DIRECTION > SPEED
Blog
2025 > 2024
Jan 12, 2020
Recently I was working with a leader who knew their approach was tiring. The team hadn’t been producing good work for some time, and morale was flagging.
They knew they needed more than just fresh ideas, they needed a fresh approach to ideas.
As we began to look through their form and function, we were presented with a surprising amount of opportunities to move things ahead. A nice surprise. We began to suggest different areas where their processes were failing them. Nothing earth shattering, but some simple alignments that would at least point them towards the change they’re looking for. It wasn't too long, however, until the real issue emerged.
At every turn, there was a variation on what would become a familiar theme …
‘Oh we can’t change that…
‘Ah, we’ve always done it that way …
‘Well see, the reason we do this is ….’ ...
SEEING > WATCHING
Nov 03, 2019
Being seen is very different to being watched.
But you probably don't know just how much it matters or how such a simple thing can affect your outlook and perspective on life, others, and yourself.
They are two approaches to others that on a surface level sound the same, but are fundamentally different.
Remember the first leader who saw who you could be, rather than you you already were? They saw you.
Seeing is a decision and determination to look with open eyes at who a person has been, is now, and could be. It leaks possibility and presumes potential. This way of seeing takes a mindset of possibility and generates excitement. Seeing builds positive expectation and fosters a love of spontaneity and being pleasantly surprised.
Contrast that with a leader who watches. Maybe you’ve had one maybe you haven’t. This leader is the one who has already decided who you are and is waiting for your actions to confirm what they already...
UNIQUELY THE SAME //
Oct 31, 2019
Two things that I’ve been musing on the last few days …
I You’ve been made unique and for a distinct purpose.
II No one else can fulfill what you’re placed on the earth to do.
These statements are key to understanding your value and worth as a human and as a creator. After all, if you aren’t unique, why do you matter? And if you have no purpose, why are you still here?
Being able to acknowledge these ideas as true is one thing, but unlocking the power behind these statements is another thing altogether.
We expend so much energy trying to fit in and be like others that we lose the identifiers that make us who we were created to be in the first place.
As kids, we are taught to fit in and be like everyone else - and too often this dampens our creative instinct and limits our ability to express ourselves fully. We make assimilation the...
Combatting Creative Overwhelm
Sep 24, 2019
Lately I’ve been travelling quite a lot, and working even more. It feels like I’ve been brought in on a tonne of projects, though in reality, not too much has shifted. For some reason, however, I feel like there's more on my plate. And it’s caused me to stop doing what I do best, and got me stuck in the mud. Thinking about thinking instead of just thinking. In some instances, I’ve found myself so overwhelmed that I’ve been rooted to the spot, unable to push forward. And as I’ve been travelling, speaking to a whole lot of leaders the last few weeks, I have listened keenly to their successes and struggles. I’ve found I’m not alone feeling overwhelmed creatively.
Even though I feel often like I am.
It is remarkable to me how many of us fight the same battles but still manage to feel like we are only ones battling away. Be it loneliness, imposter syndrome, fear, or pride born of insecurity, we have a remarkable ability to struggle away and...
Friction | Unity.
Aug 11, 2019
I’ve had several conversations the last month that keep me coming back to the idea of friction. Every few days, another story comes up of partners, either in life or in business, who aren’t on the same page. Whose differences have driven them apart rather than brought them together. Sure, they’re together in name or title, but there’s no unity in their approach. One wants one thing, and their partner wants another.
And this chasm of difference has the potential to end businesses, dampen marriages, and drive a wedge between otherwise successful teams.
Different ideas are great. We are better BECAUSE we bring different thoughts to the table when it comes to management, finance, team, future endeavours, staffing, location, and the next action - these things sharpen our perspective and cause us to examine otherwise unconsidered points of view.
It’s not only normal, but also desirable to have a partnership where different ideas are...
To Lead a Truly Creative Culture, ASK > TALK.
May 05, 2019
As creatives, and often leaders in our fields or teams, the temptation to provide answers to people’s questions is a strong one. After all, it’s what makes us leaders!
Most often times, we are expected to have all the answers. We’re required to be able to solve people’s problems using the expertise we’ve picked up along the way. This, however, forces us into a trap.
A trap of feeling like we should always know what to say (in fact, some leaders even pride themselves on it). But this doesn’t foster creativity - far from it.
Having all the answers is the fastest way to drain team empowerment to 0.
So much emphasis is placed on having the right answers in the exact moment that we often fail to realise that it's not always the best way to lead people. Giving problems or people (sometimes they’re the same thing ;) what we think they need may be a...
How Failure Can Lead to Growth
Apr 07, 2019
Recently, I’ve been asked to lead conversations on failure quite a bit. A few of you have emailed asking me to touch on a series I started in late 2018; one I even turned it into a keynote called ‘ ‘the beauty of failure’ : unpacking how failure is something to be embraced rather than feared in our lives.
Failure, approached correctly, can be a creative force for good.
Fear of failure causes us to withdraw, protect ourselves, and seek the safety of comfort. It limits us and cuts us off from what may be waiting on the other side.
If you’re a creative, or work closely with anyone who calls themselves such, failure is likely a familiar part of the life you’ve chosen. Creative arts? Failure is virtually guaranteed at some point in your development. Leading projects or people? Definitely (if you haven’t failed in some way already, you probably aren’t really pushing at the edges of where you should...
What To Do When You're Stuck
Apr 01, 2019
Every creative I know gets stuck occasionally.
None of us are immune to it.
The idea well runs dry.
The joy dissipates.
The colour dries up from what normally excites us.
What is usually easy becomes hard.
The instinct to create becomes an instinct to hide, withdraw, or procrastinate.
Creatives everywhere battle the same feelings, yet we have a remarkable ability to feel like we’re the only ones suffering from this.
There are lots of names for it, lots of diagnoses for it, and a tonne of books written about it. And if you‘re anything like me, you need help from time to time on how to get 'un - stuck’.
Creativity cannot be a deliberate or single act you engage in whenever you feel like it - it has to become a recurring rhythm you can’t escape.
It has to become breath.
Developing your creative identity has to become a decision that exists in your subconscious. Its got to be an involuntary reaction to your...
DIRECTION > SPEED
Mar 21, 2019
So much of life’s focus is geared toward speed. An obsession with the instant. Our culture and rapidly changing environment has put the onus on how quickly things are happening. Built around a combination of 24hr news cycles, social channels, the thirst for fresh content, the ubiquity of novelty; the very internetification of things … we glorify speed and seek out what’s NEW more than ever before.
We experience it ourselves constantly … A 2-day old meme is quickly scrolled past, a groundbreaking news report barely registers a blip on the radar of our attention, because another one is coming in fast with a hot take from a pundit right behind it.
Our dopamine addiction has turned us into little human microwaves – causing us to hunger after what’s instant rather than what’s actually healthy.
When we concentrate on velocity over trajectory, we do it at our peril.
Especially for those of us seen...
The Importance of Self - Assessment
Mar 17, 2019
You may know the feeling. Despite endless encouragement, diligent coaching, and every teaching method you can think of, some people still don’t get it. They keep going around the same mountain, failing to grasp the ideas and actions that you now see as simplistic.
Sometimes it seems agonisingly slow.
‘Why can’t they get this?’
‘This is the third time I’ve had to remind them of this!’
‘I’ve already told them that way won’t work.’
Rather than looking at others, however, we should be challenged to look more at ourselves and our own development. Self — analysis holds a valuable place in the toolbox of any leader (remember the old leadership maxim — ‘for every finger you point at someone, there are four pointing back at you’).
Too many successful leaders are no...
