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Knowledge or Wisdom (WT606)
This week I had a wonderful conversation with a colleague around knowledge vs wisdom. You know my favourite quote in the world is “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action” by Herbert Spencer. Well this week I learned a new term “propositional knowledge”. It’s a concept in psychology. If you have propositional knowledge about a topic, you know the theory and you have an understanding of the proposition that you believe to be true. For example, you can watch someone ride a push bike. You can see that you need to keep your balance centred, your back straight and use your legs to...
Not Every Kid Gets a Trophy (WT605)
When I was growing up I had a friend who was very athletic. She always seemed to get out of school by going to the regional, zone and state athletic carnivals and she would come back with a fistful of medals and trophies. I was very envious. The best I could do was come last in a three-legged race. I wasn’t athletic, but I was smart. I learned that not every kid gets a trophy and this helped me to understand my strengths and weaknesses. This memory came to the fore recently when one of my clients was telling me about some of his team members whom he had to let go. “Shirl, they just couldn’t...
The Second in Command (WT604)
This week I thought we’d talk about leadership and what it means to be the Second in Command (2IC). In a few weeks I’ll be launching my new book called The Loyal Lieutenant: How the Second in Command Brings the CEO’s Vision to Life. Before we look at the role of the person in your organisation who supports the boss, let’s look at the boss’ role. The CEO, Managing Director, CVO (Chief Vision Officer) or whatever title the head person goes by, has the responsibility of creating the vision and direction for the organisation. Being able to see what the majority cannot see is a true gift. That’s...
It’s Not Okay (WT603)
Mostly, I love humans. Every now and again though, some do some things that really challenge my value system. We visited a friend for dinner and had parked Harry Hilux in the street. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and were feeling very relaxed and happy when we left (no not drunk, just happy). We walked up to the car. Harry Hilux has a tray back and when we got to him there on his back was a half full carton of chocolate milk. “Really!” Someone had left their rubbish sitting there. We looked around for a bin. No bins. We didn’t want to leave it in the street, so I ended up carrying it home in my...
Bye Bye Contessa (WT602)
Yesterday was a day of mixed emotions for Ross and I. It was the day we said goodbye to our beautiful Contessa, our home for almost 3 years as we travelled around Australia. It was sad to see her for the last time as she sat in the dealer’s yard, knowing that this was the end of another chapter and adventure for us. And we are also extremely grateful for such an easy sale. Life is always working for you, even though at times it may not be to your preference. Having returned to Newcastle to run a leadership experience in November/December, we had initially planned to return to South...
Time for a Rest (WT601)
The week between Christmas and New Year is traditionally a time that many businesses close. When I worked in the tutoring franchise, it was company policy to shut down for a few weeks from the week before Christmas to the week after new year, (whether we liked it or not). Kip’s philosophy was that “we work for the clients and since our clients are school teachers running tutoring centres, school holidays are the only times we can go on leave”. Not having kids of our own, Ross and I would have preferred to have saved our holidays and enjoyed time off out of school holidays, however it was not...
So This is Christmas (WT600)
From John Lennon’s song, “So this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun.” What a year we’ve all had. For this 600th weekly thought, I simply want to wish you and yours a very happy and healthy and safe Christmas. My heart goes out to those who are ill and those who are isolating over the Christmas period. I’ve got the healing fairies on high alert and ready to fly wherever needed. There have been many challenges this year which have also brought many insights and appreciation for the simple things like being able to hang out with your family; being able...
A Team Gets the Job Done (WT599)
This week I was searching for some inspiration for the Weekly Thought. As one colleague mentioned to me, “Now that you’re not travelling anymore we won’t get to hear about your adventures”. No pressure. Well, today that changed in a heartbeat. I was so inspired by the immense display of teamwork that occurred as a result of the news that some of our team members had been exposed to not one but two people who were Covid positive. As soon as the news came in the leadership team swung into action. Initially a conference phone call, it soon turned into a zoom meeting to invite feedback and...
Sometimes You Just Need a Little Hand Holding (WT598)
Ross and I have an understanding. From time to time when I can’t work out how to do something on the computer or any task for that matter and I get frustrated, I will ask for help in the form of “hand holding”. What this means is that I need Ross to stand or sit beside me while I work something out. He can be literally sitting and reading a book and not paying attention. There is something about the energy exchange between us or some other phenomenon, but it works. This week I needed some hand holding as I navigated a software program to add some comments to a Property Management app for a...
Be Open to How it Shows Up (WT597)
You know I subscribe to the belief that we are vibrational beings and with that belief, I expect things to show up when I decide I want something. I set my intention and then become curious about how it will manifest. This week we decided to buy a lounge. Nothing special about that, except we needed it asap because we are moving into a house and we’d sold just about everything when we decided to travel. Ross looked online but nothing seemed suitable. We went to a few furniture places, again nothing was suitable and there was little available. We drove 2.5 hours to Ikea and we found something...