Unusually, Wilma and I are on zoom for this episode.  I wimped out of the drive down to South Wales, which leads to us to discuss the ‘hibernation instinct’ and how we get through the winter months.

Also, I’ve been learning about the plight of the Afghanistan Women’s Cricket Team and the three Australian women who came to their rescue…

 

I’ve been away for a few days to celebrate my birthday with my best friend, who is staying in Venice for several weeks and invited me to join her.

I had been to Venice once before – in the Summer – so it was really interesting to see the city without hordes of tourists.  I’ve come home inspired in many ways.  Here are a few thoughts…

1) Prior to this trip, I didn’t love Venice.  Not the way I love Florence and Rome.  Spending time in Venice with someone who LOVES the city, gave me a different perspective on it and dispelled most of my previous antipathy.

Inspiration: seeing something through someone else’s enthusiasm is definitely catching.  Where else can we use this insight?

 

2) My birthday treat was a visit to the Opera.  Not at La Fenice, but in a Palazzo, where three singers (soprano, tenor and baritone) and three musicians (piano, violin and ‘cello) delivered a wonderful performance of ‘La Traviata’.  Each act was in a different room and we had front row seats for two of them.

Inspiration: in the right setting a small team can deliver a fantastic experience just as successfully as a large one.

 

3)  This photograph was taken in the Fortuny Museum and it shows the famous Fortuny pleated silk dress, worn with a variety of jackets and tunics, which I stood and admired for a long time.

You may not know that before I concentrated on Learning and Development, I had a career in fashion retail and that my first business was making wedding dresses and ballgowns.

What I didn’t know, is that Mariano Fortuny was a painter, photographer and theatre set designer as well as the developer of unique textiles and fashions.

Inspiration:  the modern world reveres experts and specialists but many of the world’s greatest thinkers and creatives have explored multiple disciplines to great effect.

4) This final image shows the interior of La Fenice – Venice’s famous opera house.  La Fenice has burned down twice (perhaps that’s a consequence of calling it The Phoenix!) and twice been rebuilt in the same rococo style as the original.

Inspiration: we don’t always have to ‘build back better’.  Sometimes what we had was great and we just need to do it again.

 

5) As I wandered around the streets of Venice and crossed the bridges over countless canals, I saw a lot of peeling paint, broken shutters, missing render, leaning walls and dirty glass.  If I walked down a street in England that looked like that I would be very unimpressed but because it’s Venice everyone thinks it’s romantic and atmospheric.

Inspiration:  context is everything!

Wilma and I are in Wales on a damp, foggy day and haven’t ventured out. I’m musing on why a prospective client didn’t take up a coaching programme that she so obviously needed and the conversation turns to general principles of personal development, why limitations and problems sometimes come back after they’ve been addressed and how to see the opportunities for learning and growth in everyday situations.

The water-related challenges at Wilma’s cottage seemed to have come to an end but if you listen to the end of the recording you might think otherwise…

 

 

TED Talk – Brené Brown, ‘Listening to shame’.

I watched this again recently and the part that resonated most is this:

“Shame is the enemy of innovation, creativity and change”

If you’re not one the 65 million people who watched Brené’s earlier TED talk – “The Power of Vulnerability” then it might be a good place to start.

If you have already seen that (and you remember it) then let’s go to “Listening to Shame”.  As Brené points out, shame is something we don’t want to discuss, but it’s something that is a real experience for nearly all of us (apparently if you don’t feel shame it’s an indicator of psychopathy) and it gets in the way of innovation, it gets in the way of creativity and it gets in the way of change.

What do we do about it?

Watch the video for a start…

Happy New Year!  Unless of course, you celebrate according to a different calendar.  I know that all my friends and contacts in Singapore, for example, will be having their main New Year celebrations in a few weeks’ time.

My plans for 2025 include offering some NLP training to anyone who wants to learn how to increase their influence, build personal resilience and learn how to manage their own thinking so that it becomes easier to achieve what you want to achieve in life.

The quote above is one I always include at the start of the programme because some of the results people experience through mastering the principles of NLP can seem ‘like magic’.

Not from Day One, of course, but lots of people are surprised by just how quickly some of the NLP patterns can lead to significant results.   Over the coming weeks I’m planning to share some of my favourite success stories.

If you’re curious enough to want to know more, the first step is the ‘Introduction to NLP’ day in either June or July – depending on what works best for you.

I don’t know whether you write down your goals for the year or just keep them in mind, but I have a question for you:

When you think about your goals for 2025 do you believe you can achieve them?  If not, what’s missing?  Do you need more influence at work?  Do you worry you’ll give up too easily?  Are you unsure that they’re the right goals?

These are the kind of gaps that can be filled through the application of NLP.  Get in touch if you’d like to know some more…

It’s 2025! Wilma and i are discussing New Year’s Resolutions and why we don’t make them but also what we do instead. The conversation takes us through SMART goals, the NLP Well-formed Outcomes pattern and what it means for your goals/outcomes to ‘come from inside’. There’s a little bit about Hawaiian spirituality, a lot about not wanting to seem too weird and a ramble through the value of reading a book more than once.

 

 

In our final episode of the year, we’re comparing notes on how we celebrate Christmas, how we feel about it and how well prepared we are. This episode also includes Wilma talking about the impact of Storm Darragh on the forest around Graig Ddu (The Cottage) and her attempts to reach it in the face of fallen trees.

Happy Christmas!

…and if you’d like the recipe for the Chocolate Christmas Cake, please email dianne@brilliantminds.co.uk

 

It might seem a bit dramatic to say that this innocuous little connector has changed my life, but it’s certainly made a big impact in a specific part of my life.

Let me explain…

When I run a courses I often stay in a hotel and deliver the training in a different hotel or venue.  This involves me transporting my equipment for the day from one place to another at the start of the day.  And bringing it back it back again when I’ve finished for the day.

No problem there, I hear you thinking.

Well, not generally.  I’m quite a low-tech presenter and don’t always use slides, therefore don’t need a laptop.  However,  on occasions when  I’m travelling on the London Undergound and I’m carrying my laptop, course notes, flipchart pens etc etc in a bag that isn’t light (but is secure) the weight can be considerable.  I like my laptop and have no reason to replace it except that it’s quite heavy.

Result:  I find myself grumbling about the weight of stuff I’m carrying around and often end up with aching back or shoulders as a consequence.

Not any more…

I was looking at something on my iPad one day and wondered whether I could use it in place of my laptop when I have a slide presentation.  Hmmm.  No HDMI port and I don’t want to gamble on a venue having wireless connection (although many do)

I did a little research on the internet and I found the above.  It provides me with an HDMI connection to my iPad and also allows me to connect it to power at the same time.

No more lugging the laptop around.  No more aching shoulders.  No more grumbling from me.

Now, I don’t expect you to be inspired by my little connector (I’m guessing you might have known this was possible long before I did), but I would encourage you to think about the places in life where you’re putting up with something that isn’t a massive problem but is a niggling issue.  By giving it some focused thought and taking action, can you change the situation for the better?

Or even change your life….

On the evening that I went to the cinema last week, I was tired, somewhat stressed and – if I’m honest – a bit grumpy.

By the time I was getting in my car to come home all that had changed. ‘Conclave’ is a wonderful film!

Yes, I went to see it because it stars Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci.  Plus it’s set in my favourite city in the world (I’m very keen to make another trip there now).

I was not expecting it to be quite as brilliant as it is…

Magnificent performances form all the lead actors.  Wonderful, intimate photography – lots of close-up shots.  A plot that delivers a few unexpected twists.  And some very thought-provoking messages.

This is what stayed with me…

“…the sin of certainty.  Certainty is the enemy of tolerance…”

I think I’m going to see it again, to relish the experience and possibly retain more of the lovely words.

Wilma and I are in Wales and for once it’s not raining! Join us for a wide-ranging conversation that includes a film review, some musings on religion, the increasing informality of business and life and the AI granny.

 

This week’s inspiration is a pop song.  I heard it on the radio and it’s been in my head for days…

M People’s ‘Search for the Hero‘ is on my playlist of songs with uplifting lyrics.  It’s important to me to play music that has an upbeat message and positive lyrics.  We all know how powerful words can be, so if you’re going to sing the same few lines to yourself over and over and again, they’d better have a positive impact!

Looking for a video to share, I realised that this track was released in the period of my life when I didn’t have a tv, so I’d never seen the official music video.  However, YouTube wasn’t letting me share that one, so this is the best alternative – recorded live at the Euro 96 Extravaganza.  What can say except – I WAS THERE!

Enjoy!

 

I’m back from a business trip to Dubai, Wilma is surrounded by water in Wales. In this episode we’re talking about the need to visit the highest places, Wilma shares another tale from her travels in South America and we discuss the power of Nature in all its glory. Somehow, from there we find ourselves discussing the reason why management has become difficult and debate the label ‘human resources’.

 

Amazingly, there are no reference books this week! But if you’d like to read the article mentioned, it’s here:
https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1894065/pressure-why-squeezed-middle-having-hard-time