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Image (c) John Morgan

It is amazing how quickly the year has gone. We are already in mid-October and 2012 is just around the corner. I set several goals and targets at the start of the year and I have had my share of struggles and successes in accomplishing them. The cause of most of my struggles has been procrastination. I have put off tackling things that would have helped me accomplish certain goals. I find that I don’t struggle with activities or goals that have urgent deadlines but it is the goals with open-ended time frames that I struggle with.

Image by Cog Log Lab (c)

Steve Jobs, the former CEO and co-founder of Apple Inc, died of pancreatic cancer on Wednesday at the age of 56. There has been an outpouring of grief and sadness at the demise of a man widely regarded as a charismatic and creative genius. All Jobs wanted to do was create insanely great products and in the process he changed the world of technology. A visionary and game changer who transformed several industries (computing, music, film, mobile etc) by reinventing what already existed.

It is not how long you live that counts but how much impact your life makes. What sort of legacy are you leaving behind? I like what Stephen Covey said about the clock and the compass in his book, First Things First. He said that the clock represents what we do with and how we manage our time while the compass represents our vision and direction by which we live our lives underpinned by our values. Covey argued that the compass is more important than the clock. Yet most of our attention is focused on the clock.

The ‘A + P x O = S’ formula is my personal mathematical interpretation of Malcolm Gladwell’s theory which he brilliantly explains in his bestselling book, Outliers (I recommend you get yourself a copy). He argues that success is not only solely based on ability and hard work, but a lot hinges on opportunity. Talent and sweat are not enough to get you to the top. But what is opportunity?

First it was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisia), then it was Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), now Muammar Gaddafi (Libya) is the latest leader to flee the wrath of the masses. His whereabouts are currently unknown. There is a revolution in the Middle East. A revolution caused by dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Most of us are dependent on Google as the first point of call when searching for information. It’s interesting that the Google we know today (a $170 billion company) almost never existed if the founders had gotten their way. For those old enough to remember, there was a time when Google was not the search engine of choice. The internet was littered with many search engines such as Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, Infoseek, Hotbot, AllTheWeb, etc.

Image (c) Francisco _ Osorio

John Kotter, a leadership guru, once said that “over the years I have become convinced that we learn best–and change–from hearing stories that strike a chord within us.” The human heart and mind is hardwired to respond to stories.  This is why our conversations and thought processes are presented as stories and the reason why we love movies, books, TV shows, newspapers, etc. We all love a good story. I heard this short leadership story called “Remember you are mortal” many years ago and have never forgotten it. I thought I’d share it with you today and get your comments and views on it. Also share this story with friends and colleagues (via Email, Twitter and Facebook). Don’t keep it to yourself.

Image ©: Aeroklub Praha Letňany

I have been thinking a lot about the state and future of higher education in the UK. This is mainly due to the fact that my current livelihood is tied to the industry. It is said that change is inevitable; hence, we can either go with the flow or get swept away by it. But change brings both anxieties and opportunities in its wake. Most people or organisations detest change because it usually means the demise of the current comfortable status quo.

 Image by This Year’s Love (c)

A fish has no concept of water until it is out of it then it flips and flaps until it dies. Why does a fish have no concept of water? This is because water is a bubble for a fish and it is unconscious of the water because it is immersed in it. The moral of this illustration is that the most obvious and important realities that define our lives are often the hardest to see and be objective about.

Image by Kevinthoule(c)

Several weeks ago, I did two blog posts on failure (see related posts below). I focused on the benefits of reframing failure as a learning opportunity instead of a calamity or disaster. Yet it is interesting that our successes can also be a big hindrance to our learning and development. This is because we are more likely to learn from our failures than our successes.