What's in Your Loft?

Last winter’s cold weather prompted me to get the loft re-insulated.  In preparation, we had to empty the loft and wow, what a job that was.  As well as cherished memories – photo’s, keepsakes and the like, there was also a lot of junk that we didn’t know what to do with at the time.  Putting it in the loft was an easy answer – out of sight out of mind.  Now, with sweat pouring down my face and fibre glass strands making me itch like I had measles, the decision to put it out of sight was coming back to haunt me.

Recently a man was trapped in his bedroom when 70 boxes of old yachting magazines fell on him after his ceiling gave way under the weight.  It took 45 minutes for the fire service to rescue him and he could easily have been injured or worse. But that wasn’t on my mind.  What I was thinking about was how much we store out of sight in our minds, hanging on to stuff that isn’t really useful.

All those small and insignificant incidents that build up one by one and box by box.  Un-accomplished goals, the if only’s, the impossible wishes. A pattern of thinking develops and leads to a pattern of behaviour.  The behaviour leads to a path you would not have chosen, but find yourself walking.  

So what’s in your loft?  Is there a large magazine collection building up in there?  Are you storing away thoughts and feelings that over time will limit your growth and development? 

If left unattended, the weight of all that unhelpful thinking and building resentment will eventually come crashing down, trap you and lead to unwanted and unintended consequences.  Is it time for a spring clean?

Brain Power

Our brains are amazing things.  Even the worlds most advanced supercomputer, with the processing power of 1,000,000 desktop computers, wouldn't come close.  IBM predict hat in 10 years time they could build a computer with the power to rival our human brain.  Even if that were true it would still need the output of a nuclear power station to run it, substantially more than 3 shredded wheat!

That's because our brains have a few neat tricks up its sleeve.  Keen photographers will be familiar with the RAW format, which contains far more data than the more commonly used JPG format.  The brain does a similar thing.  It takes the raw visual image and compresses it to reduce the amount of data, while preserving the key details.

And the image the brain receives is also subject to some power saving trickery.  The common understanding is that the whole 'picture' is captured on our retina and then streamed to the brain.  Some say that the brain progressively scans an image much like an up-scaling DVD player. Now it seems the brain uses something called predictive coding to speed up recognition.  It works like predictive text on a mobile phone. The brain guesses what it thinks it's seeing and then then processes the detail to check and update the guess.

The brain is pretty clever then, but there's more.  Our brain not only controls our thinking and perceptions, it also controls our behaviour and our emotions.  The cerebral cortex  takes care of all the logical rational thinking. However, beneath our rational brain sits the limbic system.  This controls emotions and drives behaviour.  It is the more instinctive and intuitive part of our brain and operates at a deeper level.  Have you found yourself thinking that something doesn’t feel right, can’t put your finger on it, or put it into words? That’s your limbic brain at work.

It's easy to see why communication can be so problematic. With the billions of bits of data being processed, compressed and compared, it can be easy for it to be interpreted differently depending who is doing the processing.  While everyone has a brain they are all wired up slightly differently.

The Hermann Whole Brain Dominance Index (HBDI) is a great tool for understanding individuals communication preferences.  These preferences drive behaviour and impact on all kinds of things from career choices to decision making and problem solving styles. 

I use a simple but powerful card game in leadership and team development programmes to show people how their own thinking style impacts on communication and behaviour.  It’s also a good introduction to the psychometric profile you can complete. If you like to know more about how HBDI can be used, drop me a line.

Building Sand Castles

Did you catch the BBC series Wonders of the Universe presented by Brian Cox? In the first episode Brian explained The Second Law of Thermodynamics and it struck me that it applies to business as much as it does to nature.

The world continuously slides towards disorder and chaos. You only have to go into one of the leading retail multiples on a Saturday lunchtime to see chaos at work – clothing previously neatly stacked, litters the floor like a mosaic rug. Staff come round to refold and rehang the garments, only for the items to be scattered once again. A constant stream of energy and enthusiasm is required to keep the displays looking neat and tidy, otherwise things become increasingly chaotic

Brian cox used sand castles as a way of explaining this. Grains of sand on a beach exist in a completely random order. The effect of wind, rain sun and tides may move them around, add, move, remove or replace individual grains, but its still random and requires relatively little effort or energy.

Take those same grains and put them into something highly structured, like a sand castle. Now there are far fewer variations in the way the grains can be ordered and the effect of the weather is far greater. Maintaining the sand castle requires greater and constant energy. Any lapse in attention results in the sandcastle disintegrating as chaos once again takes over

The 2nd law of thermodynamics has some interesting implications for work and our personal lives. Take your desk for example. An untidy desk requires little effort to maintain, but tidying mine up and keeping that way can be exhausting.

Tidy desk = lots of energy input = high entropy
Untidy desk = little energy input = low entropy 

However, I have to able ato find things when I want them, so like many people, I have a simple system. Simple is good - I like simple.  The more structured and complex your systems and processes, the more energy required to maintain them.


So, what can you do to simplify your business and at the same time focus on what's most important?  There is only so much energy to go round, use it wisely.

ciao Marco

like many, I was up early last Sunday to watch the MotoGP.  I was full of excitement and anticipation, but what happened just 2 laps into the race, left me numb for the rest of the day.  Low side crashes are a regular event in motorcycle racing.  Riders normally walk away unharmed and are often seen running after their bike to jump bank on it to finish the race.  Sadly, on this occasion a combination of unlikely circumstances turned a common rider error into a horrific and fatal accident.


Marco Simoncelli was a controversial rider.  He was super talented, completely committed but also took risks that some other riders felt were not acceptable in their eyes.  And that's what made him a contender to be a future world champion. Top level sport is one of extremes - that extra 1% that separates the best from the very best.  Steve Jobs was quoted as saying "stay young, stay foolish"  Today, I think I know what he meant.

Has Apple Bitten Off More Than It Can Chew?

Two years ago I jumped the Microsoft ship and moved over to apple.  My main reason was the famous "it just works functionality.  No more crashing, freezing and wasted hours tracking down conflicts. I wanted simplicity and Apple provided it with style.

Today however, I lost a little faith.  Apple's release of IOS 5 and iCloud have turned my iPad into a very expensive Kindle.  My iPhone is now just a phone.  Despite spending the best part of 3 hours talking to the very friendly and apologetic Apple Support staff I still have the best part of £1,000 worth of equipment that just doesn't work.

Are Apple a victim of their own success, or have they forgotten what made them successful in the first place?

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

Today is one of those days that I'll remember. One of those days when someone says where were you when Steve Jobs died? It's come as a bit of a shock and that surprises me. I've never met him, I don't know him. All I do know is what I see and read in the media. But what I read today struck a chord or maybe touched a nerve. I'm definitely still foolish, but am I still hungry?

In 2005 Steve Jobs gave the commencement address at Stanford University, where he told three stories, The first one was about his early years and education, and hoe following his passions unintentionally provided him with the inspiration for the first Mac's typography.

The second story was about love and loss, being fired from Apple, creating Pixar, falling in love and finally his return to Apple after they bought NeXT.

His final story and the part I have written out below is about death. It's so poignant today listening to him when speak about his battle with cancer and seeing death as life's change agent. I find it both moving and inspiring:

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."

Thank you Steve. In death, as in life you are still an agent of change.

Read or watch the full speech here http://bit.ly/q5rcvx

How Angry Birds can Improve Business Performance

For anyone who hasn't heard of Angry birds (where have you been?), it's the gaming phenomenon that has taken the world by storm.  So strong is the Angry Birds brand that companies like Starbucks are using it to raise their own profile. But how can Angry Birds improve business performance?


Taking some of the principles of game theory and applying them to your business can reap big rewards for little or no investment.  Here are a few ides to get you started:


Angry Birds has a clear achievable goal - kill the pigs and claim your golden eggs
How clear are the goals in your business and what do they mean to your employees and/or volunteers?  If people don't understand them, find no meaning in them or believe they unattainable; you'll never get the best from them.


Angry Birds is easy to understand and play
Is everyone clear about your expectations?  Have you provided the guidelines and resources to enable your staff to easily engage with you and the business?


Failure is not punished, it's an opportunity to learn from mistakes
In Angry Birds, if you dont' complete a round, you get to have another go.  You are encouraged to learn from your failed attempts by making it easy to start the round again, even part way through. The puzzle element of the game promotes creative thinking.  How does your business utilise failures and mistakes?


Angry bird characters have different skills and qualities.  Using them in the right combination solves the puzzle.
Angry Birds promotes team working.  By recognising and learning about individuals' skills and qualities, you learn to make the best use from them.  what are your team members' hidden strengths?


You get unexpected achievements to keep you motivated and interested, encouraging you to complete the game.
This was the inspiration for writing the blog.  As you move through the Angry Birds game, you are rewarded for your perseverance and determination, as well as your successes.  Everyone knows the importance of rewarding performance, but how often does it happen?  Small tokens and gestures with little or no monetary value have an amazing effect.  Try it!