John's Blog

  The Leadership Triangle: Fueling the Fire of Success A fire needs three elements to burn: heat, oxygen, and fuel . Together, they form the Fire Triangle . Take one element away, and the fire sputters out. It’s not a suggestion—it’s science. Leadership is no different. To spark success, you need the Leadership Triangle , which burns brightly when fueled by three essentials: Vision : The guiding light. A Leader : The Firestarter. A Team : The lifeblood. But if even one element was removed, the Leadership Triangle collapses. Just like a fire dies, so too will a team’s ability to succeed. No Vision, No Direction Imagine trying to navigate a forest at night without a flashlight. You’d stumble over roots, circle back on yourself, and ultimately, never make it out. Take vision out of the Leadership Triangle, and that’s exactly what happens. A team without vision is like a soccer match with no nets—players run, sweat, and kick the ball, but for what? There’s no destination, no scoreboard...

So, some kooky clown on a little blog wants to mash quantum physics and leadership together, so what!  How does this affect you and why should you care?   Here's why:  Truth is truth on all levels. When you find a principle that works, it will work for everyone - rich, poor, clever, stupid, young, old, leader or not leader.  Quantum physics has revealed some crazy and interesting principles that apply to particles on the tiniest of levels.  As humans, we are made of particles, we are also surrounded by particles - so those truths are true for us as people and true for our circumstances.  What happens to particles has consequences in our personal lives. So, maybe we should pay attention, and learn how to get the best from our quantum make up.  The simple principles and processes of quantum leadership offers tried and tested options that can be applied to fishing or to business alike, with results and explanations that will suit your curiosity and a...

Each day, I fall deeper in love with the complex elegance and the elegant simplicity of the three leadership models that I currently call the U49.  It was time to duplicate the success achieved during the fishing challenge ... in a real life business situation. But, before I could do that, I would have to describe the function and reason for each model in a simple way.  The first model, Tharros, or the courage model, helps leaders plot where they want to go, clearly defining the vision, outcome or end result. This is not out of the ordinary.  This model focuses on developing the personal identity of the leader through involution and evolution, evoking courage to act on what he or she believes.  Involution is the process of recognizing who God has called you to be, clearly identifying your true self, and making the decision to express that inner identity.  Evolution is the process whereby you shape your behaviour and actions to reflect who you are on the inside, ...

I was burning to test the 3 fresh leadership models on someone, but most people looked at me as if I was nuts. No one was prepared to put their profits on the line for my crazy experiment, but I don't really blame them. So, I went fishing.   It's amazing how the brain finds answers when not looking for them. While fishing I decided to pick and start an obscure task, project or business in which I could experiment. In that way, I could test the leadership models, from scratch, without risking existing businesses or relationships.  Then, the genius really struck! Hahaha  Fishing! My obscure task was ... fishing. In fact, the goal was to catch 100 fish in 100 days ... in winter ... even though I had only been fishing a handful of times in my life ... even though I could count the fish I've caught on one hand.  The plan was to use the 3 models in a way that maximized my chances of reaching the goal. No relations or businesses would be adversely affected, except ...

Four years ago, I started to play with the idea of quantum leadership, a leadership theory that aligns with the principles of quantum physics.   Boy, was I confused.  After six long months of struggling to merge physics and leadership, I gave it up as a nice, but impractical idea.  Then, one day a couple of years ago, I sat down to make a tangible 3D model of leadership. I wanted a model I could put in my pocket to use in a pinch.  The information poured onto the page. It took three days to come up with three original, but elegant models that help a leader plot and track progress made.  It was also horribly complicated!  I spent the next two years simply trying to make sense of the complexity that I dumped onto paper.  The only way to make real sense of the models was to practically apply them in a real leadership situation.  To my surprise , none of my business owner friends wanted me to apply the crazy and complicated model to their busines...

Leadership is a crazy, yet important process, filled with obscurity and irony, contrasted by clarity and focus. There is no doubt that leadership is constantly juggling options, like - do it yourself to set the example versus delegate it to someone qualified, or pick resources versus opt for skills. The second principle of quantum leadership also demands a juggling act from the leader, by defining the ideal outcome (vision), and knowing exactly what development has taken place.  The irony of this principle lies in the fact that the tangible progress made by the team is harder to measure than it is to describe the unmanifested outcome.   The leader sets out the vision in all clarity at the start of the process, explaining the why, what and when of the vision's achievement, allowing the team to detail the how. The leader defines the next piece required  in the process, creating focus. The team offers guidance on how to achieve it, creating momentum. Once the step has b...

  I do what I do because I want you to have three things in your life: 1. I want you to have a sense of being alive, 2. I want you to have a sense of who you really are, 3. When you combine the first 2, you will have a sense of meaning for your life. I want you to fulfil that call. These are probably not the things that you want for yourself, maybe you've never even given a thought to these things. But... I do. Every day. Every day, I research, plan and prepare potential connective paths of discovery that you could take to ... well, to meet you, to live you, to be fully you. No, I don't care if you remember my name or recognize my face on the street, because it's not about me and my development. It is, however, about your growth. At best, all I can offer you is a single piece to the puzzle you call your life. That's the best anyone can do - offer you pieces, the rest is up to you. Your only thought should be that you did it, that you sculpted your potential and that you...

You are forgiven for thinking that the articles posted here over the last couple of months were random and haphazard. Nothing could be further from the truth.  You may even think that the majority of articles were just emotional and religious, or at least "spiritual" in nature. Although that is partly true, it is not the whole truth.  Fact of the matter is that all the articles have been deliberate and grouped into four categories, namely; the vision, the leader, the team, and the action. These four categories combined together form "leadership" as defined by the U49 leadership system.  There is no doubt that what we do in our private lives affects our public performances. This idea is reinforced under the U49, with it assigning personal development topics to the leader, including; mission, truth, and the "I am."  Actually, a lot of what falls under "the team," "the action," and "the vision" comes from the ...

Hundreds of thousands of new ventures, fresh visions and infant businesses die, because the leader didn't know how to get it going. Of all the things your "new life" needs to survive, momentum is crucial.   Without a doubt, a clear future vision defines why we do it. Growth gurus want us to diligently sort a one year, a three year, and a ten year plan, because it's the "year of vision." Pffft! Those plans will be a fat load of useless if you dont action it tomorrow.  The saying, "objects at rest want to stay at rest," applies to your vision too. Have you noticed the tiny steps given by the strong man as he starts to pull the heavy truck? These little steps focus all his power to move the truck forward just an inch. Our vision needs tiny steps of focused power to get the first sign of movement. Focusing on just "the next step," creates the initial movement in our vision.  The following step will need less force to move the visi...

When explaining basic firefighting to beginners, we teach them that the "fire triangle" represents the three core elements of a fire, namely; oxygen, heat and fuel. If you effectively remove one of these three elements, you will extinguish the fire.  Similarly, a developing leader has a "fire triangle" with three core elements: Value, mission and engagement. Remove just one of these elements and the developing leader will be extinguished.  The first "leader triangle" element is value, which talks to the value perceived by all the role players around the leader's vision. In other words, if people believe in your vision and see the need, they will invest in it. If people benefitting from your vision have the need, they will gladly receive it.  There is no point in selling your vision to an audience that doesn't recognise the need that your vision addresses. Weak or random needs will not attract a talented team nor inspire "customers...

In a direct but empty competition for "King of the Castle" between vision and mission, mission wins, hands down!   Before you drag me to the gallows, let's look at what we should know about both vision and mission.   Mission is the skills and task we perform daily to achieve an outcome, like a fisherman selecting the right tackle and bait, casting to the right spot and owning enough patience to wait for the fish to bite.   Your mission can evolve as you gain mastery in the related skills and tasks, but it will always look the same, like a fisherman progressing from standing on the shore catching tiddly winks, to owning a boat catching once-in-a-life monsters - it's all still fishing!   Vision is the "hooray" to missions "hip hip." Vision is the shiny outcome that we aim at, like the fisherman aiming to catch one hundred fish in just one hundred days - and doing it!!    Vision is the bright chrome and brilliant paint job on our fancy car,...

Get out of the box - Part 3 - Principle rules Precedent.  If we are fortunate enough to overcome the first limitation of our paper prison, the lack of instant feedback, then we need to deal with the 2nd wall limiting our growth: allowing precedent, our past experience, to rule our judgment.  "I tried it, but it didn't work" has become the anthem for those unwilling to work their way out of the rut. We use this excuse to pardon our failure and to justify our lethargy.  It's time to admit that weak and uninformed attempts at bringing about change are NOT "proof" that the method, recipe or principle doesn't work, but is infact evidence that we are not really willing to change.  There is nothing new under the sun. Everything that is, was. Everything that was, will be.  I promise you: someone somewhere has successfully achieved what you want to attempt, and they have the right laws, principles, and methods for you to duplicate the success.  Gett...

The call on each person to "influence and leadership" is not about bringing change to THE world, but rather, to change YOUR world.    The concept of leadership is misunderstood by most people to mean "those with global power and universal influence that control all the other little puppets in the world," instantly excluding themselves from the sphere of leadership and influence.    When thinking about leadership, most people imagine "world changers," like Ghandi or Bill Gates, but see themselves as having little or no influence. As a consequence, people believe that they are not leaders.    This perception is simply wrong.    When you realise that Ghandi and Bill Gates did not start their journey as "global influencers," but were merely people with a dream, you will recognise that they both answered a call to change their own individual worlds first.    Stepping out and acting on their personal dream allowed their influence t...

Our personal development and life success is directly linked to the statement: "I am the way, the truth and the life."    Each of our missions in life uses this legendary quote as a map to growth through: focus, momentum and mastery.    Just in case the process is not clear: focus equates the way, momentum equates the truth, and mastery equates the life.    Some people incorrectly hold the belief that we must first discover truth, which then magically opens "the way" for us. In reality, we need to progress along the way in order to discover our personal truth.    Testing the leadership model, the U49, I set out on a personal growth path, exercising my mission as I went. I had preselected a random mission as part of an experiment to prove the effectiveness of the leadership model.    The experiment required me to dedicate one hour a day of focused time and effort, performing the various tasks within my selected mission, for a p...

"Know thyself" is a critical key to success in life, love, work and play.     Success is like programming a journey on a GPS, it wants to know where you're going, and it wants to know where you are in order to pick the best route.    For the most part, people will clearly tell the success-GPS where they want to go. However, defining where they are - not as simple! The task of self-discovery can become a complicated and draining process when left in the hands of beginners.    "Well, I don't need self-development. I'm happy where I am." Okay, then you had better be happy forever more with where you are, because any change must come from within.     You can only take out of a bag that which is already in it. What's currently in your life-bag produces the life you have. If you want something else from life, you will first have to put something else into your life-bag.     Choosing what to put into th...

In the dying seconds of the game, the team's star player does a twist, fooling the opponent. The star sidesteps another challenger, and with a flourish - scores again!    In the after-game interview, the star player tells how being in the "zone" gave them "move-prediction" powers, supported by super strength and stamina, making winning a sure thing.     As "fans" we swoon at the thought of our star's abilities on the field, and at their charisma off it.    With glittery admiration we wish, oh, we so wish we were them for a day! Would you want to have the skills and abilities of a great sportsman or woman for a day?    Would you like to jog onto the pitch, walk into the office, or swagger into the arena, knowing you were empowered with your hero's abilities, skills, or focus? Of course you would! We all would like some hero's ability in one form or another! That's not the question we should be asking. The real question is: wh...

Life and love don't get meaning from ckearly written definitions. Life and love get meaning from principles.    I watched a documentary of a man, who once played Jesus of Nazareth in a movie, in search of the real Jesus. In the documentary, the actor told of how he researched every portrayal of Jesus he could find, because he wanted to get the "character" just right. He wanted to portray Jesus perfectly.     In the movie, the actor puts very little into the actions or emotions for the character of Jesus, choosing rather to only imply action, emotion and intent, leaving the character of Jesus open to interpretation.     The actor knew that viewers would project their own meaning and intent onto the character.      In the reviews, critics and fans called it the best movie of the life of Jesus ever made. It would have to be so ... because the actor gave us "our own version" of Jesus... we would have to award it the best rendition ever...

Putting a price or value to what you do is based on a very simple formula: (how much others need what you do multiplied by how well you do it) divide by how easy it is to replace you.  So, lets consider a street sweeper: (it a needed job-but could be replaced by machines 4/10 X he does a goodish job of sweeping 6/10) / anyone could do it!!! So 0/10 = 0!!!! The income size the sweeper would earn is very low.  You have a skill or an ability that could benefit others, and earn you an extra income. Maybe you work at this skill, but its likely that its left to gather dust with all your other hopes and ambitions.  Make this year the year that you invest in your talents and abilities in a way that will bring you a tidy return.

My mantra for 2020: focus, momentum and mastery! Don't be misled - there is no such thing as multi-tasking, especially when it comes to pursuing your dreams. Multi-tasking dilutes your energy and resources making you less efficient and less effective.  Your dreams deserve laser-like focus, which translates into drama-ignoring commitment and relentless dedication to achieving what's needed today! The law of inertia tells us that a moving object needs less energy to keep it moving. Starting the process is tough! Suck it up buttercup ... create the momentum, get that goal rolling now and the rest will be easier!  Neither focus nor momentum has any value if you do a half-ass job! It's not good enough to "do your best!" Your dreams need ... no .... demand excellence! Become the best at what you have to offer and the best will be returned to you as an offering!!!  Package focus, momentum and mastery as part of your motivational drive this year and you...

Don't busy yourself with the "how" of your success, rather invest in the details of "what". And before you tell me you need the "how" to get results, do something for me... make your left hand into a duck-face, and let it quack 3 or 4 times. Now, how did you do that?  Yes yes, you can tell me about nerves and messages, and muscle control. .. but, howwwwww? You don't know, do you?  You just swallowed ... how? Blinked, breathed, and farted... how? How did you do these things? You maybe know the biology of the mechanism, but how? Ninety percent of what we do daily is handled by our subconscious mind. We merely think about the "outcome" or result, and our unconscious mind sets about implementing systems to achieve that result.  Why can't we use this efficient system to achieve our life goals? 🤷‍♂️ Well, that's the point! You can and should allow this mechanism to help achieve all that you want in life.  How?  Use ...