Do I want to:Lead a business? Or be a ‘successful entrepreneur’?Write a book? Or be a ‘famous author’?Run a marathon? Or be a ‘race winner’? In each example, doing the first part is hard. The second is what we might become when we do the first thing. When we chase being the successful-famous-winner without doing the work, we are on
Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, has just given his company away. As he says, “instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose’.” Transferring the entire billion-dollar business to a trust “dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature” is the latest example of how they are reimagining capitalism. Patagonia are a company I have long admired. They
“The ocean starts in your sink.” Pascal Lamy. [Awareness]. The UK ranked dead last in Europe for bathing water quality in 2020, and water companies leaked sewage into UK waters 370,000 times in 2021 – while the execs gave themselves an average bonus of £100k. [Knowledge]. I just emailed my MP about this, because I can literally see how bad
Being effective is important. Effective means it works – it does what it is designed to do. Seatbelts are effective. They reduce casualties on the roads. Social media is effective. It’s designed to keep our attention as long as possible, in order to sell that attention to advertisers. Just being ‘effective’ isn’t enough. We also need to be good –
Imagine a thick, strong plank of wood – 30cm wide and 10m long. Can you walk along that plank without falling off? If it’s lying on the floor – sure. That’s pretty easy. A dozen steps is all it takes. All of us could manage that. What if we suspend the plank between two chairs, so it’s 50cm off the
You’ve probably heard the question – how do you eat an elephant? [In case you haven’t, the answer is – one bite at a time]. There’s undoubtedly wisdom in that advice … but it’s not the whole story. Often, it helps to understand why we’re eating the elephant in the first place. Taking a task that’s easier to define than
Weekly [digital] email to help navigate the [analogue] world …
Weekly [digital] email to help navigate the [analogue] world …
