Entertaining stories from my executive journey
Conventional wisdom would have us believe that life is full of ups and downs. For the self-help brigade, it’s all about how you “manage” the downs and don’t get too carried away by the ups. Universally it’s accepted that the ups are great and the downs are tough. But hang on a minute. It’s the … More Ups and downs
As you approach, pass, and then immediately try to forget being a certain age, you begin to reflect on the life and work experiences that have made you who you are. In the life learning or personal sphere this contemplation is often classified as something negative called a “mid life crisis” where you will suddenly … More Tales from the Vault : Formative work experiences and sticking your neck out
Well maybe not exactly the bottom, but at times it sure felt like it. Apparently I was one of the lucky few. After a couple of years of a constant flow of rejection letters (in the days when you at least got them) I’d made it onto the Graduate Training scheme with a well known, … More Tales from the Vault – From the Bottom Up
I know, I know. I promised many and varied humorous tales from my many and varied roles around the globe, and I just keep coming back to Korea. I can’t help it. It was quite simply the most wonderfully bizarre, confusing, frustrating but ultimately rewarding two year period of my entire career. Not from a … More Tales from the Vault : Korea again
Both regular readers will no doubt notice with some alarm that the “Vault” – my simple archive for hopefully humorous reminisces of my Executive past – has for this episode only been transformed to the “Crypt”. Two reasons for this. Firstly this tale is a little more contemporary than most tales that reside in the … More Tales from the Crypt : Stan and Ollie
To achieve success and longevity in your Executive life you will require a certain number of key “skills” that you need to be able to seamlessly pick up along the way. It’s not a long list – relatively short on substance as well as quantity in truth – but it is essential to get to … More Tales from the Vault: a definitive guide to nailing a presentation, and how not to.
I’ve spent my whole career trying not to get typecast and pigeonholed. I mean really, who on earth would want to be Ken Barlow? Successfully manoeuvring between streams has afforded me that ultimate luxury of variety throughout my career and life. And with variety you have more chance of staving off boredom. And by staving … More Tales from the Vault: Square pegs and round holes
Given the ongoing state of chaos and confusion caused by the joust of the giant egos – Donald J T vs Kim J U – I thought it relevant to continue the delve into my executive past by again focussing on the two years of near constant chaos and confusion I spent back in South … More Tales from the Vault: Korean Curios
There is currently an understandable global furore around the potential of a looming Armageddon, as one totally insane world leader takes on the might of Kim Jong-Un. It reminds me of the two very enjoyable but totally bizarre years I spent 100 miles down the road from the epicentre of the current crisis, in Seoul. … More Tales from the Vault : Seoul Survivor
There is a saying that gets peddled by people far wiser than me that goes along the lines of “it’s not the destination that counts, but it’s what you learn on the journey”. Well I’m not so sure about that. If the destination involves a nice house high up in the hills, with an infinity … More Tales from The Vault (1)
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