A Time to Reflect

It is crazy how fast time flies; it just feels like a moment ago was starting my apprenticeship and an exciting journey in engineering, projects, energy and more.?It has gone in the blink of an eye. It has been over 5 decades for me, working, studying and volunteering, pushing the boundaries, taking several risks, but generally having the whale of a time. No regrets and enjoyed most of it.?A coach once said to me “what is the difference between work and play?”?If work is fun and enjoyable it is more like play, and if play is horrible, it is more like hard work. ?The main breaks though, were from leaders prepared to take a chance on someone without all the experience or track record in place, and I owe a lot to those leaders – You know who you are so thank you.

In addition, I am also celebrating running Kuk Sool Won of Aberdeen for 25 years this December (2024) which some points have been challenging, but always highly rewarding with a lot of success on long the way. It has shown me that persistence, consistency, practice, core values are so important achieving what you desire

Next year I am 65, I do plan to slow down to about 4 days per month from March 2025 onwards, but before I do, my reflections identified 8 areas, that I feel are important if you want to be everything ?you want to be, to the extent that you desire.

The 4 internal ones for me are (but this only gets us 30% of the way but lay and foundations for success)

1.???????Always be inquisitive, study, research and develop every single day so each new day you become better, and better and even better.?Good is not good enough. Increase your knowledge, look further into the future, ask really good questions, and continue to improve.

2.???????Be passionate about the things you are doing and most of all be courageous and make 100% commitment to making it the best it can possible be. Don’t accept second best, the status quo or let things go for an easier life.?If you do you could have regrets.?Attack the challenges like there is no tomorrow.

3.???????Have a clear value set that is not negotiable or can be broken.?Those that have a clear purpose underpinned by a robust set of values are the ultimate winners in the longer term, it brings consistency, better relationships and understanding of you.

4.???????Maintain a degree of diversity in your career and life in general.?It is the combination of diversity that helps gives us far better insights.?I have volunteered, run Kuk Sool, got interested in sailing and fly fishing and spend time researching all sorts of things.?Tomorrows’ approach requires a system view and not the specialists view to help steer the best direction and adjust the sails at the right time

The 4 external ones for me are (this gets us the other 70% of the way and really improves probability of success)

1.???????Find an align with leaders that believe in you and see something in you that you might not see in yourself.?I have been extremely lucky to have several leaders who have taken a big chance on me when I had little or no experience but took me on, gave me space, development and encouragement to explore and experience the dimensions of the role and grow through the process.?If you are a leader, how many younger people have you brought on or have you turned them away due to lack of experience and/or track record. Tomorrow’s challenges require tomorrows thinking and not yesterday’s thinking.

2.???????Coaching is essential.?I had a coach for 10 years, and sometimes his feedback and coaching would make me angry, unsettled, frustrated and sometimes elated as the ah-ha moment happened and I jumped to another level.?Coaching also helped me learned a whole bunch of new skills, to gain more insights and improve my capacity, capability and competency.?This is quite often seen as a cost rather than value and cut.?Not a good idea and value creation immense and essential for future sustainability.

3.???????Work in positive and dynamic teams, or bring people around you that are trustworthy, have the right values and are supportive.?I have had the absolute honour to work with some amazing people over the years and every one of them taught me something, helped my development and in quite a few cases became good friends.?Everyone single person is important.?I remember one of my bosses saying, ‘what is the difference between the CEO and the cleaner?’??If the CEO goes away for two weeks very little changes, but if the cleaners do not turn up for two weeks you end up in a lot of mess.?Have a good team around you and embrace every one of them equally.

4.???????Maintain an effective network not just in your main sphere or occupation but a broader network across different skills, disciplines and even industries.?This might be hard work at first, but having views and contacts from a wider source gives you more encouragement, more development, better advice and most of all more confidence to give 100% commitment against your convictions.

So, in summary develop yourself, give 100%, have good values, diversity your outlook, align with great leaders,?get a coach, work in dynamic teams and create an effective network.?

People talk about being frustrated, about the glass ceiling, about the culture is wrong, but we can all do something about it if we approach the challenge in the right way. We can be in control of our own destiny. Don't just let it happen.

Hopefully, a little food for thought as the rest of this century needs you to be at the top of your game. ?? ??