What if there was an innovative way to move your organization further toward its inherent purpose and strengths? What if a reliable and bespoke plan could be crafted – a plan that builds naturally on the best aspects of your organisation’s journey so far? What if this could be done with guaranteed buy-in from team members and stakeholders? What if the idea of ‘building on the best of what is’ could be applied successfully to other groups you are connected to, to your family, and even to your personal life?

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I have just read one of those books that I can’t ignore. In fact, I need the insights it reveals to niggle me until I do something about them. As W Clement Stone puts it, ‘Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance.’ I can’t claim any of those now!

The book is the latest offering by Daniel Pink, and is called When. It’s all about time, how we see it, and how we use it.

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A John Ortberg quote has been capturing my imagination lately: The possibility of transformation is the essence of hope. I love this idea because it reminds me that positive change is always an option, and is the doorway to new opportunities and possibilities. The recent Comrades Marathon brought this home to me as I watched amputee, cancer survivor, and ex-drug addict Xolani Lavuno cross the finish line on crutches. He completed the course of about 90 km, against all odds, with his friend Hein Venter at his side. Just 18 months ago, Hein found him living under a bridge in Sunnyside in Pretoria. He gave him a job and a prosthetic leg, and helped him start running. The rest is history.

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Culture: organisational culture, that is. We know that it shapes us and that we reflexively shape it too. We can feel it filtering through everything we do - and how we do it. We recognise when it’s healthy and we are acutely aware when it’s not. It’s that tangible, palpable ‘thing’ that’s hard to put a finger on even though we all know it’s there. It happens between us and inside us. What is organizational culture?

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Is trust really a must? What’s all the fuss about? Why is the notion of trust so integral to the THINKspiration approach?

Who do you really trust? Why? And who trusts you? How have you earned this trust? Have you ever trusted someone, and later regretted it? No doubt like me you have experienced the exhilaration of being trusted. It’s the ultimate currency or commodity of progress - at home and at work. As a parent, few things compare with the thrill and privilege (and responsibility!) of maintaining the trust of my children. I will always go the distance to maintain it. Conversely, with my background in counselling, I have regularly experienced the angst of watching two sincere, wonderful people miss each other completely due to the spectre of mistrust. It’s tangible. And costly. It drains the life from conversations and clouds even the most carefully chosen words with suspicion.

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We are busy teaching my 17-year-old son to drive. He is still at that stage where it feels like there are too many things to master at the same time: pedals, steering, gear changes, turning corners - and of course those dreaded handbrake pull-offs - on a slope nogal. He wishes he could flick a switch – and have all these skills become second nature or ‘unconscious competence’ – available on demand. Sadly, life doesn’t work that way. Competence requires practice, and practice takes time. The good thing is that pretty much all of us can learn to drive if we work at it. And it’s the same with leadership!

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