Reflections and Recommendations
“Scream if you want to go faster” is a phrase that many of us recognise from our days on fairground rides and rollercoasters, but as we reflect on 2023, we don’t think we’re alone in wanting the opposite to happen – please, let’s slow this runaway train down!
2023 has flown past in a blur of activity:
- We’ve worked with some outstanding new clients, and strengthened existing client partnerships by providing Performance Consultations
- We’ve launched two new Performance Development initiatives
- We’ve continued to deliver the ICC Cultural Diagnostic in greater numbers, supporting clients to understand their cultures at a much deeper level
- Not to mention delivering multiple Skills Training and Development Programmes, Executive Education, Performance Coaching Sessions, Seminars, and Keynotes
There is no wonder the year has flown by!
Sandwiched between our work, family and exercise, we’ve found time to listen to podcasts, read books, talk about high-performance and absorb some awesome guidance. Here’s a few of our favourites from the year:
Podcasts
As always, the Rich Roll podcast is an ICC standard, guaranteed to deliver learnings and ideas to chew on. Particular highlights for us this year included: Dr Peter Attia (Ep 743), Darin Olien (Ep 753), Tim Spector (Ep 756), Tim Ferriss (Ep 770), and Steven Bartlett (Ep 780).
Talking of Steven Bartlett, his podcast ‘Diary of a CEO’ has held our interest on numerous occasions this year. Some of our favourite guests included: Walter Isaacson on Elon Musk (Nov 30), Chris Van Tulleken (Oct 23), Brian Chesky (9 Oct), Trinny Woodall (Sept 11), James Nestor (7 Sept), Davina McCall (Ep 210), Steve Peters (Ep 215), Nir Eyal (Ep 249), and Rich Roll (Ep 254).
The High-Performance Podcast is a regular go-to for us, with equal doses of inspiration and emotion featuring every week. We’ve also enjoyed episodes of At The Table with Patrick Lencioni, discussing culture, teamwork and high-performing organisations. Finally, Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s podcast, Feel Better Live More, attracts some excellent guests and we particularly love the bite-sized episodes, providing us with rich nuggets without committing to a lengthy episode.
Books
As a team, we’ve read so many books this year. Our tastes are eclectic, so where to start with recommendations?
- The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett has some fantastic advice and insights.
- We Can’t Talk About That At Work by Mary-Frances Winters tackles some of the topics that are difficult to raise in a workplace with the aim of building bold and inclusive organisations
- Walk With Your Wolf by Jonathan Hoban covers how we can find energy, de-stress and filter out the noise through the power of walking
- Upstream by Dan Heath encourages us to ‘travel back up the river’ to find the source of each problem and solve problems before they happen
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is a fantastic work of fiction, centred around eccentric character Elizabeth Zott who is unwittingly challenging women to change the status quo.
- Fearless by Louise Minchin aims to bring the achievements of extraordinary women into the spotlight and author, Minchin, embarks on thrilling endurance adventures with each of the woman she features.
- Never Finished by David Goggins takes you inside his Mental Lab, unveiling psychology, philosophy and strategies to continually strive for more
High-Performance
We highlighted several stories of high-performance throughout the year, and these served as a timely reminder that there are examples of remarkable achievements all around us. Only a small percentage of people hit the headlines for their feats, but so many more are quietly succeeding in extraordinary challenges. From a cancer survivor running 5K, to an old man and his dog surviving being marooned at sea for months on end, we love hearing about (and sharing) tales of high-performance.
Check out our articles on High-Performance or ‘just my job’, Acts of Selflessness, Extraordinary Humans, When the Going Gets Tough and the Performance Round-Up for some of the stand-out performances for us this year.
Quotes to Ponder
In no particular order, here are a handful of our favourite quotes that we’ve highlighted this year:
“Only get feedback from those who are playing the game. It’s too easy to boo from the sidelines” Unknown
“Even small positive shifts in thinking create huge results if you are consistent in your efforts” Nanette Matthews
“The secret to success is to do the common things uncommonly well” John D. Rockefeller
“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm” Frank Lane
“Staring up at the sky on a bright, sunny day makes me dream and gives me ideas” Marc Jacobs
And finally, we cannot sign off without paying tribute to Charlie Munger, who died in the last month. He provided simply bucket loads of insight and inspiration during his lifetime. A quote of his that we feel would be wise to carry into 2024 is as follows:
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.”
Have a great start to 2024!
