The subtle art of seduction
How do you make your meetings more appealing?
It starts with breaking down barriers, candour, enjoyment, getting off on a positive tone, starting on time…. first come first served.
VFTM
How do you stay focused as a leader?
This may sound like a simple question. In reality it can be hard—and nuanced.
People and politics. Poor expectations. Mismanaged expectations. The scope creep monster. There’s many reasons when staying focused can a challenge. So what can you do?
I suggest you write down the letters, VFTM.
VFTM stands for the Vital Few vs Trivial Many. A useful prompt for keeping the main thing the main thing. An opportunity to reject the non-essential and focus on what really needs to happen.
EGSP® Compass in print
The Twelve Scholars Leadership Playbook is your essential guide to leadership.
Inside, you’ll discover everything you need to know—and everything you need to do.
You’ll also find a comprehensive guide to using the EGSP® Leadership Compass.
What is your belief system?
What do you believe in? What are all the things that make you—well—you.
Here’s a list of our beliefs about leadership. Do you agree?
The world needs better leaders.
Leadership is required at every level.
Leadership is doing the right thing.
Leadership is giving a damn.
Leadership is very different from management.
The best managers are always leaders.
The best leaders are not always managers.
For organisations to grow, people need to grow.
The best leaders are always learning.
We can learn from failure.
We can learn from nature.
We learn most when we teach others.
Internationally Tracked
When did postage get so expensive?
We’ve had a few orders this week from across the pond. And true to word—we’ve ensured every book is intentionally internationally tracked.
Fingers crossed Storm Lilian doesn’t disrupt delivery.
YouTube reaches 550
A big thank you.
Today, our YouTube channel reached 550 subscribers. Although we haven’t posted a new video for a while, it’s reassuring to know that people value the channel. So thank you for being part of the journey.
Inspire, be inspired.
No bullsh*t strategy
What does your strategy look like?
This week’s essential read was No Bullshit Strategy by Alex H M Smith. I met Alex last month and immediately warmed to his frank assessment of business.
It’s a short read and gets to the point quickly (as you’d expect from such a title).
My biggest takeaways:
Ditch the slide deck. Write your strategy on one piece of paper. In simple language.
Writing in prose will allow people to internalise the strategy and repeat it in their own words. Everyone should understand your strategy—without further explanation.
Only strategies which your competitors might choose not to do are legitimate. Strategies which everyone would agree with, and which everyone would be keen to pursue, are illegitimate.
Great strategies produce companies which have no direct competition at all.
I’m now rewriting our own strategy—as a minimum viable strategy.
Film on Friday
Back to our YouTube Studio today to film new training videos. Our leadership course has moved on since last year. And so it’s time to update and refresh the opening tutorials.
Nothing too drastic. Just a few tweaks and minor adjustments. Always improving. :-)
An early scholar bee
Cheaper than Royal Mail, it was an early train to Manchester this morning.
The aim was to hand deliver copies of our Leadership Playbook and EGSP Wooden Block®, then be back home by mid-morning. It worked a treat. (Gotta get them steps in!)
Loved the early start. And seeing those Spanish tourists nurse a hangover. ;-)
The essence of ‘Leadership’
What’s at the heart of culture change?
From the outset, we’ve been helping leaders and their teams focus on three areas:
World class basics.
Do the right thing.
Give a damn.
As a leader, if you can stay true to these principles you won’t got too far wrong.
Blue sky thinking
Where do you go to clear your head?
For me, I head to the West Pennine Moors. And with my running shoes on, I can reach this trig point in less than 30 minutes.
This photo was taken last night. It’s looking west at Winter Hill.
From these vantage points, you can see Snowdonia, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District. That’s four of the finest national parks in the UK.
(You also get a stunning view of Manchester).
And so this is my playground. It’s where I go to clear my head. And get a good workout.
What about you? Where’s your special place?
A gift to your team
What if everyone could sing from the same page. Literally.
How much more effective would you be? How much more effective would your team be? What about your organisation?
Well, that’s exactly what the Playbook can do for you.
Once you get everyone reading to page 46 (the start of Chapter 2), things start to happen.
The penny drops.
‘Performance’ gets understood.
‘Ambiguity’ gets talked about.
Satisfactory is no longer ‘good enough’.
Yes. A paradigm shift occurs.
Why not gift your team the gift that keeps on giving!
Posting to Portugal
Ding-ding.
Another international sale—this time Portugal!
One of our values at Twelve Scholars is to cross-pollinate ideas.
And so it’s great to see our work starting to travel—and help others make an impact.
Muito obrigado pelo pedido.
Aproveite a leitura!
EGSP photo shoot
What do you notice about these four wooden blocks?
Yes, they represent the letters E, G, S and P (also PEGS spelt another way!)
And yes, there’s a horizontal line etched into the S and P.
But if you look closely, you’ll realise it’s the same wooden block. And just like the grain that runs through this piece of maple, EGSP® runs through the heart of everything we do.
If you’re new to Twelve Scholars, then EGSP® is a highly dynamic and versatile approach to continuous improvement.
Introducing ‘5S’
What does 5S mean to you?
In world class manufacturing, ‘5S’ is an abbreviation for five words that begin with the letter ‘S’.
It represents a method of workplace organisation that originated in Japan. It helps to create and maintain an organised, clean, safe and high-performance workplace.
Here’s the five S’s (seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke, translated into English):
Sort—clearly identify items needed and eliminate the rest.
Straighten—keep needed items in the correct place to allow for easy and immediate retrieval.
Shine—keep the area swept and clean.
Standardisation—create rules to sustain the first 3 S’s
Sustain (aka self-discipline)—make a habit of maintaining established procedures.
5S can be used whenever a workplace is messy, unorganised. (Think Marie Kondo in factories and offices). It can be used when people have to spend time tracking down tools, information to complete a task.
At Twelve Scholars, we use EGSP with 5S to set standards and create a culture committed to Excellence.
The Steven Pressfield Collection
What’s your favourite book by Steven Pressfield?
It took him years to publish his first book. But now Steven Pressfield is seen as an authority on writing books. And how to overcome those inner creative battles.
I’ve found his work really useful over the years. He talks about the Resistance, the Muses and Turning Pro. We even reference his work in the Leadership Playbook.
I shall record a book review soon. But for now, what’s your favourite Steven Pressfield? And why?
Ambiguity amnesty
When was the last time you called out ambiguity?
I’m not talking about being misled or even missold—they should be obvious. You should have the gumption to call them out—immediately.
What I am talking about is the grey area—the stuff that often gets overlooked.
Areas of uncertainly. Unclear decisions. Badly worded feedback. You know, the things that cause you difficultly, but you don’t know why—or don’t realise it at the time.
A failure to flag ambiguity will always hold you back. It creates a culture of mediocrity. A spiral of decline that inevitably leads to poor.
As leaders, we must lead by example. Set expectations and the standard for others to follow. And so we need to encourage our team to speak up. Talk to us when decisions aren’t clear. Flag ambiguity.
The last thing we want is for people to be working on the wrong things. (It’s the last thing they’ll want too!)
Remember, you get what you’re prepared to accept.
A big box of wow!
“Well just opened the box and you’ve already got a wow!”
It was always going to be a special ‘shoebox’ of a delivery. Another very satisfied customer. Thank you.
AAA+ positive rating
Have you ever gifted a book to a colleague?
One of our customers bought 10 additional copies of our Leadership Playbook. And then gifted them to his leadership team. Within a week we received the following feedback.
“Bob. You have made something special. Everyone has said that we need EGSP in 'everything we do'. Response has been 100% AAA+ positive.”
All I can say is thank you. Can’t wait to follow your journey. Inspire, be inspired!