From the Desk of Caspar
Building Belief
I always used to think that "belief" was just something you had like it magically appears. It used to frustrate me like crazy because I was waiting for it to appear.
What I found is that belief is a skill set. You deliberately, specifically and consciously create it for both yourself and your teams.
Cultivate belief by:
👉creating the simple, powerful story of what you want the future to look like
👉 rehearsing that story in your mind so often and deliberately that it starts to appear as real
👉 surrounding yourself with people who will help and encourage you on your journey
👉 celebrating all the small wins on the way because small wins lead to bigger wins
👉 consistently put in the work and develop the skills every single day to move you forwards.
Tip: Think of belief as a skill set. It’s something you have to build deliberately, specifically and consciously.
Mental Health
It’s was mental health day last week.
My friend Guy Tolhurst shared a fascinating statistic that surprised me. It was this:
"Tech workers are five times more likely to experience depression"
He went further as to why:
One explanation is that the break neck speed of evolution in tech has given rise to an ‘always-on’ culture
The expectation of high performance often comes with high levels of pressure, stress and unrealistic expectations
What came out loud and clear is the evidence that a focus on #wellbeing is key to innovation, problem solving and performance.
Tip: I couldn’t agree more. It’s so important to disconnect and get back in the real world as opposed to the always connected world.
Our New CFO
We have a new high level appointment in our family team.
We have a Chief Fitness Officer.
It’s Willow our 7 year old who has taken to the responsibility with enthusiasm and is holding us all to account on our weekly activity.
Having a healthy and fit lifestyle is one way to tackle depression. Having your children involved is a fun way to make sure everyone gets involved.
Here’s our CFO hard at work holding us accountable:
Tip: Keep it healthy and involve all your team to stay fit
Johann Hari
Following the mental health theme, this is a powerful talk by Johann Hari which touches on 9 different reasons for depression and the fact that depression is pointing towards an unmet need in your life.
In the Spotlight
I’m just back from Dublin presenting the opening keynote to 600 health and fitness leaders around the world on the topic of “Team Dynamics in a Changing World” at the IHRSA 2019 European Congress.
IHRSA’s mission is one I wholeheartedly agree with:
“its about improving health and fitness levels around the world”
Simple and powerful. It was fascinating to hear about the trends shaping the health and fitness world and how the movers and shakers are innovating and disrupting the industry in different countries.
It’s been a buzzing event (translated simultaneously into 7 different languages) and perhaps unsurprisingly the hotel gym was already packed by 6am this morning!
One attendee kindly posted this pic on Instagram of my summing up of the key messages on how to build a winning team:
And also lovely to be back in the media - it’s all about building skill sets…thanks to NatWest for the interview & quotes in this article about the Growth Mindset.
Be a Better Leader
Two things that I’ve learnt from studying the man Steve Jobs described as his hero.
And the book recommendation which is fantastic on Leonardo da Vinci is here.
PS. If you like this, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel to get these tips every week rather than just every fortnight.
Thought for the Day
So often we focus on whats wrong and what we want to see less of. I've learnt from building teams both in business and with my family that a far more impactful strategy is to encourage people by letting them know what they are doing well.
It might be big things or it might be small details.
I've yet to meet someone who doesn't respond well to be encouraged by letting them know what they do well.
“I had the immense pleasure to listen to Caspar’s amazing leadership talk at IHRSA European Congress in Dublin in oct 2019. What an amazing adventure and life lessons as they planned this amazing round the world sailing trip on a boat with young children, and of course lived though the challenges to be able to tell a great story. Thank you Caspar. At my station of life, I needed many of the reinforcements I received through your talk as well as through the one on one session we had. Highly grateful! Keep rocking and keep changing lives to people. God bless! ”