“You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life” (James G Bilkey) A fitness experiment was conducted at Tufts University, Boston, involving senior citizens between the ages of eighty-seven and ninety-six years old. This group were not particularly strong (in fact, unenthusiastic and under-exercised)…
During a family Sunday lunch, we ended up reminiscing about when we were children – little children. My mother likes to tell the story of me being a toddler, sitting strapped into my seat on the back seat of the vehicle and my dad driving passed a KFC outlet. Apparently, as soon as I noticed…
According to an old legend, vizier Sissa Ben Dahir presented an Indian King Sharim with a beautiful, hand-made chessboard. The king asked what he would like in return for his gift and the courtier surprised the king by asking for one grain of rice on the first square, two grains on the second, four grains…
It is easy to blame circumstances for a lack of success or at least give really plausible reasons for things not working out as planned. It is true sometimes that we feel like pawns, without any power, being manoeuvred strategically by a greater hand, often meaning that we lose our place on the chessboard. We…
As leader, sometimes it stares you in the face – employees blatantly showing you disapproval of a decision that has been made, children voicing their disgust of having to leave a neighbourhood and social context where they have comfortably settled or a partner digging in her heels when an issue has not been resolved adequately….
The human being has all but lost the capability to manage the preponderance of choice – this has been called “decision fatigue” by some. There are just so many options, be it in grocery shopping varieties to choose from, career decisions or just knowing what to do, why to do it and when to do…
From time to time, on account of market or other global business requirements and in order to achieve internal production and financial efficiencies, businesses implement strategic large-scale change initiatives for growth and sustainability. I currently have the privilege of consulting for a large multi-national company who is undergoing such a change. The company, in a…
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained”. Marie Curie History is filled with examples of people who were dealt very difficult hands, but who…
Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, once said: “There are two things people want more than sex and money … recognition and praise”. Repeatedly, the one motivating factor that heads employee lists is appreciation for a job well executed. Good work not acknowledged seems to be a “demotivator” and results in employees not…
“The best reformers the world has ever seen are those who begin on themselves”. George Bernard Shaw Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy introduced to corporations by W Edwards Deming in the 1950’s. The principles have resulted in many training interventions in companies across the world and have had possibly the greatest impact on…
“I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I … I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference”. Robert Frost So many people with whom I come into contact are unhappy – sometimes with their circumstances, sometimes…
Much has been documented with respect to team success or failure. High-performance teams, upon evaluation of performance characteristics, seem to have that “special something” that drives their achievements. Their reputation grows and every success seems to inspire further greatness. They “win” nine times out of ten and use any failure as a springboard to learn,…
