John's Blog

There are no hop, skip, or jumps to greatness. Success in life is a systematic process, where one step follows the next. You can turn the speed dial any way you like, but you can't miss steps.  Have you heard the one where the computer programmer comes home with six cartons of milk. His wife, with a belligerent look on her face , says: "I told you to bring one carton of milk, and if they have apples, bring six." "Exactly," said the husband.  The husband and programmer, in this story followed his wife's instructions in the same way that he would program a computer. A computer carries out instruction one line at a time. If the supermarket didn't have apples, he would have brought home only one milk carton. This addition to the computers instruction is called a "condition."  Some people would argue that the wife implied that the husband should bring home six apples if the store had them in stock. Yes, this was implied, but a computer...

You have never seen your own face! You have only seen a reflection of your face! This is the reason using a mentor is critical to your personal and leadership development.   Well, not the exact reason, but it relates, strongly, to the reason you need a mentor.    Because our eyes are a part of our face, essentially - in our face, looking out - we never actually see our face. We use a mirror as an aid for feedback as to show us how presentable we are... or aren't.   The mirror is not us, it will never be us. It can't decide what we should look like or what we should wear. A mirror merely reflects back to us the image we present to the world. It let's us see hair out of place, sleep crust in the corner of the eyes, and reflects back the radiant, or not, smile that we give others.   The primary role of a mentor, like the mirror, is to reflect back the image we present to the world through our vision, mission, goals, hope's and dreams. https://ww...

"WTF!" This was my standard response to the "your-daily-habits-are-the -foundation-of-your-success" type leadership quotes, that is, until I discovered the power and purpose of mission.   My dad was a "stand up" guy when it came to work ethic. He would get up at four in the morning, do his daddy chores and still be in the office at 06:30 sharp. He was committed, determined and loyal towards his job, but he was just an average man and for all of his hard work, he never amounted to much.   I don't mean to sound ungrateful, nor am I attacking what my dad did to support his family. The point is that leadership quotes often imply that success is the result of hard work, but evidence in the real world suggests that success needs something more.   Shaun's dad was also commited to family and job, but with very different results. Shaun's dad worked hard at cultivating an attitude of service to others. He also worked to deliberately grow his s...

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...

So, imagine you're the winner on a game show and you get to choose your own prize. The options are a bottle of water and a fat diamond. Which would you choose?  The answer is obvious... the diamond, of course.  Okay, let's change the situation. Imagine that you were lost in the desert for a few blistering hot days, and suffer from dehydration. Which one would you choose between the bottle of water and the diamond this time? The diamond would be of little value to you, as you are lost, dying, and unsure you would get out of the desert alive. In this situation, you value the bottle of water more than the diamond. This method of putting a value of something, is called utility value. Utility is the value of an object, knowledge or a person, determined by how useful it/they are in the "now" situation. This way of valuing something also offers an insight to Maslow's hierarchy of Needs model.  Most people live by utility, and plod around Maslows lower levels of...

Today, I reflected on the people that were, that are, and that will be, on my life's path.  Some of the memories were of terrible clashes and conflict, and I still bare the wounds and scars. Some of the reflections were filled with incredible kindness and love. Today, I chose to greet all of the memories with gratitude.  Every soul we meet brings a gift. Some people on my path brought difficult lessons that were bitter pills to swallow, and to you I say thank you. Some people were brightly burning stars, that brought amazing light for an instant, and then vanished. To all of you, I also say thank you.  Every soul we meet takes a gift with them. When some people left my life, they took with them things I wanted but didn't need, and to you I say thank you. Others left with what I needed but didn't want. Some left with things I need and want. To all of you, I say thank you.   To those souls no longer on my path, I will remember you. Some names have a pl...

How do you empower someone? Educate him. How do you enslave someone? Stop educating him. With today, 24 of January 2020, being the International Day of Education, it gives us an opportunity to ponder who is actually responsible for education and learning.   Most people respond that it's the government's job to educate us and provide free schooling. Of course, we all want free schooling, but isn't every government strategically educating people to align with it's own political agenda? Can a government give objective training, looking past its selfish bureaucracy to focuse on the economic stability and development of the nation as a whole?    Goverment is centrally placed to analyse global and economic trends, and able to forecast the skills and educational needs of the country to align with these trends. With this information at their disposal, goverment should be involved in the advising and planning of the education direction, but do you think they should be in...