From the Desk of Caspar
Why would you choose to compete on price?
So my wife got a new hair dryer last week.
Hair dryers. Not something I know a huge amount about (despite having big hair).
I assumed it was a commodity product differentiated only on price.
Not this bad boy.
This one is roughly 3 x the price of your usual hair dryer (and could be more than that).
How has James Dyson managed to change the hair dryer market?
By approaching it differently to just about everybody else.
By selling something different.
By making it about the experience.
If Dyson can do that with hair dryers what could you do to create something in your business that can sell for 3x the rest of the market?
Once you truly grapple with and get this level of thinking in your business you have the seeds of a business that is capable of running without you.
Tip: If you want an extraordinary business, one where you are NOT seen as a commodity interchangeable on price alone, then you need to shift the thinking in your business (see the link for our upcoming 3 day Thrive: Money event).
In the Spotlight
It’s been a crazy few weeks of travel to Turkey, Greece and around the UK. One of the more memorable moments was to be talking about leadership and resilience at the British Embassy in Athens on the day that Britain shared it’s Brexit plans!
Hover Motorbikes
I can't think of a more exciting time to be alive: so many innovations in so many fields.
A brief story about belief...
It’s about an organisation called PiXL.
Some years ago a head teacher retired.
He was asked to help with 19 struggling schools.
12-18 months later the trajectory of schools was fundamentally changing.
He was asked to work with a further 35 schools.
All Government funded.
Same outcome: thriving schools.
Government funding dried up.
The head teacher was asked by the schools to carry on and they would find a way to fund him and the work.
That organisation now works with some 2000 schools in the U.K.
The head teacher is Sir John Rowling.
I had the honour of sharing stories with Sir John and 150 of those school leaders today.
I had the pleasure of half an hour chatting to Sir John before and after my talk today.
I also asked what was the single most important thing he did to transform schools.
Anyone guess what he said?
It was all around Belief.
Getting your team to believe they can be more, to be better.
Tip: What can you do to make your teams believe? Build on the things they already do well.
Surviving to Thriving
We are running a day event on February 11, 12 and 13 on how How to create a business that can run without you so that you can thrive with your own life changing experiences.
You will not want to miss this event if you can identify with any of these issues:
You feel you are doing everything on your own and aren’t earning enough money
You have a lack of belief or You don’t know to make it happen
You know your business model is broken - you are seen as an interchangeable commodity.
As with everything in life, you have options:
Do nothing and “hope” it gets better
Be Brave (both in business and life) and find a path through.
We’d like to be your guides and steer you through a path that will set your ideas and thoughts in a direction to creating a life where you are truly living on your own terms.
In a years time, you will be somewhere. The ONLY question is where that somewhere will be.
Be a Better Leader
One simple thing you can do today
Don't wait for things to go wrong before you look to do things differently, look at everything with 'fresh eyes'.
Thought for the Day
Don’t wait for perfect. It will always keep you waiting.
Gaining Clarity
Working too hard.Earning too little?
That was the brutally frank conversation I had to have with all the team in my business.
Everyone knew it. No-one was saying it. Someone had to call it out.
And then figure out a way to do something about it.
The WORST part was living in denial.
Pretending it wasn't happening.
It was the same conversation at home. Or rather the lack of the conversation around it.
Be honest... Who else feels like that?
Working too hard AND Earning too little.
The **answer** I tried for a long time was piling on new things.
New ideas. New initiatives. New projects.
What happened? I got overwhelmed.
Worked harder. Nothing changed.
I banged my head on that brick wall for a LONG time.
The eventual answer was Counter-Intuitive. It started by taking things out.
What space can I create? To think. To learn. To get clarity.
To come up with better strategies for moving forwards in life and business.
SO... One simple action.
What can you stop doing today that will free up more time for you to get greater clarity on where to go from here?
Just one thing. What is it going to be?
Upcoming Adventures and Events
December 3 - Surviving to Thriving Workshop
December 5 - Autonomy Program, London
December 7 - Keynote, London
December 12 - Coaching Day, London
December 13 - Thrive Workshop, Surrey
December 14 - Coaching Day, London
December 15 - Literary Event/ Book Signing - Oxford
December 19 - Training Event - London
“What started out as an interesting story about making a life-changing decision to sail around the world with a young family turned into something much deeper for our team. People opened up to him about their own families and goals, their hopes and fears, and the light bulb went off: our personal values and purpose aren’t necessarily separate from those of our organization—in fact, they should be complementary. If not, the notion of a satisfying professional and personal life will remain elusive. ”