Westwood Coaching
We hear lots of organisations speak about their values especially in terms of fairness and equality. A lot of the time you are left wondering if this is simply virtue signalling rather than the truth. What does an organisation that REALLY lives its values look like?
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. John F. Kennedy
This was a key phrases from an address he gave at the University of North Dakota in September 1963. It is often used as a motivational phrase, and can be found on any number of web sites if you Google it. Viewed from the perspective of a motivational sound bite, this makes perfect sense. I’ve paraphrased this before in previous blogs as “success doesn’t come looking for you, you go looking for it”.
I am not sure how many people know that Brian May’s iconic and signature “Red Special” guitar, was built by him and his father (who was an electronics engineer) when May was a teenager. So songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody were recorded on a guitar that was built with wood from an 18th century fireplace, had a fingerboard lacquered with Rustin’s Plastic coating and a tremolo arm made from an old bicycle saddlebag topped with a knob off a knitting needle.
It would be disingenuous to conclude that the “Red Special” is just cobbled together. May and his father (according to May) spent many hours hand shaping and sanding the guitar body until it was just right. As his father was an engineer by trade, he set high standards and the guitar had to be just right. There are other personal touches, as the dots on the fret board are old mother of pearl buttons and you will notice that on the headstock there is a sixpence.
What does it mean to be really driven by success? We often hear people talk about career success using words such as drive, focus, passion and commitment. We should also acknowledge for many small businesses attributes such as dedication and self-sacrifice are part of the landscape. But what is reality?
In a Sunday Times article last year, there was a joint interview of James Dyson and his son Jake. Jake recalled how, when his father was developing his bagless vacuum cleaners, he built 5127 prototypes before he got the concept right. Yes, 5127! Can you imagine the long hours and the challenges of trying to fund this work as well as deal with a young family?
