2018

The first two steps up from ugly, bad, good or great, to remarkable

Many of my clients have found the two self-explanatory exercises pictured below highly valuable.

You can download the above here.

You can download the above here.

The two steps above begin a continuous change process.

Remarkable is the new normal.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Three actions I highly recommend:

1) Undertake the Appreciating What Is exercise above.

2) Follow it up with the shifting from what is to what can be exercise.

3) Undertake the remarkable is the new normal online course here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 19 February 2018

Friday 16 February 2018

The 3 pillars of the new world of work

More on who before do here.

More on purpose before profit here.

More on less but better here.

Excelling at these 3 pillars are significant ways to ensure you're both leading and thriving. I always explore all 3 in my public master-classes held every month (March - December) in Ballarat, Geelong and Melbourne (learn more here), and in private work with clients. Learn more about working together privately here.

Who will you become? What will you do next?

A great place to start is to complete the diagnostic at the top of the page and take action.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 14 February 2018

An agile mindset is integral to success in the new world of work

The chart below is from The Appreciative Leader handbook. What is doesn't show are principles that you can apply in your own best way to shift from old to new. There are such principles inside the handbook.

One such principle not in the handbook is known as the 'Agile Mindset'. (I do refer to this mindset in the handbook yet in different language as my aim is not be bound by suggesting that one way or that is the only way.)

This book is the best I've read so far about this principle.

You can read my Amazon review here.

The key facets of Agile - small teams, networks and customer focus are very well laid out in this book.

The author also dispels many of the myths and mistakes of modern management and how to shift away from them.

This is a must read book for anyone serious about thriving in the new world of work which I describe in the picture below.

Who will you become? 

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian


Monday 12 February 2018

Failure of execution is different to the failure of an invention

HT to Jeff Bezos in this video for the headline of this post.


To guarantee execution help your people to capture their piece of the execution plan on a page. Below is mine to show you what one looks like. It was developed in the context of the new world of work (see also pictured below).

I was a pioneer in the creation of these kind of plans 27 years ago. When such plans are used as focusing tools for candid and convivial conversations about performance it's never long in my experience before performance gets better.




When anybody invents anything that doesn't succeed learn from what happened and what didn't, and then move on. Failing at inventing is essential.

There's no excuse for failing at execution. Such failure means people haven't yet bought into your strategy, they don't fully have their piece of the execution plan, or their plan doesn't enable them to be remarkable and to do work that's meaningful to them and highly valuable to others.

Who will you become? What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 7 February 2018

Design your organisation well and you're already on your best path

I love this article about 10 principles of organisational design and where the following diagrams come from.

Reflect on the article and take action in your own best way and I'm sure you will make essential improvements that will help you to make 2018 your best year yet.

Be remarkable.
Ian




Monday 5 February 2018

Mastering these skills will increase your value

In my previous post I wrote about how being of value is the great human quest.

To help my clients with this quest I often reference the diagram below.

It also captures my key thoughts about now and the future in the very best workplaces.

My belief is that as machines take on more and more of the algorithmic work - the simple, routine and repetitive, the more opportunity we humans have to be remarkable and do work that is meaningful to us and highly valuable to other people.

In a wonderful book Technology vs Humanity (see my review of this book here) Gerd Leonhard refers to this as androrithms "those qualities that makes us human" have more meaning than algorithms.

Embracing this in your own best way is a key to every human's happiest future.


The so-called new world of work is a reality. See my scoops about it here.

One of the articles I scooped recently was this Harvard Business Review post about how automation can change purpose and meaning. Below is a key line from the post:

When our machines release us from ever more tasks,
to what will we turn our attentions?
This will be the defining question of our coming century.

I agree with the premise.

Part of answering the question in our own best way must take into account the essential skills for success in the new world of work where half of today's jobs will disappear in the next decade.

I wrote about some of these skills in my 19th January 2018 blog post.

I liked this blog post from Mark Hodgson about new world of work skills. Here's Mark's list:

Influence

Self-leadership

Communication

Creativity

Agility

Resilience

Proactivity

Teachability

Curiosity

Empathy

Collaboration

Vulnerability

Humour

Humanity

In the end I decided on the following as the skills I will fully commit to ongoing learning and teaching. These five embrace all of the skills referenced above.


Who will you become? What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS Please download with my compliments my latest red (action) paper here. It includes the detail of my five skills above plus everything else referenced in this post.

Friday 2 February 2018

Being of value is the great quest

Another great insight from the B Team New Ways Of Working paper referenced in my last post and that you can download here is that "employees will gain responsibility by ... providing value in a clever way."


I think this is an old idea whose time has come.

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value"
Albert Einstein

Who will you become? What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian