Nelson Mandela.

“No one is born hating…. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate then they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Nelson Mandela achieved much, most of which will be praised and some of which may be challenged, but the enduring legacy for me will be his total commitment to compassion and forgiveness in his later years, through his ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ movement. It reminds me that we all have it within us to forgive and to look forward to a more compassionate future, and not backward to regret and recrimination.

Mandela endured so much over the decades of is adult years to right the wrongs of an oppressive system, but his indomitable spirit and his unwavering belief in the innate goodness of humanity shone through it all.

Vale Nelson Mandela

Contact me:- brian@precisionprofiling.com.au for anything at all you may need help with, especially if it involves your culture of engagement or your people and their performance.

Until then… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less. Have a great week – Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Through ‘Motivational Fingerprinting’ we uncover what you do, how you do it and why you do it, and most importantly, the hidden patterns that lead to your success, and that of your team.

Yesterday was Fathers Day Downunder so I am going to be a little self indulgent and share my ‘perfect day’ with you. I was woken an hour earlier than I’d planned to the raucous chorus of my seven and ten year old. I received toast crumbs in my bed and juice splashed on my bedclothes, with the delivery of my “binb” surprise. I was compared to aliens from other worlds and came out on top (‘best Dad in the whole Solar System and Galaxy’). My gifts (nothing over $5 allowed please) brought tears of laughter as I invented a myriad of uses I could put them to and then some, much to the satisfaction of my little boy and girl. I played adjudicator for the argument between siblings as to whose presents were better (declared a ‘draw’). I watched my Fathers Day lollies being devoured by those more needy than me, and I agreed that a trip to the local pancake house was indeed my choice of eatery for lunch. And then there were the hand designed and written cards… the icing on the proverbial cakes.

The Picasso picture of me on the card was a stunner. More than a passing resemblance to ‘yours truly’ according to their Mum (see attached). The carefully crafted poem (don’t all cards truly worth their investment have ‘rhyming poems’ on the inside?) was such a masterpiece that it deserves to be shared with you here…

“You can have your in-bed lay… because it’s Happy Fathers Day!”

And the ‘Love Hearts’ drawn all over the cards told me that when words fail to express the full sentiment, a love heart will always suffice (p.s. they are also an excellent cover for last minute spelling corrections).

According to my little girl, I am being considered as a future husband unless someone better comes along, much to the merriment of her older and ‘wiser’ brother. He didn’t escape being the object of some humour either when he declared that that ‘Mummy could enjoy Fathers Day too, except that she was a woman.’ And let’s not forget the hugs, the tickles and the trampoline bed display, before we all climbed out to face the day.

(I might add that later that day the children rang my brother to wish him ‘Happy Funcle’s Day’ and we have decided that ‘Funcles’ should be added to the list of family roles worth celebrating.)

So there you have it. Self indulgent but short and sweet as a trade-off.

No matter what the world throws at us. No matter what trials and tribulations we may face. No matter what hopes and fears we may hold for our children as they forge their own path in life, there will always be that time when we can look back fondly and say… “I remember.”

My prayer for all of the fathers reading this, is that you too have had or will have one day cause to pause and reflect on a more innocent time when love’s expression came in the form of a handwritten card, a simple gift and a hug that almost squeezed the life out of you. And in honouring that thought, let us also give thanks to our own fathers, either present or absent, who gave us the life we lead so that we may share the love we have with those who follow.

As the saying goes… “Any man can be a Father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad.”

Happy Fathers Day!

Drop me an email to brian@precisionprofiling.com.au if if you would like to share your own thoughts with me on the topic of parenthood or anything else for that matter.

Until then… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less. Have a great week – Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Through ‘Motivational Fingerprinting’ we uncover what you do, how you do it and why you do it, and most importantly, the hidden patterns that lead to your success, and that of your team.

For all of those people who woke up to the news this morning that the Wimbledon men’s singles drought has finally been broken after 77 years by Briton Andy Murray, spare a thought for the message he shares. I feel it teaches all of us something about the true meaning of success and what it represents.

What was most telling for me when I heard that Andy had been struggling to deal with the immense pressure of feeling that he was carrying the weight of the nation on his shoulders, was his acknowledgment that he could not have done it without the support of a very special person. The Scot dedicated his victory to coach Ivan Llendl, an eight-time grand slam winner who had never captured the Wimbledon title himself, losing twice in the final. Since teaming up with Llendl last year, Murray says he has matured both on and off the court, and the success of that relationship has certainly born fruit, because he has reached the final of the last four grand slams he has entered, winning two of them.

In Murray’s own words… “For the last four or five years, it’s been very very tough, very stressful  – a lot of pressure… Ivan believed in me when a lot of people didn’t. He stuck by me through some tough losses the last couple of years. He’s been very patient with me. I’m just happy I managed to do it for him.”

We all love to hear about the lone hero who overcomes insurmountable odds to win through in the heat of the battle and we know that without total commitment to the cause or the objective, a well thought out plan, combined with unrelenting application to the task and consistent practice, winning may remain a distant or unfulfilled dream.

The Often Understated Value of Support

But I want to touch on another aspect of the winner’s armoury which I feel is a major part of their strength and their resilience, and that is support. In a society where so much emphasis is placed on competition and the accumulation of trophies or ‘toys’, regardless of whether the field of success is in sport, business or life, I sometimes wonder if we miss the value of the support we give and receive along the way…  such as the right words at the right time from someone who believes in us when our own self belief has taken a battering…  or the opportunity to work together and share the bouquets and the brickbats as we strive in concert towards meaningful shared goals.

In a world where competition and accumulation seems to be driving so much of the current thinking, spare a thought for cooperation, and character, and care for each other, and cast your mind back to the time when you last felt you were a winner. I guarantee that the joy of winning and the feeling it engendered in you would have been a hollow feeling if you did not have special people around you to share it with at the time. And what about the journey towards that success? Would you have achieved it without the help and support and belief of others?

I know that in all of my business endeavours over the years, the experiences which I remember most fondly are the ones where I was part of a collaborative team of likeminded people who believed in each other and their desire to make a difference. So please spare a thought for all of those people who support you in your endeavours, especially the unsung heroes in the background like the Ivan Llendls in the life of Andy Murray, and when you do that ask yourself who in your life would benefit from your support and your encouragement and your time?

Too often we strive to make a difference on a grand scale, whether that be through the accumulation of ‘material evidence’ of our success, or saving the world in an altruistic way, and we forget about the difference we could make to the lives of the people whom we touch every day, such as our children, or our partner, or our business colleagues… or the next person we meet on the street.

Cooperation not Competition

My wish for you is that you don’t look back on a life filled with ‘busy-ness’ and stress and mindless accumulation, and regret that you lost sight of those you met along the way. Surely Cooperation, not Competition should be the legacy of our generation? Otherwise we face an increasingly disconnected world and one where the gap between the haves and have nots becomes a huge divide that threatens all of our existence and safety. But that is a topic for another day.

Drop me an email to brian@precisionprofiling.com.au if you would like to know more about how together, we can help you to achieve your goals and dreams.

Until then… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less. Have a great week – Brian

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Through ‘Motivational Fingerprinting’ we uncover what you do, how you do it and why you do it, and most importantly, the hidden patterns that lead to your success, and that of your team.

Photo Credit: Susan Mullane, USA TODAY Sports

Neil Armstrong, Pioneer

In grainy black and white pictures we all watched enthralled as Neil Armstrong tentatively took those first steps on to the lunar surface and declared his immortal words, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” And now he is gone. He will remain etched in my memory as the man who led the way into a new era of possibility.

Much will be said about Neil Armstrong and his remarkable life over the weeks and months to come. About how he served his country well through selfless sacrifice with an unquestioning commitment to a greater cause, at a time when the title ‘hero’ actually meant something of substance. A modest and humble man who shunned publicity even though his feats inspired a generation of young people like myself. How different it is today in this era of social media and instant celebrity for deeds of doubtful substance… where genuine modesty and humility has given way to the dogma of the ‘personal brand,’ and where legends are created in 5 minutes and disappear in 10.

I’d like you take a minute to think of who or what has inspired you in your lifetime to this point. It may be an amazing event, or it may be a person and their incredible deeds, but if you still remember the time vividly to this day and remember exactly what you were doing at that time, then the chances are that what is etched in your memory had the capacity way back then to inspire you to dream and to dare. And if somehow that feeling has been lost along the way over the years in between, then maybe it is time to reacquaint yourself with what made it special for you and more importantly, why. You may like to ask yourself again if you are willing to tap into that part of you that dreams, that believes, and desires to do something about it.

For me, as I relive that day when I watched Neil Armstrong take that giant leap of faith on behalf of all of humankind, I am once again reminded of someone who had the courage to commit to a cause, and the humility to accept that it took a special team of people to get him there. And if Armstrong’s passing has done nothing else, it has served to remind me that it is never too late to dream and to dare.

What about you? I would love to hear from you, as you think back to a time that left an imprint in your life, and the special legacy it left for you.

Until next time… Let’s seek to understand more and judge less.

Precision Profiling – What Makes You Tick? Revealing the hidden secrets about yourself that even you didn’t know.