August 27, 2020

Four things I’ve reflected upon recently…..

A little bit of direction goes a long way. I only subscribe to one business blog and that’s Seth Godin. Why? Because it’s so noisy out there and he writes short. And sharp. And snappy. And smart. A one scroll read. Oh, and he’s the King of my world. I don’t always a agree with him, but he always makes sense and he always makes me think. I like to share his smarts with my LinkedIn connections and now they get the bald one’s buzz too. But I must admit I have a new #businesscrush, the guy that put the Y in my and your business, Simon Sinek. His A Bit Of Optimism podcast is joyful.

Keep close to your tribe. I’ve been a member of a fair few networking groups in the past thirteen years and I have enjoyed them all for different reasons, but the universal truth is that the people who show up, show up. I have been a member of Platinum Point since 2011 – it was the rather delightful leftovers of a BRX core group, a dozen fellas who liked talking business over a cooked breakfast. There are now twenty-nine of us, a very healthy mix of women to men, a broad range of B2B and B2C professionals. JAM sessions (just a minute), presentations, learning, camaraderie, charity stuff, introductions, and the best part of half a million quid passed in referrals last year. Not only have the weekly meetings continued since March, but attendance is actually up, and half a dozen socials have also taken place: quizzes, virtual bar, bingo, cultural trip, walks. When it was all falling apart, we stuck together. Like a real tribe (/trʌɪb/) noun, a social division in a traditional society consisting of communities linked by social, economic, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect. Yep. Sounds about right.

Tough times don’t last, tough teams do Team Mustard will come out of 2020 20% lighter in headcount, a fact I am sorry about but am powerless to change as the numbers simply do not stack up. That leaves a band of eight hard working professionals who have either worked through with only a few days break, languished miserably in the land of furlough on 80% salary, home schooled and then did six weeks summer hols without the support of grandparents. It’s been really hard. And it’s going to get harder because on 1^st September you may hear a battle cry from MM Towers, a deep-seated yell of “we will prevail!” Our lovely loyal long-lasting clients are relying on us to help then squeeze every last drop of profit out of this dastardly year. Our new clients need be thrilled with calls, emails and adds to basket. That’s what we do, that’s who we are. Heads down people.

Sense of humour is the most important sense. Three small things that elicited a big laugh

Google predictive changed my slight misspelling of ‘relevant stuff’ to ‘elephant stiff’ and I only just spotted it.

Michael Spicer, the Room Next Door. Everything he utters is a joy.

My very talented Gen Z colleague Max remarked upon my ‘boomer scroll’. I use my a single index finger on my phone, he uses both of his chimp like thumbs. I was 50% mortified, and 50% delighted – he was 100% accurate. And looking for a new job..