Peter Shallard says that the currency of Human Potential is willpower. Willpower is a finite asset. It is like a budget that you can choose to spend as you like – but (unlike EU nations) this budget must balance. I disagree. No amount of willpower is strong enough to overcome our unconscious impulses. No amount of … Read more
In a recent article Tom Friedman of the New York Times ponders whether we have evolved from the Iron Age to the Industrial Age to the Information Age to the Age of Interruption, in which the “malady of modernity” is that we are now all afflicted with chronic multi-tasking and chronic partial attention induced by cell phones, email, the internet, handhelds, … Read more
We would achieve much more if we got out of our own way. The difference between the top athletes and the rest is not better physical ability, but an ability to avoid talking themselves into failure at the key moments. Performance = Potential – Self-Sabotage I remember Peter Allis commenting on golf years ago. A … Read more
Fear of Failure Clinging to one’s comfort zone Arrogance Defensiveness Impatience Rigid mindset Lack of perspective From Pablo Cardona and Helen Wilkinson’s book “Growing as a Leader“. Have a great weekend.
Experts get it wrong. The price we pay in trusting experts to take the important decisions for us is huge. We don’t like uncertainty. Experts give us a sense of certainty. I don’t know what to do with my savings. I go to a financial “expert”. He tells me what to do. I hand it … Read more
Seth Godin’s blog post today is Easy and Certain. The lottery is easy. It is not certain, but it is easy. Many choose an MBA because it feels certain. It is not easy, but it feels certain. Once you’ve got the diploma on the wall… success is inevitable… There is a spanish word “chollo”. “Un … Read more
We know what to do to achieve what we want. We could make a list of the steps. We could do each of the steps. But we don’t. Some people do. But most don’t. I include myself. Why don’t we do what we know we need to do to achieve the things that we feel … Read more
Professor Robert Cialdini in his book “Influence: The Science of Persuasion” outlines six principles of ethical persuasion: reciprocity, scarcity, liking, authority, social proof, and commitment/consistency. Reciprocation – People tend to return a favor. Thus, the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing. In his conferences, Cialdini often uses the example of Ethiopia providing thousands of dollars … Read more
The US Aikido master George Leonard in his book “Mastery” speaks of 4 approaches that we take to learning new disciplines. It scares me that I might be a regular Hacker… how to shift my approach and push through “good” and reach “better” and one day “expert”?: The Dabbler – The Dabbler’s learning curve rises very quickly, … Read more
I have prepared a series of short videos for my IESE courses this year. This is a 3 minute video outlining the 4 ways that you can handle anxiety or performance nerves. (The video is here on my blog). I spoke about the 4 ways of handling anxiety in a previous post 4 ways to … Read more