Habits

Here's a nice little take on the fact that those who are known for delivering excellence in their field apply a rigorous structure to their working day. Dan Coyle also appears to be saying that creatives are almost paradoxical, in that it is the habits of high performance that set up the opportunity for creative thinking?

The Craftsman Mindset

Cal Newport's latest book is So Good They Can't Ignore You. In the book he makes the case for adopting what he calls the 'craftsman mindset' over the 'passion mindset' in developing a fulfilling a career. Find out what you are good, work hard at becoming an expert in that discipline and you will find success. Spending hours looking inside yourself for your true purpose and passion, will only lead to frustration. He makes a compelling case. You can find his excellent blog here.

Drucker - Again!

In preparing some work for a client this week, I returned to the work of Peter Drucker for inspiration. Here are his thoughts on what makes an effective executive:

• Ask what needs to be done
• Ask what’s right for the business
• Develop action plans
• Take responsibility for decisions
• Take responsibility for communicating
• Focus on opportunities, not problems
• Run productive meetings
• Say ‘We’ not ‘I’

I have always enjoyed the simplicity of his ideas - to me this makes them more useable. There is much to read behind these headlines but you could literally start by doing these 8 things and not read another word.

If you would like to read more though, take a look here.

Process AND Outcome

Take a look at his HBR article on the perils of goal setting. This is a great reminder to us all that we need a healthy balance of process and outcome goals in our work and personal lives if we are to deliver success through quality and support the behaviours we would like to see.

Winning Parenting?

My daughter's swim club sent this article on Winning Parenting to all parents last week to remind them of their responsibilities. Some great tips in here on supporting strengths development and working in collaboration with coaches. And some excellent messages for managers?

Discovering What Works

I had a super week with the Cybex International Sales Team just last week in Dubai. Here are the team taking some post meeting recreation in the desert! 3 days spent discovering what works, building on what works and making plans for delivering even bigger successes in 2013.

Monty's Strengths

I have always been a Monty fan and it was wonderful to see him back to his best in the last test. Here is the story of his - strengths based - return to the top.