A Naked Week – 7

Naked Leader Week – – 7 (2 June 2003)

The weekly update from David Taylor, author of “The Naked Leader”

You have received this as a member of the naked leader network, or from a friend or colleague.

Please feel free to distribute any of this as widely as you wish – no need to reference “Naked Week” or me as the source – just cut and paste the bits you enjoy and send on, perhaps adding your own stories or thoughts…

If you would like to receive this directly, every week, and connect with thousands of like-minded leaders around the world please go to:

https://secure.nakedleader.com/ml/registration.asp

Back-Weeks are available by e-mailing info@nakedleader.com

With strength and best wishes in all that you do

David

X

 10        Feedback received, and some…I asked for your thoughts, and as I write this I have received well over 300 e-mails of comment. More than half of these came from outside the UK. Thank you for writing, and special thanks for forwarding this on to so many people – I have received many thoughts from people not in the network. Feedback is so varied and fascinating and includes thoughts and opinion on the new web-site, the books and the network. It is taking me a little time to go through them, and to acknowledge every one. I will complete by the end of this week, and share the main reactions / comment next time…

09        You should have received your Naked Relaxation CD by now…If you were a member of the network as at end of May. If you have not, and you were a member of the network before the end of May 2003 please e-mail me at david@nakedleader.com and we will send one to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as Nicky and I enjoyed making it…

 08        And so to last week…On Monday I was on board HMS Belfast in London (a permanent mooring, now a tourist attraction and conference venue) facilitating the leadership team (six people) of a company moving above the 100 employee mark for the first time…They feel they are losing the culture and personal touch they had before, which to me is typical of moving above a certain size. We agreed the three top issues are to retain openness by ensuring everyone can still express their feelings without fear or favour, to ask everyone for a set of stated and living values that were previously unwritten, and most interestingly whether this leadership team (that formed and grew the company to date) is the right team to take it forward to the next level…

07        It wasn’t all as serious as it sounds…When I asked them what % of decisions they feel they make more on emotion than logic five of them said above 80% (the usual figure given), while one said 10%! Silence. When the others turned to persuade the person (Finance Director) that she was mistaken, she was very emotional about the fact she was logical…

 06        A post-script to the top leadership films…Several people voted for a film called “Tin Cup.” I had never heard of this film, let alone seen it, until this week. It is a golfing story with Kevin Costner. The final scenes are brilliant with a lovely twist, and I recommend the film to all, even if you can’t stand golf.

Anyway, my reason for including it is this brilliant dialogue between Costner (Roy McAvoy) and his caddie…

RM “This is everything, ain’t it – the is the choice it comes down to – this is our immortality”

Caddie “You don’t need to be thinking immortality; you need to be thinking hit the seven iron”

05        Quote of the week on choices…“Some people have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is just one reason why they can.” Willis Whitney

04        And if you disagree with anything here or in The Naked Leader…Thank you. Over the last six months I have received many comments of disagreement with what I write – and this is great news. The second greatest conspiracy of success is that “you have to believe” what people say or share “for it to work” – absolute rubbish. If you love something I write or say or stand for, that’s cool, please put it into action, and if you don’t, that’s cool as well, please do the complete opposite…

03        Back to the week and on Wednesday I spoke at a school in Reading…I used an established way of demonstrating the power of the mind, which works because people experience it for themselves. Stand up, raise your right or left arm to your side, and move it backwards, to behind your body, twisting your waist as you do so. Move your arm as far as you can, and see how far it goes. Now, with your arms by your side, close your eyes, and imagine you are repeating the same movement. This time, in your mind, see your arm stretch further behind you, a good six inches further. Open your eyes and repeat it for real, and feel that arm stretch further than it did before.

02        And on Friday I heard about this quote from a book review…”Lady Di could be bicycling nude down the street giving this book away and nobody would read it”…is a genuine review of Susan Jeffers ‘Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway’ which has become one of the most successful books of all time, of any genre…

01        Story of the week…On Thursday I chaired The Economist CIO Summit in London…Hamish Taylor CEO of Vision Consulting UK, gave a fantastic presentation, during which he shared a lovely story about how we often underestimate the knowledge of our children. Listening to Van Morrison, Hamish’s 5 year old son, Donald, asked what instrument was being played. It was a harmonica, but how to describe that in language a 5 year old would understand?

Hamish used as simple terms as he could muster, and the conversation proceeded:

Hamish “It’s like a mouth-organ, where music is produced by either sucking or blowing and by moving the instrument left and right”.

Donald: “Thank you dad”

Hamish “That’s ok – why did you ask?”

Donald: “Oh no reason, really, it just sounded a bit like a harmonica”