Why This? Why You? Why Now?

Why This? Why You? Why Now? Three simple questions we are often reluctant to answer. When you sit with the discomfort of reflecting on them before you embark on a project, you’ll be clearer about what the world needs from you and why. You’ll also have the beginnings of the story your audience wants to…

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The Power Of Reflective Practice

My mother can practically bake a killer apple tart in her sleep. It’s a skill she’s learned over decades of trial and error. We hone any skill by doing. We get better by practising and observing, then reflecting and iterating. The doctor perfects her bedside manner by reflecting on how a consultation went. The salesperson…

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The Best Laid Plans

This day ten years ago you probably had plans in place for the year ahead. Maybe you achieved some of those goals in 2010. But I’m guessing that you could never have planned for some of the unexpected events, opportunities, twists and turns of the decade you’ve just lived. It turns out that it’s harder…

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The Advantage Of Not Knowing For Sure

Success is as unpredictable as failure. Nobody knows for sure what will be a hit or a miss. Every runaway success is only obvious with hindsight. And yet we expend so much of our creative energy trying to be successful to our detriment. When you liberate yourself from the pressure of having to win, you’re…

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Try Anyway

Texas head teacher, Belinda George, doesn’t have access to more resources than her colleagues. So how does she change her students’ lives for the better? Instead of focusing on the things she and her team can’t control, like educational policy and budgets, she concentrates on the things she can influence. Ms George is then free…

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What’s On Your ‘Not To Do’ List?

Back in 2007, the New York Times called Apple’s decision not to add a mechanical keyboard to the iPhone their billion dollar gamble). That decision worked out pretty well for Apple. Some of the most successful ideas in the world were born from a conviction about the things the creator, founder or company would not…

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