I sometimes get mildly irritated, no, maybe seriously aggravated, by the following: mobile phone conversations held at full volume on public transport; 20km/h speed limits outside junior schools still applying at midnight, sometimes with a speed camera to enforce it; public toilets that don’t have toilet paper or people that don’t flush public toilets; clothes…
The human being is required to change through all stages of life – these changes are sometimes subtle in nature, but at other times, almost forced. The changes include adjustments in approach, refinement to character, panel-beating one’s attitude and reversing bad habits. As expectations rise and more responsibilities are conferred on one by people in…
I’ve been a consultant to a couple of organisations where it’s hard to get to the truth: the facts about a situation, an opportunity or a problem that they are facing. They tell you what they require and their expected outcomes, but don’t really divulge the apparent complexities of the presenting issues – people problems,…
What would you do if your 10 year old daughter or son came home from school one day and announced: “I’m not going to school anymore!”? You would be dumbfounded, of course, but then you may do what countless parents do worldwide – try to convince the child to think differently and perhaps decide that…
I have been doing some consulting work with a multi-national company recently, a company that has over two hundred brewing and bottling facilities all over the world. The company is well established, its oldest plants being almost two hundred years old. I imagine success partly can be attributed to the quality and desirability of its…
In the third century A.D., King Ts’ao sent his son, Prince T’ai, to the temple to study under the great spiritual leader, Pan Ku. Because Prince T’ai was to succeed his father as king, Pan Ku was to teach the boy the basics tenets of good leadership. When the prince arrived at the temple, the…
Children can teach us adults a lot if only we would listen to them, pick up on their simple (even simplistic) logic and the nature of the questions that they ask. My three year old granddaughter has arrived at the stage where she asks a lot of “why” questions, has an opinion on most things…
I had the privilege of a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in early 2012, to coach some managers whom I had trained on a previous workshop. On an off day, sitting at a roadside café drinking coffee, I noticed about 65 high school students walking past on their lunch break. What was surprising about this…
I love watching soccer and religiously follow my favourite club’s exploits – FC Barcelona is “my team”. Their style, skill, finesse on the ball and the brand that they represent seem to lift the game of football to new heights. I am generally proud of them. Imagine, however, this scene– Lionel Messi scores a magnificent…
I had the privilege of facilitating a workshop at an hotel in Franschhoek in a beautiful setting in the winelands of South Africa. A lady, who had lost her father in an unfortunate motor vehicle accident just two weeks prior to the workshop, attended – I felt, rather bravely. She explained to me that she…
