Today I called a French colleague and made her tell me about the weather where she was before we could get on with my real reason to call. Earlier, I spoke to another colleague in Dubai and we talked about the snow. On another call with a team in South Africa they told me how [...]
Have you fallen into the exaggeration trap?
If you ask a room full of people what’s really important to them they will tell you trust is one of the most important things there is. I know because we did this recently. Of course, trust, yes very important - everybody nods. We have to trust people, we have to be trusted. We must [...]
Not everyone wants to be a teacher
A very good friend of mine quit his high paying, glamourous, sport related job in Switzerland to become a secondary school teacher. Now he’s happier in his work than he’s ever been. When I talked to him about his decision he said “I always just assumed everyone enjoyed school and wanted to be a teacher. [...]
The importance of abandoning crap
I used to work as a video producer. We’d set up time with the subject of an interview, give them an hour or sometimes two, light them beautifully and start asking them questions. We’d normally get around 30 minutes of footage. Some of it answering the same questions, some of it talking around the subject [...]
Getting good at getting good feedback
In my last blog I talked about how to give good feedback. But, of course, feedback needs to work both ways. If you’re asking for feedback then you’re asking for someone’s considered opinion. Because of their experience, their knowledge or their skill you’re asking them for help. If you’re simply asking them to rubberstamp something [...]
How to give good feedback
In the content team at Cisco we have a saying: if you’re working on something alone, there’s a problem. We all know the benefits of working collaboratively, how important it is to get different views (or insights, to use some business speak) on a work product. So, very often we’ll be asked to feedback on [...]
What’s the story?
So, there’s this guy. He wants to propose to his girlfriend in a fun way. They met through “a popular dating app” so he decides to create his own app that mimics it and leads her through a series of clues until she arrives at the proposal. But of course, he’s not an app developer. [...]
Men can’t work washing machines: depictions, perceptions and harm.
This month the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) the UK’s advertising regulator released a reported titled “Depictions, Perceptions and Harm” the report looked to ask if the existing regulations address “the potential for harm or offense arising from the inclusion of gender stereotypes in ads.” It was found that they didn’t. So, from next [...]
Embrace. Don’t outsmart.
I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by a lot of smart people. At Cisco I work with some incredibly talented teams. Some of my friends are university lecturers, teachers and small business owners. My fiancée has a doctorate in micro-biology. But the really smart ones? They’re the ones who can explain what it is they [...]
Sometimes you just have to start
This year I’ve been spending almost half my time in Germany. It’s been fantastic. Trouble is I can’t speak the language. At all. Not even a bit. Until I started trying. Some people are so worried about failing that they don’t try. What if the waiter doesn’t understand me? What if I use the sentence [...]
Find your inspiration
“Where do you get your inspiration from?” The thing I’ve been asked most since I started this blog. (Ok, probably still my number one question is “can I use the logo here” but this is coming in second.) It’s hard question to answer – inspiration can really come from anywhere – but for me there [...]
Removing cats eyes and other cultural quirks
A foreigner driving through Britain might see this sign and become a little distressed. Not only does it seem that this peculiar island nation is plucking the eyeballs from our feline friends, it also looks like they’re proudly advertising the fact on the side of a road. I thought the British were supposed to love [...]