Reflections

Week Ending 27th November

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Balance

Many decades ago, I was in officer training. Much of it, I remember, involved us carrying telegraph poles mile after mile across Northumberland peat bogs while unpleasant people chased us. One of the training mantras was, “if it hurts, you’re doing it wrong”. They were right. There's a way to do even arduous things if you get the technique right. I wasn’t sure then that this was a transferable skill, but it was an important lesson.

Instead of carrying telegraph poles of peat bogs, think about how we run meetings. I think there’s a parallel - carrying something of questionable importance, ploughing through mud, while being measured by unpleasant people on the basis of performance for its own sake.

At least the telegraph poles involved fresh air.

The thought crossed my mind as I returned from a trip to London on Frida…