Steve Jobs once called Apple design chief Jony Ive his “spiritual partner” and the two execs had an incredibly close professional and personal relationship. When Ive remembers his friend and coworker four years after Jobs’ death, what stands out is the Apple cofounder’s ability to stay completely and utterly focused on whatever he was working…

I have been reading Hal Gregersen's insightful book: Questions are the Answer and I'm starting to understand the importance of asking the right questions. There may be no stupid questions, but I think there are questions that don't lead to breakthroughs. The quality of questions matters. Those who ask better questions are able to arrive…

When ideas spread, we often assume that their success happened en masse and out of the blue. One day an idea is invisible to us, the next it is everywhere. The truth about ideas that fly is that they gain traction in increments. One story, one believer, one advocate at a time. We earn the…

One of the powerful things about our ability to hold two conflicting ideas in our mind is that it is possible for us to say to ourselves that – “I feel unsettled” – and – “I can make progress” and know that both can be true at the same time and that's okay.

In his popular book The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho tells a story of the journey of a young man named Santiago who has the courage to follow his dreams. Though Santiago’s aim, in the novel, was to discover his treasure in the Egyptian pyramids, the real treasure was the process he had to go through first.…

Here is something I have been thinking about recently. Organisations don't fail because they don't have people who can execute, but mostly because they don't have enough people who think creatively. One of things I have observed is that innovative ideas are not easy to come by. "Let's think out of the box" so goes…

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused more disruption to the energy sector than any otherevent in recent history, leaving impacts that will be felt for years to come. This IEA World Energy Outlook [WEO] examines in detail the effects of the pandemic, and in particular how it affects the prospects for rapid clean energy transitions. It…

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we have stopped saying “It got lost” and say “I lost it.” 🙂

The jeansThe carThe songThe phone The ideaThe relationshipWhen it is new and exciting it is a thrill. But then after a while, as the song goes ‘the thrill is gone’.The thrill does not last forever. It can’t. Newness fades. When the thrill dies, a quieter and lasting type of interest is born out of it.…

If no one holds you accountable, you are likely to become a law onto yourself. We all need someone who can hold us accountable, not to hold us accountable to them, but hold us accountable to the promises we made to ourselves. The reason people don't want accountability partners is because they equate being accountable…

If you asked a fish: How is the water today?  The fish will probably reply, water? Where is water? The fish does not know it is immersed in water, and hence cannot see the water. “Fish discover water last” is an Ethiopian proverb. The only way fish will discover water is if it goes out…

A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbour hanging the washing outside. “That laundry is not very clean; she doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, remaining silent. Every time her neighbour…