5 Year's Time

Where you will be in 5 years time?!

I received this image this morning. It came as an email attachment reading;

“I really don’t do this to make you feel bad or to make myself feel good, just to share the awesomeness with my best friends. Check out my view on the way to work this morning!”

The image is of a beach somewhere in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Garth, who took the photo, is one of my closest friends. The email was sent to me and Liam, another close mate, who is based in London. The 3 of us are on other ends of the world, yet continue to share our lives with each other. Thanks to technology we can remain ‘virtually’ connected which will never make up for physical connections, but none the less makes a big difference. It is not so much the image that is significant but rather the story behind how Garth ended up taking it (this would take hundreds of pages to explain) But I know it. Liam knows it. Garth knows it. Over a period of years we have laughed, lived, loved, cried, struggled, prayed, married our sweethearts, dived, fished, surfed & partied together. What I treasure most is that these friendships are based on a genuine desire to see what’s best for each other become a reality.

Why is this significant? I recently read a quote that said “Where you will be in 5 years time depends on two things: the books you read and the people you are in relationship with!”

Books I can understand. Relationships make even more sense. Since I read the quote I have begun to think about who I hang with. After some reflecting I realised how significant a role most of those people play in my life. Many of those relationships are edifying. My friends energise me rather than drain me, support me rather than disqualify me, give me feedback and speak the truth rather than let me continue with negative traits and habits and are encouraging rather than self seeking.

Here are 4 questions I would really like you to reflect on seriously:

What are some of the words you would use to describe the relationships you are in?
Which relationships influence you the most, be it positive or negative?
What do these relationships mean for your future?
Who could you spend more time with, whose qualities and successes you aspire toward?

If you realise that you need to make some changes then I encourage you to act on these changes soon. Know that change in this department is difficult. Some relationships (family, spouse etc) you cannot simply break away from. By increasing the time you give to more positive relationships, the ability for you to impact positively and breakthrough relationship challenges increases.

Sometime this year I will post the same image that I have posted today. Except I will be behind the camera in Tanzania building memories with mates who I am willing to pay good money and fly many miles to hang with again and again and again and …

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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com

How Much Fun Do You Have?

I am not sure why, but this week I felt compelled to write on fun. I guess you could also call it rest. Those moments when we refuel our energy wells and disconnect from what it is we are constantly applying our focus upon. I remember walking through the streets of Barcelona last year and walking straight into a couple dancing. It was the middle of the day, in the middle of the busy street and this couple just decided to stop and enjoy the music which some buskers were providing.

This picture of rest and fun could possibly be springing to mind given we are now in the middle of March. We have probably all being pretty gung ho as we started 2010, but the big question is:

‘How are you feeling Right Now?’

I recall a story which involved some of our Appletree associates. They got to do some work with a Hospital down on the South Coast of KZN. They enquired as to when the busiest time of the year was for the staff. December and January was the obvious reply, but not for obvious reasons! You would have thought it had to do with road accidents and party related incidents. Actually, this particular time of year was notorious for something called ‘Executive Syndrome’. In a nutshell, the wards would fill up with executives from business as far as Johannesburg with cardiac and organ failure issues. Why? No rest. No Fun. Go Go Go! The entire year was all about pushing through, engaging, working. No break. When the body finally got a small chance it took all the rest it could get.

I feel, at this time of year, it is NB for us to reflect on how we are feeling. It is still very possible for us to break any habits we have crept into for the year. I have posted articles before on energy management and re-filling your energy tanks so to speak. In this article I simply want to challenge you to have some fun. Do it right now. This weekend coming up is a long weekend - what are your plans? do they involve fun? will you be resting?

The greatest challenge for us, yet the most rewarding practice we can do is to get out of our heads and into our bodies. Hence the question - how do you feel? Stop with the over thinking, the worry, the anxiety, the responsible you and get out and play.

May you never think of yourself as to old, or to responsible to play, have fun, dance and ultimately... thrive in 2010.

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Travis Gale has spent the last 5 years running his own development business in South Africa’s corporate world and is currently involved in various long term partnerships with clients across a number of industries. Furthermore he has travelled to conferences internationally hunting down latest trends and insights. Having cycled around the world and survived a tsunami, his passion for crossing borders often lends itself to an interesting blend of stories and insight. He sees himself as a ‘change catalyst’ and displays strength in facilitating insight into the right spaces. Find out more at www.appletreelive.com

Brand Trust Signals

Following on from last weeks article on trust signals, I stumbled across a very interesting statistic. A couple weeks back I listened to some very interesting speakers at the Flux Trends conference in JHB. Led by Dion Chang, a number of speakers delivered insightful presentations on various topics, one of which was Simon Bond from Proximity Media.

One of his statements was:
‘6-8% of consumers trust what a company has to say about its brand. 98% of consumers trust what other consumers say about the brands they use’.

That is a very important statistic! The fact is, that engaging consumers is no longer about broadcasting. Engaging consumers is a dialogue. The customer is now saying “Involve me and I will understand!”. The necessary risk in a new reality is that we hand over our brands to our consumers. Because if they love it, it will spread. Take the the Nike T90 campaign. Here is a huge brand who, rather than spend millions on media and television broadcasting, choose to use the powerful medium of You Tube to engage their consumers and raise the profile of their brand. Using a handy cam they shoot Wayne Rooney performing what can only be described as an inspiring piece of fancy footwork! Take a look at the following link to see the clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z4KIA2Cq_c) The clip does not end up on television, but rather on You Tube where it spreads like wild fire. Why? because their is a challenge attached - do what he did, film it and send it in. Those who create the most creative clip get to spend a day with Rooney himself picking up some football tips!

This really makes sense to me. In fact in recent discussions with some of my clients I have replaced the word ‘consumer’ with the word ‘employee’ when it comes to the above statistic. Fact is, a small amount of employees trust what the company has to say and a large amount of them listen to colleagues and friends. In a nutshell, they are simply consumers of a product called employment. Like consumers employees too want to be involved in the development of a company’s brand.

FACT! Engaging your employees around your brand is more about talking and dialogue than it is about broadcasting your vision, values and expectations. You are simply going to have to involve them!

You know what I am loving. The world is changing. In the years leading up to now you have had a choice whether you embrace trends or whether you stick to formula’s that work for you - because you could. The new reality, I believe, is one where you are simply going to have to change and begin the journey of engaging with your consumers or employees in fresh new ways. Why - because we are witnessing a consumer revolution which is both exciting and challenging all in one!

So, whoever you are - are you telling or talking, broadcasting or dialoging. Cause no matter what, there needs to be a pretty good reason why others will choose to follow you.

May you embrace the change!

Trust Signals

“You can always trust a yamaha!”

Jan was sitting in the pub. It was the 3rd night on a nice long fishing trip up near Xai-Xai, Mozambique. The first two days of fishing had been productive on the ski’s despite the long days of paddling and working the waters. The offer from Jan to crew his boat the next day was met by much excitement by ol Bundu and myself... anything to get out on a boat and catch a heap more cuta.

The last 15 years of diving has taught me to have a healthy respect for the ocean and in particular to be fussy about the craft I use! I immediately started to worry when I heard Jan working his engines late that night. They weren’t turning over. He worked on them for hours until eventually they got warm. When we arrived at his boat the next morning I got even more concerned at the state of the boat! There was fuel on the floor, hatches couldn’t lock, no emergency equipment...

Bundu and I let our eagerness get the better of us. Despite me asking him to warm up the engines in the lake, we headed down straight to the launch site. Jan’s plan was to put the boat in the shorebreak and warm them there. A few minutes later we were bouncing around in the wash, Bundu and I holding the boat, when Jan screamed “Lets go!” I challenged him on the cold engines but he was insistent so I hopped on board. We lurched forward into the mid break in decent sized surf. Then it happened. Dead engines. This is extremely dangerous and I immediately began to plan my escape. Suddenly the engines fired. Jan grabbed the wheel and threw the throttles down full tilt! We simply crashed through the surf at breakneck speed. I held on for dear life and was amazed to see we were still upright a few seconds later just behind the breakers. Jan turned to me and exclaimed...

“You can always trust a yamaha!”

The whole day was a nightmare. Jan insisted on taking us 23km out to sea. His boat nearly sank, his fishing tactics were messy. Fact is - despite beautiful mozambique waters all I wanted to do was get back to the beach.

Trust signals are actions that we take which either build up trust or break it down. Jan’s actions meant I was focussed on survival and had to be continually aware of inherent dangers. I was not focussed on the possibilities but rather fearful and desperate to get out of the boat. His signals pushed me away from him rather than toward him.

Like Jan, you too send out trust signals. Examine your actions and ask yourself if there is anything you could do differently to ensure that people will ‘go out to sea’ with you.

We stuck to the Ski’s from then on!