Sunday Ruminations…

I find myself drawn back to my blog for the first time in many many months!  It’s a very cold and snowy February day.  The Rugby’s on, my 7 month old daughter and her father are asleep on the sofa and a roast is cooking in the oven.  Bliss!

So what’s pulled me back and detracted me from indulging in a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Well I guess you could say it’s that Sunday feeling because like many of you, I’m sitting here wondering what this weeks work will hold as I begin the slow process of returning to work from maternity leave…  It’s a very strange experience after several wonderful months learning how to be a brilliant mummy to Amelie, and it’s got me thinking about all sorts of things.  The issue of time management, confidence, balance and finding work again…  Essentially the topics that crop up time and time again for so many of my coaching clients.  How ironic!

So whilst I chew the cud and ruminate on the importance of this, I’ll take some of my own advice and enjoy the moment.  More soon.

Have a good week.

Michelle

To make you smile – A 5 minute Management Lesson

I got sent this (slightly risque – sorry!) email today and felt I had to share its humourous wisdom…especially on a sunny Monday!

A 5 minute Management Lesson

Lesson 1 :

A priest offered a Nun a lift.  She got in and crossed her legs, revealing a little of her leg… The priest, glancing over, nearly had an accident.

After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg… The nun said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’

The priest removed his hand.  But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.   The nun once again said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’

The priest apologized ‘Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.’  Arriving at the convent, the  nun sighed heavily and went on her  way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129.  It said, ‘Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.’

Moral of the story:

• If you are  not well informed in your job, you might miss a great  opportunity.

Lesson 2:

A sales rep, an  administration clerk, and the manager are walking to  lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.

They rub it and a Genie comes out.  The Genie says, ‘I’ll give each of you just one wish.’

‘Me first! Me first!’ says the admin clerk..  ‘I want to be in the Bahamas ,  driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.’   Poof! She’s gone.

‘Me next! Me next!’ says the sales rep. ‘I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas, and the love of my life.’  Poof! He’s gone.

‘OK, you’re up,’ the Genie says to the manager.  The manager says, ‘I want those two back in the office after lunch.’

Moral of the story:

• Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 3:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, ‘Can I also sit like you and do nothing?’   The eagle answered: ‘Sure, why not.’

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:

• To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 4:

A turkey was chatting with a bull.  ‘I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree’ sighed the turkey, ‘but I haven’t got the energy’

‘Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?’ replied the bull.  It’s full of nutrients.’

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch..

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:

• Bull s**t  might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there…

Lesson 5

A little bird was flying  south for the winter.  It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on  him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.  A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:

• Not everyone who s**ts on you is your enemy.
• Not everyone who gets you out of s**t is your friend.
• And when you’re in deep s**t, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

Wishing you a great week!

Michelle

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

I came across this brilliant presentation today (courtesy of Brand Infiltration) and I just had to share it with you.  It’s all about the changing world of Social Media and contains mind-blowing statistics.

Did you know for instance that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world, ahead of the United States?

That’s Big!!!

Take a look for yourself and be amazed at how our world, and the way we communicate, is changing.

What the F**K is Social Media NOW?

My question is, in a changing world, what does social media mean for you?

One life…

I just read this brilliant quote from Steve Jobs, co founder and CEO of Apple, and had to share it with you alongside some thoughts:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

It comes from his 2005 Stanford Commencement speech where he talks about his life and how he, and his business, evolved.  See it here (around 8m 20 in):

Seems to me that so many of us spend our lives doing things in auto-pilot.  We stumble into our work and relationships often accidentally and live day by day, week by week living life without really seeing what it is we’re doing.  It’s only when something stops us in our tracks – often a rite of passage like birth, death, change in circumstance or major life event – that we wake up and look around at where we’re at.  Sure, we have our gripes and our groans about day to day living, but very few people seem to do much about changing their circumstances, rather accepting what’s been apportioned.

So Steve’s advice is that we all need to wake up.  Ask yourself:

• Would you be happy doing what you do now every day of your life?

• If not, why not?

• What’s stopping you from doing what you love doing right now?  Even only a small part of what you love?

Steve says, “There is no reason not to follow your heart…Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

An Inspirational thought for the day

We all need a little bit of inspiration and I was sent some yesterday when a close relative emailed a wonderful slideshow.  It’s too good to keep myself so I invite you to grab a cup of tea, click on the link, download the file  and take a read.

Inspirational Thoughts

I particularly liked the message  “The most important thing in this life is to help others to win. Even if that means slowing down and changing our own race.” and would love to hear your thoughts on what you take from the link too.

Enjoy!

Make it Fun!

A bit of light relief with a bit of learning to boot. Take a look at this excellent short viral marketing clip courtesy of VW’s The Fun Theory.

Goes to show that the extra effort put into making something fun, is likely to bear feet…sorry fruit…

Happy Friday.
Michelle

New year plans and projects.

First things first I want to wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!  A new decade eh!   What will this one bring?

From talking to people and observing the chitter chatter on various Social Media sites, many of you have been spending time writing out your strategies and vision statements for the coming year and I hope you’re already enjoying putting these into practise.

I must say, it amuses me that so many people have “resolutions” for the new year and I’ve lost count of the number of facebook status updates talking about how people have already failed to achieve their new year promise.  A question…why is it we rely so heavily on December 31st to decide on a new way of life?  What if you decided to do something differently every month?

I digress.

I have spent the past few weeks without internet at home due to an early Xmas present from my telco provider (now thankfully resolved) and it got me to experimenting with my Mac and discovering the webcam facility!  So Talent Management Matters, the Creative Leadership is now with added personality.  Check out our latest VLog – that’s ‘video blog’…I never imagined using that word even only 3 months ago!

So what does this year hold in store for Creative Leadership?  Well we hope more of the same and that we can continue to help more businesses with their HR and Talent Management strategies in 2010, although it would be good for the soul if there were more resourcing activities than redundancy initiatives please…

We’ve added 3 new products to the spectrum including:

• Outsourced HR Services
• Leadership Coaching
• Social Media and Recruitment

If you know of a business that you think would benefit from these services, then please pass our details on. We’d be glad to help

I leave you with the BBCs word cloud for 2010.

Happy New Year!

Michelle

Are you thinking about what comes next for you or your business in 2010?

My brilliant coach and mentor Bev Hamilton of One Step Further passed on this presentation today that I thought you’d like too.  It has some wisdom and insights from people such as Seth Godin, Daniel Pink and Tom Peters and is presented in a really easy to understand way.

• If you’re wondering about what to focus on next and considering the key themes for 2010, this presentation will inform you.
• If you’re interested in thematic approaches to strategic planning, this presentation will enrich your thinking.
• If you like bite sized chunks of information presented informally and with humour, this presentation will make you smile.

Click on What-Matters-Now and enjoy the read.

I took particular pleasure in reading the slide titled “Enough”.

Thanks for sharing this Bev.  I hope others do the same.

Best wishes

Michelle

Time off, Time out, Time with, Time on, Time to, Timely…

So I’m just back from a long weekend spending time relaxing, celebrating my partners’ birthday and doing things generally not related to work, internet or my business.  WOW!  What a fantastic experience being absent from the I-phone and laptop was!

I find myself refreshed, recharged and raring to go, renewed and rejuvenated from months of square eyed squinting at the computer screen!  I’m determined to spend more time on having time out and away from the distractions of everyday work accoutrements.  “Yada Yada”, some might say, “I’ve heard it all before and it’s all well and good when you’re running a business!”

But it’s something to think about.  We live in a Supra-World of eternal internet paraphernalia and discourse.  One in which it’s possible to do business with people we’ve never met or ever will, where we can have a meaningful dialogue with a total stranger in another language and in real time, creating infinite possibilities from our imaginations.  Amazing stuff.

But what does the future hold if we don’t balance our time on the important things and the things that are happening to us right now?  Do we really need to know everything right this minute?  To be permanently available and accessible?

A friend said something very powerful the other day – “you don’t hear many people on their deathbed wishing they’d spent more time in the office”  How very true!

So my learning from this weekend is to achieve that thing we call balance.   I will switch the work phone off after I finish work.  I won’t consult my work email after 8.00 at night.  I will treat the social media sites with the same respect I treat my online bank.  And I will review my diary to include “Me” days which may or may not involve no work at all!

Creative Leadership – Herding Sheep the extreme way

I was on a leadership coaching course this week and saw this amazing video c/o You Tube.  It goes to show what having a vision, creativity and effort can create…Oh and a little bit of technology…Reminds me a bit of social media.