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Monday, 30 October 2017

Banish the Beige

Image: Dulux.com.au

I am terrified of Beige. Not the colour, as the colour above is the colour of most of my internal walls at home.

I fear the Beige Life.

Beige seems to be gaining a grip on us. Here are a few reasons why:

The increasing number of people who seem to get offended on behalf of others
Political correctness
Politicians trying not to upset potential voters
People not willing to take responsibility
Lack of courage in being willing to express beliefs
The decrease in skill on how to debate an argument
People attacking people and not the subject of the discussion
Close minded people who can't see that just because they don't agree, it can still a valid view point
FOWOT (A term I learned recently from Amanda Gore - Fear Of What Others Think)
Living a life of what other people think rather than what you want

I was reminded this week of the value of a colourful life, of staying true to your beliefs and values, of being open to new and different ideas, to calling out bullshit when you see it.

So Dear-Reader how are you adding colour to your life?

How are you Banishing the Beige?

Warwick Merry - The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force Master MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of sparkling mineral water – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees. If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.

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Monday, 23 October 2017

Back to the Future

My gorgeous wife and I were out celebrating life and we had a flash back. A flash back to the future, if you will!

Soda Rock Diner was celebrating a move to a new location and had set up Doc and the Delorean out the front.

This was a great idea (although Doc was not quite a close match) for a couple of reasons.

It's a great call back
It's brand relevant
It was interactive

As a speaker/MC, one of the great tools of a presentation is the Call Back. It is where you mentioned something (a topic, a story, an item, an event) and then later in the presentation when the audience has almost forgotten it, you refer back to it. Comedians use this tool a great deal to excellent effect.

In this instance, people my age (almost 50!) grew up with Doc, the Delorean, Marty McFly and even Einstein (the dog who was sitting on the back of the car). Seeing the car was a great call back to an earlier part of my life which associates with a fun and positive memory.

It was Brand Relevant for Soda Rock as they are an American Diner complete with rollerskating waiting staff and Elvis. In Back to the Future II (and possibly some on Back to the Future) was set in a diner like this one. It was also October 21st which is one of the dates that Doc and Marty head to. So it was well themed and matched the brand of Soda Rock.

It also attracted a big crowd. People were lining up to sit in the driving seat and get their picture taken (look closely in the pic above and you will see a young girl in the front seat (on the left). I suspect there would be a lot of images on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and other social media of the Delorean, and possibly even tagged Soda Rock.

Dear-Reader, with the marketing of your business or the marketing that appeals to you, how does it take you Back to the Future?

Warwick In Action

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Monday, 16 October 2017

What Are You Creating?

I spent a couple of days at The Shed last week doing a few things. It is a beautiful place that helps me reset my brain when I am feeling frustrated.

Let's face it, there is a lot to be frustrated about.

Politics, sexism, war, treatment of indigenous peoples, treatment of refugees, people who don't return phone calls, internet trolls, people who get offended by everything, people who never get offended, traffic, public transport, bad service, business deals that fall through, prospects who are incredibly rude ... the list goes on.

Victor Frankl famously wrote in his book, Man's Search for Meaning, that there is a gap between stimulus and response.

So no matter what happens to you, you get to choose how you will respond to the stimulus rather than simply reacting to it.

What this means is rather than looking at how the world is and what we have to deal with to exist in it, we can ask, "What sort of world do we WANT to live in" and make choices to create that world.

Sometimes others may not support our choices but we have no control over that. All we can do is have control over our own decisions. To be frank, sometimes those choices are hard and the cost may be high, but they are almost always worth it.

The choices we make create our future.

What kind of future do you want?
What choices do you need to make to have that future come in to being?
What can you start on today to make that happen?

In essence Dear-Reader, what are you creating?

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Monday, 9 October 2017

Put It Down

Technology is amazing.

We now have devices that give you access to the knowledge of the world with a click of a few keys (granted, we only use it to watch cat videos but we COULD do other things with it!)

These smart phones have more power and capacity than the computers that sent people to the moon. It is starting to feel like the cost of this technology is our own humanity.

What price are we willing to pay for all of it's advantages?

Don't get me wrong, I am part geek and I like my phone to be within arms reach at all times. I love technology and what it can do for us. But we have to keep our mind open and not just following it blindly.

Technology is like fire, a brilliant tool but a poor master.

Here are a few things you can do to make sure you are not at technologies beck and call:

My phone and computer have ALL notifications turned off. I choose to run my day rather than let my devices run it.
My gorgeous wife and I will often leave our devices at home when we go out so we can be present for each other.
I will turn my phone on to Aeroplane mode when going into a meeting so I won't be disturbed.
When friends are over for dinner and the phone rings, I don't answer it (I know!! Radical isn't it!)
I use my calendar to plan times to NOT do things like - no email, no meetings, no phone calls.
When working on an important strategy or creative piece, I will turn my phone of to prevent distractions.

These ideas are not rocket science but they are necessary sometimes so I can be sure that I am using technology and it is not using me.

Dear-Reader, what do you do to make sure you are making the most of technology but it is not making the most of you? How do you "put it down?"

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Monday, 2 October 2017

Does It Help?

Image: ShutterStock

As you may know, I broke my ankle earlier this year. My recovery is going well. I have all the steel plates and screws out and my treatment regime is not regular physiotherapy to get my range of movement back.

As part of my post surgery review, I had a check up with my surgeon. My physio asked me to have the surgeon send the notes from the original operation as he didn't have those and wanted to see what physical limitations the surgery may have caused.

So far, so good. All very simple and normal questions that you may think about a persons recovery. This is where it got interesting.

So I went and had a chat to the ankle specialist who has taken over my "care" from the surgeon as their processes dictated. The care is in quotation marks because this doctor has very few people skills, struggles to answer direct questions and starts ruminating about problems you may have in 30 years time. He's a bit weird (but apparently brilliant!).

At the end of my consultation as I asked if he could send my notes on the first operation to the GP practice my physio works out of. He gave me the look that said "that's beneath me" and actually said, "just ask the girls at the front desk and they can sort it."

Ok then.

At the front desk I asked the same question of the receptionist who said, "Why didn't the doctor just ask for it?" To which I replied, "he said to ask you." She then said that for her to release it she would need an application under the freedom of information act. It would be easier if I got my GP to request the information to be sent.

Oh dear.

I rang my GP clinic after I left and explained the situation. The receptionist said, "Oh dear. It sounds like you have been getting the run around." I gave her the identifying information and she said she would fax a request straight away.

Yay.

Then I asked if she could send a copy to the Physio who works out of their rooms. She replied, "Oh no. He will have to request it. We can't just give it to him."

Now I KNOW that this is minor to what others have to put up with in both the medical and non-medical professions. And I KNOW that there are many people who follow policies that they KNOW stuff around their clients but they have no choice as it is mandated that they do it.

Policies and procedures are an important part of business systems and great customer service. Celebrated author Michael Gerber in his book The E-Myth Revisited, stated that "Systems run the business and the people run the systems."

So what policies do you have in your work place?
Do they help or hinder the customer?
How do they make life easier for everyone?

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Monday, 25 September 2017

The Other Side

I had the good fortune to hear Travis Bell, The Bucket List Guy recently.

He has some excellent processes and ideas on how to formalise creating and achieving bucket list items.

It is way more effective than that thought that "one day" you will achieve some dream.

The one key point of Trav's that I really love is about the impact of achieving what is on your bucket list. Because it is not about the item. It is not about getting a photo of having achieved it. It is not about boosting your ego by achieving it. It is not even about bragging rights for having achieved it (let's face it, most of our friends will say "that's nice" and move the conversation on.)

What Trav says is that achieving your bucket list item is all about who you become on the other side of having achieved it.

Having proven to yourself that you CAN reach this goal, and having the inner satisfaction of knowing all the battles you have faced to get there. The internal reward of who you become on the other side of your achievement is what makes it all worth while.

So Dear-Reader what do you need to put on your bucket list?

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Monday, 18 September 2017

The Art of Polite Debate

Image: ShutterStock

It's official, we have lost the art of polite debate.

The evidence is littered across the pages of Facebook, scattered in the comments on YouTube videos and evident in any of our recent vision of political discussions.

There are two impediments to our ability to debate politely: 1) Our Target and 2) Our Beliefs.

Our Target
Our target has shifted. In the past it was simply the person with whom we were talking. Now it is anyone watching. So our arguments have to be inflated, exaggerated, entertaining, influencing and somewhat over the top. Not for the person we are debating but for anyone else who may be watching.

Our target has also moved from the subject matter to the individual. A healthy, logical argument would attack the subject and poke flaws at the process or logic that was used and during the discussion, offer an alternate, more robust and more logical method to come to a conclusion.

Now it seems the first step (or if you are lucky, the second step) is to attack the individual. When I say "attack" I really mean it. The abuse and vitriol that is used is astonishing and all it does is make the person being attacked more defensive and closed minded in their beliefs.

Our Beliefs
The Josh Wheedon film, Serenity, has a fantastic scene where the older cleric discusses how the government operative has a blinding belief that drives him and nothing can stop him because of the strength of his belief.

We see this every day.

Logic no longer has a place in many discussions, let alone debates. Some people's beliefs are so strong that they can not even consider the undesirable impact of their beliefs. Their belief is so strong that they struggle to see why anyone could have a different perspective from theirs. Their belief is so strong that their mind is closed. Closed even to different approaches that may make their lives better.

So what can we do?

There are a couple of key elements to a healthy, polite and respectful debate:

Attack the subject and not the person - even if you think the other person is wrong, even if you don't think they deserve it, treat them with courtesy.
Base your argument on proven facts - opinions are great but some are wildly inaccurate and damaging. Facts will always serve you well.
Be passionate about your position. Facts alone won't do it but be careful not to be blinded by passion.
Be willing to be wrong. If you are not willing to even consider the opposing view point, how can you hope for your opposition to be open to your perspective.
Listen to what is being communicated. If you are unable to listen, your debates has just become a shouting match.
Don't let your beliefs stop you from seeing the truth. The facts and truth have a power to them that beliefs never will. Sometimes you need to get out of your own road.
Let it go. Sometimes there are debates you will never be able to take part in (let alone win). These are the ones you have to walk away from. Adding fuel to the flame will only build a bigger fire and risk you getting burnt. Choose your debates wisely.

No matter what you debate, you can always do it politely and with respect while being passionate about your position.

So Dear-Reader, when you next are having a discussion or passionate conversation, how will you practice the art of polite debate?

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Monday, 30 October 2017

Banish the Beige

Banish the Beige

Monday, 23 October 2017

Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Monday, 16 October 2017

What Are You Creating?

What Are You Creating?

Monday, 9 October 2017

Put It Down

Put It Down

Monday, 2 October 2017

Does It Help?

Does It Help?

Monday, 25 September 2017

The Other Side

The Other Side

Monday, 18 September 2017

The Art of Polite Debate

The Art of Polite Debate

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