25258days

The latest 100 CEOs newsletter landed yesterday from Steven Bartlett. I have liked the concept and the content from day one. Well done Steven Bartlett and team. This edition was about organisational culture.

A founder recently told me about the pride he took in his firm’s culture, while on the same day, I was informed about a maverick WhatsApp group started by his team to help mitigate the fallout from his leadership style. You can guess who wasn’t part of that group.

We have all had opportunities to see culture done well and not so well. Yesterday, I was informed about a message being sent to a small team asking them to work from home. Heavy weather was rolling in, and it wouldn’t be safe to travel. Simple, authentic and caring. That’s doing it well.

Another organisation I was told about routinely asks the team to do excessively long travel days to avoid the cost of accommodation. Where does the culture sit in an organisation that knowingly puts its people at risk?

Culture isn’t something you fix with chicken tacos over lunch once a year. It’s not something you work on, it’s something you build in. Leaders and their teams have equal responsibilities in fostering culture, but the tone flows directly from the leaders – whether they like it or not. Poor leadership necessitates the creation of those maverick WhatsApp groups.

The last 12 months have been full, at times overflowing. There was great loss, great celebrations, and all the stuff in between. I rolled into my sixth decade, which was nowhere near as traumatic as I had been expecting. I didn’t suddenly develop any great new insights, but I also didn’t suddenly develop any aches and pains so I’ll happily accept that those two cancel out one another.

Both kids have left the nest, and the change has been challenging. As a parent, I wonder if I have made the right decisions and shared the right lessons. If the ongoing feedback I receive about my choices in music, fashion, stories, what (and how) I eat, leisure activities, movies and humour are an indication, I have made some big mistakes. There was a moment when I learned ‘fire’ was the new ‘lit’. Armed with my newfound street cred, I rolled out with ‘fire’ only to discover ‘gas’ is the new ‘fire’. Surely there is something in AI that can help me stay current…?

With coaching from the kids, I experimented with social media. It was a short-lived experiment. Instead, I have made it a personal mission to keep my screen time under 20 minutes a day. Given the field I work in, this is proving very challenging. My reliance on Google Maps to find my way to the letter box and back adds to the challenge, but I’m not letting it go.

It’s been 12 months since I invested in some gym gear for the garage. This has been a highlight. 24/ 7 access and the easy parking are game changers. Going through the mechanics of learning a new lift is the coolest thing. I am currently exploring the myriad of options for the deadlift and trying to remember the 1250 different ways to execute a kettlebell swing – thanks YouTube. My rudimentary garage gym is where a lot of problems are solved. I am forever recording voice notes or sending myself email reminders. Yup I graduated from pen and paper over the last 12 months.

The biggest thing the last 12 months have brought is the sense of discovery. Trying new things, sprinkling adventure into old routines and testing the thin ice a little. Some of this has been confronting and not always well thought out, but all of it has been worth it. Thanks to all those amazing people who have added to the last 12 months. Thanks for the lessons, challenges, adventures and successes. It’s been wicked!

There was a time when adventures started with nothing more than a stupid idea and a bunch of buddies. New experiences didn’t require extensive warm up routines and planning didn’t start by pre-booking a series of visits to the physio. Of late everything seems to come with a possible consequence and the physical things I took for granted now cause me to second guess.

Of course I can ride down that drop, of course I can paddle out, of course I can fix that roof tile while dangling off the side of the ladder. As I race towards a significant birthday I seem to be increasingly stepping back from new challenges and it’s not a great place to be. Appreciate the need for self-preservation, but there is equally a need to go off piste now and then. Burning or rusting.

Working with my training buddy we picked a sporting event a year away to celebrate that significant birthday. To complete the event with a hint of dignity, new skills will be needed, a lot of new skills. Discipline will need to lift across a bunch of areas and priorities will certainly have to shift.

Entering an event hasn’t happened in a long time for me. It may have been a couple of decades since I last pinned on a number. The preparation has begun and of course it will never be enough.

My physio has been alerted and the warm up exercises have started. Strangely it feels nice to be slightly terrified.

Over the weekend my two daughters invited me to join them on an adventure.  My girls often come up with creative adventures.  They prefer to keep these adventures semi-secret until the last possible moment, but as the Lead Chauffeur, I am sometimes part of the inner circle.

The chosen adventure was a walk to the top of a nearby summit.  Ahead of us would be 1349 steps up and 1349 steps down.  The walk itself was great, spectacular views and the people we encountered along the way were as jazzed as we were so lots of boxes ticked.  Some people walked, while others ran.  A few hard core people carried bags of gravel on their journey.  It is not the easiest walk so carrying bags of gravel is the stuff of legend.  Yes, I have a new goal.

My oldest daughter is in her last few months of high school and becoming increasingly independent.  Conversely, my youngest daughter is in her first year of high school and still discovering who she is.  We are a tight unit and I cherish the time together.

As our adventure played out, I felt like I was a spectator in my own life.  My older daughter was gone, she took off in pursuit of the challenge.  I was worried that something might happen and I felt very uneasy about the situation.  Every now and then she would appear on a ridge, just to let us know she was with us.  These appearances, while more infrequent than I would have liked, did help me cope.

My younger daughter stayed with me, seeking reassurance that she could make the summit.  At times she doubted her abilities, but in the end she found her way.  She pushed as hard physically as I have seen her and I was fiercely proud.

For the walk down we came back together.  Nothing planned, it just happened.  I was at the back now,  talking about the need to respect each step on the descent if we wanted to walk with any degree of dignity the next day.  I don’t know that either girl payed much attention as one exercised her leadership and the other exercised her confidence.

It was a great adventure.  Lessons, sore legs and heroes carrying gravel.  I have been told planning is underway for another assault on the summit, I just hope I can recover in time.