Books ... covers ... and performance

Tom Watson was recently runner-up in the British Open Golf Championship ... at the age of 59. The way the media went on you would think it remarkable that he could even stand at such an advanced age.

This was a reminder not to judge a book by its cover ... or a person by any the classifications of age, gender, etc ..... judge them by their behaviour and performance.

Be lucky

We have just secured a couple of high profile, excellent speakers for the European Productivity Conference in October (see http://www.epc2009.co.uk). One of these I have worked hard to secure; the other 'fell into my lap'.

Sometimes a bit of luck makes a tremendous difference ... but remember the famous quote from Gary Player, the South African golfer ... "The more I practise, the luckier I get!".

Trust me

I have spent the last few hours putting together a Memorandum of Understanding covering a joint project involving 3 parties. I anticipate no problems ... the organisations share mutual trust. But as soon as you start to put these things on paper all sorts of questions emerge .... what happens if that trust goes and we get problems ... should the MoU cover that? You end up writing lots of strange clauses that will almost certainly never be needed. Not very productive ... but I suppose most insurance isn't!

Ready to go?

Well, I'm back from vacation. Theoretically, I should be recharged, refreshed and ready to go. But I think it might take 24 hours to 'get up to speed'. The reason? email overload. Though I have been in email contact throughout my vacation, I've left a number to deal with on return ... and I am now dealing with them. This takes time and saps energy ... so many are not important, or not a priority ... but I have to work through them to find that out. So, bear with me ... I'll be my own happy, smiling - and productive - self very soon!