Inspirational Leadership Story 1 - What connects mental health, living longer and Big Bold Goals?
These are three areas that I’m absolutely fascinated by. It just so happens that a couple of months ago, Netflix launched a series that linked these topics together.
Dan Buettner has spent much of his career researching what are called Blue Zones - areas where more people live significantly longer than average.
Initially, he researched and found the patterns that linked these areas including Okinawa in Japan; Ikaria in Greece; Sardinia; Nicoya in Costa Rica; and Loma Linda in, California.
One of the key foundations was that of “belonging” and being part of what the Japanese call a MOAI - a circle of friends who support and encourage each other through life (The mental health platform I work with took its name MOAI Health from this concept).
There are a series of other foundations including movement, diet, and outlook on life which Buettner explains brilliantly in the 4 part Netflix series - Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones.
The final part in his jigsaw is taking the insights he gathered and setting his own Big Bold Goals to launch new Blue Zones across America. To see the impact of what he has to done to increase the number of good quality years that people live for when they follow these ideas is hugely inspirational.
If you want to be inspired to live longer, to have better mental health and to get inspiration for your own Big Bold Goals, I highly recommend watching!
Inspirational Leadership Story 2 - Delete Delete Delete
Taking more inspiration from audacious leaders I’ve just finished listening to Elon Musk’s new biography by Walter Isaacson.
Amongst the many insights in there is the notion of 'delete delete delete'. What can you do to delete things in your business, processes and life that have been there historically but just don’t serve the purpose when held up to the light of day?
Whilst you may not agree with his approach to compassion and being more human, there is no question, he is doing things that create extraordinary results. I truly believe we should take insights wherever we can in our quest to move forward.
It’s fascinating to see his approach to rockets and cars where he challenges why this part is here and why is that part there. Who set those requirements and does it need to be there? Run an experiment without it and see what happens. It’s an approach to leave no stone unturned to find a path forward that most others would not see.
With that in mind, what could you delete from your working day, your processes, your business? Would it save time and money? Would there be a net saving? What experiments could you run?