Blue Mercury - Leadership

Turns out, stupid challenges make very good podcast material.

Week 2 of 'The Podcast' is up.

One short story, one very questionable decision.
One more example of me learning something the hard way....

Because we either win or we learn.

And judging by these stories, I have done a LOT of learning.

If your day is going badly, this might make you feel better.....😂

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0w2q5zDSrdlm1zoQk7vJcP?si=pQuTOP8ATOSINrP0UZVFdg

Have you found your wolf pack?

Iain and I headed up the mountain recently and as a stroke of beautiful luck found ourselves surrounded by our people....

Jo. Troy (pictured), and lots of friends everywhere.

This is the kinda wolf pack who make you ride harder, go faster, stay out longer and say yes to one more run when your legs have already given up the ghost.

It's always cool to see in real time, how much the people around us influence what we believe we're capable of.

On your own, you might decide that's enough.

In the right group, someone says, 'One more?'

And you're off again.

Teams can do exactly the same thing.

The right people don't just support us. They stretch us.

They create a little bit of healthy competition.
They lend us courage.
They make difficult things feel more possible.
And, importantly, they make the whole experience more fun.

That doesn't mean every team needs to constantly push harder.

But there is something powerful about being surrounded by people who bring out another gear in you.

People who make you think (with your energy and cheerleading)... I can probably do that.

So, have you found your wolf pack?

I will nearly always cheer for the underdog....

Watching the Solheim Cup recently reminded me of something I know deeeeeply about myself.

Give me a favourite versus an outsider and, unless I have a very compelling reason otherwise, I know exactly who I'm backing.

I love watching someone outperform expectations.

Which is also why I've been fascinated by some of the recent conversations about women's sport, visibility and campaigns featuring people like Sydney Sweeney (urgh... facepalm).

Whatever your take on individual campaigns, there is something bigger happening.

Women's sport is commanding more attention.
More money.
More audiences.
More conversation.

And I love it.

Because for a very long time, women in sport have been treated like the underdog.

Waaaaay less coverage.
Less investment.
Less hype.

Then suddenly people start watching, and where attention goes, energy flows!!!

I'm a notorious champion of the person, team or idea that other people haven't quite taken seriously yet.

There is something deeply satisfying about watching the underdog stop being the underdog....

Who do you find yourself cheering for?

Eeeek... I’ve started recording bits of as a podcast.

I’m still knee-deep in writing the book, but I keep finding stories that are too ridiculous not to tell out loud.

Because, as it turns out, if you set yourself stupid challenges for ten years, you collect a fairly impressive number of stupid stories.

- There’s the Spanish netball tournament where my body basically said, “Absolutely not.”

- The hotpod yoga class where I was possibly the least zen person in the room.

- The time my parents-in-law got trapped by a smart house.

You know... Normal life stuff.

The plan is to share one short story a week.

Something funny, slightly mortifying, and hopefully enough to make you go... “Well, at least my day is going better than hers was.”

I’ve always believed we either win or we learn.

Looking back at these stories, there appears to have been a truly heroic amount of learning....

Winning? Bit patchier.

But all the cock-ups, bad ideas, injuries, awkward moments and things that went spectacularly sideways are also what make the bigger story interesting.

So this is partly a podcast....

And, partly me testing which stories have legs.

And... definitely partly me putting a microphone in front of myself and reliving some deeply questionable decisions for your entertainment.

One short story a week.

What could possibly go wrong?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/28YcBU6oAVqp3F9noIKrGt?si=6RzTJmWwSR2JaZXqB-m-Hw

I’ve made it to the final chapter of the book...

Well… the final chapter before the conclusion, because apparently after writing an entire book I still need a chapter to explain what I think about writing the book.

To make it more confusing, this last chapter is about writing the book.

So I am currently writing a book,
while writing a chapter about writing a book,
in which I am reflecting on what it was like to write the book,
I am still actively writing.

Clear?

It feels like I’ve entered some kind of literary hall of mirrors.

But after ten years of challenges, a frankly ridiculous number of words, stories I’d completely forgotten, lessons I didn’t realise I’d learned, and many moments of wondering why on earth I decided this was a good idea…

I can finally see the end.

One more chapter.

Then the conclusion.

Then, presumably, the terrifying moment where I have to stop tinkering with it and let other people read the bloody thing.

This is what happens when you don’t ask the additional question.

A week ago, Iain and I went out for a lovely dinner. Amazing food. Lovely setting. Really good experience.

I ordered a mezcal Negroni to finish the evening.

The waitress looked at me, said, “Yes, yes, of course,” and rushed off.

Now, I suspect there may have been quite a bit of discussion behind the scenes about what I had actually ordered.

Because what eventually arrived was a mezcal Moscow Mule.

The bartender brought it over and said something along the lines of:

“I’ve never made one of these before, so I hope you like it.”

Reader.... let me tell you, I did not.
It was awful....

The bar tender came over again, and told us how he had looked it up, becuase he was unsure of the recipe as he'd never heard of it.

Hmmmm....

How often we avoid asking one more question because we don’t want to look silly, slow things down, or admit we’re not quite sure....

But if something doesn’t make sense, ask.

'Sorry, did you say...?'
'Can I just check what you mean?'
'Is this what you were expecting?'

One extra question can save a whole lot of assumptions. In customer experience, assumptions are expensive.

Because what had been a genuinely lovely meal is now mostly remembered by us as.... “Remember that terrible mezcal Moscow Mule?”

The best service isn’t about having all the answers. It’s being confident enough to ask the next question!

Want to see how the sausage gets made?

This is pretty much it.

A wall covered in Post-it notes (yes this is the wall from Wednesday's Airbnb post...)
Ideas being moved around.
Things combined.
Things that made perfect sense on the wall, where they have been making no sense in my head.

After spending time with Kerri Price and Verity Craft, I started thinking differently about IP.

And more specifically, about what might already be hiding inside the book I’ve been writing.

Ten years of .
Ten years of lessons.
Ten years of things that worked, things that didn’t, and things I definitely understand differently now.

So I started pulling them apart.

And then putting them back together.

And team, there is something pretty cool emerging.....

It’s not fully formed yet, and I’m deliberately resisting the urge to tidy it up and announce it too early.

But I can already see it showing up in conversations with clients.

Someone will say something and I’ll think… 'Oh. There it is.'

I can see places where it could be incredibly useful with teams, leaders and individuals....

And I have a sneaking suspicion it might end up being one of the most useful things I’ve created.

For now though, it’s still Post-it notes, scribbles and half-finished thoughts. Which, i suspect is perhaps what something interesting looks like before anyone else gets to see it.....

EEEEeeek!!! Watch this space.

Imagine being so good at hosting people that your guests start warning others that you may not actually be human....

That was basically my experience staying with Maryann and Russell in Whangamatā recently.

I’ve stayed in a lot of places over the years, but this was unlike anything I’d experienced before.

Maryann’s generosity and thoughtfulness were next level. It genuinely felt like she had read *Unreasonable Hospitality*, eaten the book, and absorbed it into her bloodstream.

Her unreasonable hospitality was coming out of her pores.

I recommend *Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara* a lot because the idea is so simple: some of the most memorable experiences come from the things we choose to do that we don’t technically have to do....

Sometimes it’s simply being so thoughtful, kind and generous that people leave wanting to tell everyone else about you.

So if you’re ever in Whangamatā and looking for a gorgeous little cottage/tiny-home-style stay, I can very happily recommend Maryann and Russell’s place:

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/16709993

And for the rest of us, the question is probably: What are we doing for people that we technically don’t have to do?

I need to up my Airbnb game!