Complaining is easier than making something. I guess that's why a lot of people do it a lot. Complaining is often a socially acceptable distraction from doing the actual work we set out to do. It is a lot harder to make time to complain when we are in the midst of making something that…

The lion family is on the move. As seen here, the king is behind the group for security. As the late former president Nelson Mandela said in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom: “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur.…

Conceptual image of a woman not knowing what to do Imagine a boss who… …publicly expresses doubts about your ability to follow through on your commitments. …keeps an almost enthusiastic look out for any negative comments about you while brushing away the positive. …always focuses on what you need to do while promptly ignoring the…

Energy is either created or destroyed. Newton was right about physics, but in organisations and cultures, the opposite is true. You are either the person who creates energy or you are the one who destroys it. You might be the one who initiates projects, who asks: "what if?" or eagerly says: "I will do it."…

Everyone has an ego. Very rare that people will accept that they have ego. And everyone protects it, consciously and unconsciously. For example, if you have an ugly nose, your brain eventually tricks your eyes into not seeing it every time you look in the mirror. So the more and more you see your face,…

You have to be an optimist to be an entrepreneur. But you must also listen to the little paranoid voice in the back of your head. Most times, everything works out well in the end. But sometimes you get hit by disaster. Lockdown closes your restaurant. If you do not have some savings hidden away,…

I have been thinking about our social needs and have begun to test a hypothesis that we have two basic social needs: a) Fit in to a tribe where we want to belong; and b) Stand out, first by seeking ways to improve the tribe’s status and then by seeking ways to improve our status…

I read this paragraph in Kierkegaard’s amazing essay “The Present Age.” It fits so perfectly as a meditation or a note to oneself: ________________________________________________ “Only someone who knows how to remain essentially silent can really talk, and act essentially. Silence is the essence of inwardness, of the inner life. Mere gossip anticipates real talk and…

If you do not share your ideas, you will never find partners and investors. You will not be able to refine and improve your good ideas. You will not be able to discard your bad ideas. Just don’t talk too much. At a certain point, talking starts taking the energy out of ideas. The idea…

...at the end of the day, there are some things you just can't help but talk about. Some things we just don't want to hear, and some things we say because we can't be silent any longer. Some things are more than what you say. They are what you do. Some things you say because…

Leaders create the conditions where people choose new actions. The choices are voluntary. They are made by people who see a new landscape, new opportunities and new options. You cannot make people change. But you can create an environment where they choose to. Lora Centre is starting with the Managing and Leading People programme on Saturday, 13…

The flawed theory is that A+ students become good leaders. There is no reason to think that this should be true. Doing well on tests, paying attention to what’s being asked, being diligent in short-term error correction–these are three hallmarks of someone who is good at school. None of these are important once you are…