I Didn’t Expect to Be Telling You This Today!

Nobody was more surprised than me!

To be standing at the top of Snowdon… at my venerable age?
Well, it fair took my breath away! (What was left of it)

I admit…
I’m encouraged by Ruth Sturkey’s rich, deep, quirky, humorous, vulnerable weekly blog: ‘1,000 Weeks’.

Her 60-years-old openness is rare, soul-enriching and beautiful…
Especially in this world of self-congratulatory, self-aggrandising noise that typifies the pervasive internet.

This world that tries to communicate the almost-perfect 1% of life that Influencers wish us to see.
Hiding the testing, tough, complex, messy (often painful) reality that comprises the other 99% of our lives.

So, first…
allow me to share with you WHY I shouldn’t really be here.
Doing what I’m doing.

Plus… a few thoughts that might be worth you pondering…
As you wrestle with your business and your life…
While pursuing that illusory ‘Success and Happiness’.

I’m getting on, you see.
Old.
Aged.
I’ve been on this breathtaking planet for more than 7 long decades!

I’ve seen a few things.
Done a few things.
Learned a heck of a lot.
And still make daily blunders and ridiculous mistakes.

I shouldn’t be trekking up mountains.
Nor ice/roller-skating or playing volleyball.

I shouldn’t be building a Leadership Coaching business.

I shouldn’t be juggling so many complex relationships:
including 5 children and 6 grandchildren.

I shouldn’t be teaching Primary-age children and teenagers in my so-called Spare Time.

I shouldn’t still be travelling the country (and internet), speaking at conferences, workshops, masterclasses and webinars.

I shouldn’t be using ChatGPT4.0 to construct fresh marketing, and business-building strategies.

Yet, here I am!

No… I won’t download all of those decades of understanding on you today!

Instead, I’d like to share a few Freshest Thoughts in the weeks ahead…
as life and business unfolds.

This Week…
Life Enhancing Relationships in Business

In 2018, I watched as Ruth Sturkey stood up to say (at a Manchester Conference)…
“Our technical expertise is a ‘given’. It’s a hygiene factor.
It’s what clients have a right to expect of us.”

I’ll add to that.

In this dizzy world of relationships in business…
Our conversations with CLIENTS are the easier (I didn’t say “easy”!) element of Financial Planning.

It’s here that we get our emotional ‘strokes’.
It’s here that we tend to be our most charming… caring… compassionate… giving.

It’s here that we’re told how wonderful our attempt at service is.
How life-enhancing the advice that drips like honey from our lips.

No wonder we gravitate to that role!

The test for us is not with clients.
The people we see perhaps only twice each year.

The test is with our impact on every person who has to put up with us during each demanding business week!

The people at the receiving end of our behaviour.

And that is a different matter altogether.
Particularly if you are their leader.

Because – as I pointed out at last week’s Money Marketing Interactive Conference – you can MANAGE your projects, systems and processes.
But…
You need to learn to LEAD people.

And that is a completely different relationship.

This business sector will transform itself when we integrate this valuable lesson into our relationships…

The primary job of a leader is NOT to be a Technical Supremo!

The primary job of a leader is to discover… liberate… and then multiply… the genius of each of their colleagues.

The innate genius that goes far beyond their Job Spec.
If only someone would exercise the courage…
and allow them to flex that untapped genius!

That’s the job.
That’s what 21 years of coaching has taught me.

The next responsibility in this relationship is this…
To intentionally develop the next generation of leaders.

Otherwise, you don’t really have a sustainable business.
A business that can carry on without you.

So… there you have it.
A couple of comments on business relationships.
A couple of reasons why Great Leadership is both awe inspiring…
and rare.

I shouldn’t really be here, should I?
I shouldn’t really be doing what I’m doing.

But the fact is…
There’s work still to be done.
Work that can elevate and transform businesses…
and lives that they shape.

And I wish to be just a small part of that work. That colossal task.
For just a while longer.

Yep.
There are mountains still to climb.
And as long as I can climb them…
I will.

See you up there?