I am surprised at how many people hate feedback, whether it centres on performance, personality, character or behaviour issues. There seems to be a fear that the one giving the feedback does not have your best interests at heart and that the feedback will be detrimental, rather than uplifting, in terms of your growth and…
Life is full of “curved balls” – some of them surprising and pleasantly beneficial, but others testing and even painful, to say the least. Just when we think all is turning in our favour (“things are getting better now”), some or other hardship comes along to seemingly confound our good attempts at making real progress….
Alinda Nortje, colleague and Executive Chairperson of Free To Grow, during a presentation, related her experiences of facilitating a workshop for UNICEF in a country in the Middle East – as facilitator, there is always a steep learning curve when one gets to a new context. Upon landing, the facilitator immediately goes into learning mode…
Stress is part of all of our lives. In fact, a little stress is good for one. A violin string in an un-stretched state can’t produce a note. Tightening it to an optimal tautness, however, the string produces the quality tone that it was designed for in the hands of a violinist. Likewise, some stress…
Augustine “Og” Mandino was born in 1923, was once the editor of his high school newspaper and planned to attend the University of Missouri’s journalism school. Unfortunately, before he was able to enrol and enter college, his mother died of a heart attack. As a result of this loss and ensuing circumstances, he decided to…
I have a huge appreciation for the photographer that manages to capture the “perfect” shot. Not happy with just taking pictures of subjects, these great photographers manage to find a worthwhile perspective of even a mundane subject and transform the subject into a glorious representation of its potential. The potential was always there, but the…
There is a story that is read to many children all over the world – some of you may have had a deprived childhood not having this classic read to you when you were young (tongue in cheek), but here it is – a railroad story, the story of a train carrying toys. Now, the…
Technological advancement is part of everyday life. The acceleration of development in this area is overwhelming and astounding. The computing ability of some of the smaller gadgets and devices takes your breath away and the instruments become sought-after and very desirable “must-have” accessories for ease of access to online information, business and social media connection….
After a particularly busy period, having spent weeks on end in other countries in Africa, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. The stress of facilitating culture change processes in large corporations, having to deal with the “sometimes hidden” agendas of others and sorting through the quagmire of the politics that seem to characterise the upper…
I have travelled on but a few of the great and sometimes famous rivers of our world – the Zambezi (near the Victoria Falls) and the Orange Rivers in Africa, the Colorado and Mississippi in the USA and the Thames in the UK. I still need to get to the Amazon, Nile, Volga, Danube, Yangtze…
Dr Gerald Bell of the University of North Carolina conducted a survey where four thousand retired executives were asked the question: “If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?” Overwhelmingly, the vast majority of the executives’ answers reflected a desire to take better ownership of their lives. Fundamentally, they responded…
Pain is part of everyone’s experience of life – sometimes caused by external factors (retrenchment, death of a loved one, frustrating circumstances, etc.) or occasionally caused by internal factors (bad decisions, inability to make changes, feelings of disempowerment, unhealthy self-image, etc.). Many people find themselves “stuck” – in bad relationships, in a work context that…
