A Sanding Obsession
What can't you let go?
For me, it's sanding—especially those wooden bespoke beauties. Call it an obsession. And call out the inner-perfectionist. Yes, it’d be good if we could outsource. But there again, there’s something special (and therapeutic) about the whole sanding process.
Yep, all our EGSP Wooden Blocks™ are hand sanded by me—at present.
What tasks or duties are you unable (or unwilling) to delegate?
We're launching our latest Leadership Development Programme soon. And every participant will receive an EGSP Wooden Block™. Places will be limited.
#Perfectionism
#Yellow
The Sunday Socials
Here’s a little something I’ve been working on this week… it’s a revamped social template for our weekly newsletter and podcast—’The Sunday Scholar’. What do you think?
The scrabble board is a homage to my obsession with taking photos of scrabble pieces every week. (Yes, there’s 12 squares in this image!). It used to take at least half an hour to set up, shoot and edit each week. And so always looking to make things slicker, I’ve decided to stick to a standard template.
I’d like to think this image is more “fun and classy” and better represents the podcast we produce. FYI… The typeface is Euclid by Swiss Typefaces. We’ve been using this on the front cover of our Journal since 2019.
#StickToSimpleTemplates
#PerfectionParalysis
Gather a trusted team
What’s been the highlight for you in 2022?
For me, it was delivering a Leadership Development Programme with the assistance of Marc Belbin and Alan Vallis (see photo above).
Over the course of 14 consecutive days, we took 200 people through a 7-day programme.
Yes, that’s right. We trained 100 people every day for 14 consecutive days!
A big thanks to everyone who made us feel welcome.
After lockdown, it was great to work onsite and be part of the hubbub again. Batteries recharged. A chance to test and refine my leadership skills.
So many insights. So much learned. So many friendships made along the way.
Keep tap-tap-tapping away.
Inspire, be inspired!
#InspireBeInspired
#DreamTeam
New website upgrade
Conscious that our website has been getting stale for some time. We’ve taken the plunge and have developed a whole new experience. Yes, we’ve upgraded to Squarespace 7.1. We like it. A lot. And it’ll be going live on Monday, 28 November. Just need to avoid those perfectionist tendencies. Eeeeek!
#PerfectionParalysis
#PerfectImperfection
Get to first base—first
Arghhh.
A short reminder to myself:
Focus on getting to first base—first
Feedback is useful
Internal feedback (and self doubt) is not so useful
Keep it simple
Delegate to get things done
Good enough can be enough
Excellent (in their eyes) is probably there
Excellent (in my eyes) will come later
(Don’t even think about perfection!)
Mission critical tasks only
Park up all ideas
Get out of the house—a walk or run will do me good
Embrace the imperfections
(Arghhh the imperfections!)
Get back to basics
Turn ‘professional’
Create a short deadline that’s meaningful
But remember, the show must go on.
Note to self—you should write a book about perfection paralysis!
Stop, stare and share
Every now and then, something will catch your eye. And it makes you stop and stare. Here’s a little something that’s just caught my eye. Yup, it’s our new Leadership Playbook. (Check out how the spot varnish picks up the light).
#LeadershipPlaybook
#MakeExcellenceYourMission
The intel on intellectual property
Every business owner and creative person should have at least one eye on all things intellectual property (IP).
And so last week I attended an event sponsored by Addleshaw Goddard (an international law firm) to raise the awareness and importance of IP with entrepreneurs. (It was Global Entrepreneurship Week after all)
The event was held at the fabulous Business and IP Centre at Manchester Central Library—a big thanks to Jonathan Ebbs and team for organising.
The talk covered, amongst other things, five top tips:
Think about your business. What are the relevant IP rights? How can you best protect them?
Have an IP strategy. Think brand searches, protection and enforcement.
Think about IP rights when creating content or products with third parties.
Don’t forget that IP rights apply to social media—beware of following current trends.
Once you have IP strategy. Monitor and keep up to date.
A really engaging presentation by Andrew Bayley and colleagues. Plenty of questions from the audience that sparked even more questions. (Gosh, so many questions!)
A useful reminder on the importance of brand and reputation.
And so the first thing I did when I returned home was to register another trademark. Yes, it cost £320 to file (£170 plus three additional categories at £50 each). But I see it as an investment in the business.
Good luck to all entrepreneurs who attended the event.
Inspire, be inspired!
#Entrepreneurship
#BrandProtection
Electric grain
Always amazed at how different and similar these wooden blocks are. The grain pattern on this little one is sheer electric. Very impressed!
(And yes, that’s a fine layer of sawdust all over my hand).
Library loans
When was the last time you visited a library? For me, it was pre-covid.
And so a short visit to Manchester Central Library was in order before catching the tram home. And I’d completely forgot that we donated 12 books to Manchester Library back in 2020—just before the pandemic put peoples plans on hold.
At the time, Jonathan Ebbs (Business and IP Manager, Manchester Library) welcomed the copies and agreed to distribute copies to the regional libraries. I remember how impressed he was with the local stories—and global perspectives. A great addition to the library.
Always curious, I thought I’d enquire how successful they were—2½ after donating the books,
All the books had been loaned out at some point, with the most recent book handed back only a fortnight ago. I’d take that!
A big thanks to the library staff who were very obliging and more than too happy to help. Especially after I introduced myself as the author. I think it made their evening. It certainly made mine!
Inspire, be inspired!
#StayCurious
#PersonalDevelopment
#LibraryBooks
Getting creative with EGSP
£12 from Hobbycraft. I just know these letters will come in handy.
#EGSP
#CraftyLetters
#MakeExcellenceYourMission
The Playbook arrives
Just taken delivery our our first Leadership Playbook.
So excited. Words cannot describe—or do these photos justice.
Two years in the making. Something special. A thing of beauty.
A big thanks to Galloways the printers—they’ve just delivered Excellent. :-)
Can’t wait to start sharing the content and course material soon.
#LeadershipPlaybook
#MakeExcellenceYourMission
#NewPublication
Spot the spinal difference
The print proofs and colour look amazing! Seriously, I’m very impressed.
And here’s how the Playbook spine will look when compared with our two journals.
#CompareAndContrast
#LeadershipPlaybook
Print proofing process
We’ve just received the print proofs from the printers. These sheets are the closest to the real thing before it hits the Heidelberg. So it’s important to not only spot the deliberate mistake and grammatical, but also check for colour balance, layout and anything that you miss on screen. It’s an important step.
Key observations and changes.
What worked well (since dummy prototype)
Background colour within the BIG IDEAS section
The front cover—wow! Simply wow. Super amazed at how this comes across.
The back cover—even more impressive than the front. (IMHO) And a step change forward since the prototype and Journal.
Consistency of typeface throughout publication
The outro sections and course summary.
Areas for improvement
Text against the new background colour within BIG IDEAS.
A couple of lessons need a punchier start.
Inside back cover and masthead—need to do some thinking here.
And back cover—one more tweak with the bees ;-)
So we’ve got 72 hours to review and update before final approvals.
Starting to get very excited!
#howhardcanitbe
#PerfectionParalysis
#PrintProofingProcess
feedback is a gift
How comfortable are you with feedback? No really, how do you cope with feedback?
We’ve been fortunate enough to test and trial 90% of our material before launching the Leadership Playbook. Both online and offline. In small groups and large groups.
And so here’s the opening paragraph from Lesson 26—Faster feedback loops.
All she wanted was a better tree swing. And so you went away, buried your head, locked the door—thinking and believing you know better. Ultimately you came back with an unworkable solution. Hmmm.
Feedback is essential in leadership. Feedback is also a gift. We can’t wait to start sharing our content and ideas soon.
(And receive feedback).
#FasterFeedbackLoops
#ResettingExpectations
#MakeExcellenceYourMission
Personal development toolbox
Genius! It happened again, late evening, early hours.
One the best ways to add value is to simplify something that’s complex—or complicated.
Now, even though we’ve made our Leadership Development Programme as easy as possible to digest (this is one of my personal obsessions), there’s still plenty to go.
7 chapters in leadership.
84 ways to achieve Excellence.
21 big ideas.
And then it struck me.
A personal development toolbox that selects a small number of lessons that are most suited to you and your leadership journey.
First Line Team Leader vs Senior Leader.
Project Manager vs Continuous Improvement Manager
A leader that oozes confidence vs a relatively shy leader.
And so, we can pull together a more personalised development programme to support leaders.
More to follow soon…
Going to printers next Monday
A quick update on the new workbook that will accompany our Leadership Development Programme.
Almost there. Two more days of final faffing. It's off to the printers next week!
Just two more pages of text to complete.
Then, proofread, proofread, proofread.
Check for consistencies.
Got a few photos to retake
Editor's letter
Back cover text
And the all important FOMO pages ;-)
Otherwise, I'm really pleased where it's at. Yes, later than planned, but looking great. I'm starting to feel proud!
ps Weakness at the petrol station tonight... £7.49 on chocolate and biscuits!
GFI Friday
Good coffee, chocolate croissant and a Danish.
Excellent for a catch up with an ex-colleague and friend today.
#FridayFeeling
#EGSPWoodenBlock
#SharingIsCaring
Going round in circles
Confidence can be strange thing—especially if you don’t know where you’re going.
A lack of confidence, you go round in circles, always looking for the right answer. Spend too much time here and it can be soul destroying. For you—and your team.
Too much confidence, and you’ll take people down the wrong path. You’ll make a few mistakes and upset people along the way. But at least you’ll have learned what not to do next time.
Of course, the balance is to have the right level of confidence and know the direction you’re travelling. This prevents wasted effort—and unnecessary U-turns.
#leadership
#uturn
Teaser trailer episode
The THICK RED LINE is our new weekly podcast. With a handful of episodes in the bag, it launches next week. In the meantime, here’s a little teaser trailer. Enjoy!
#thickredline
#culture
#leadership
How to judge a CV by its cover
What should you look out for when writing a CV? What are the dos and don’ts?
What will help you recruit better talent, make better decisions and speed up recruitment process.
Here’s a short tutorial that’ll help both candidate and hiring company.
#cvwriting
#redundancy
#newcareer