One of the things I find fascinating about running my own business is observing how in tune (or not) I might be with this 'thing' I am creating. Where is it going, what is it doing, who do we need to help us along our way...With my natural controlling tendancies I often want to manage the process and put nice structures in and whilst that is a very useful thing to do (especially when trying to create a scalable model), too much of that limits the scope of my thinking, putting a cap on opportunity and growth. I notice that when I do take a step back interesting people and opportunities appear (often people - including potential clients - who I might have given up hope on). So, whilst I often think of breaks as 'luxuries' I am increasingly realising that taking a regular 'mental' step away (in this case - a weekend on the south coast with my grandmother who doesn't give two hoots about my business - she just wants to make sure I am fed good 'n' proper) is as necessary as doing my VAT return.

The challenge of juggling detailed operational thinking with big picture strategic stuff is part of what I love about my life, but sometimes I get the wrong thinking style going at the wrong moment with very frustrating consequences. I think I am going to start breaking my week and days into operational detail work and the big picture stuff - perhaps by using these two categories when drafting my to-do list, I might be able to use my brain in a more effective way.

I have also hugely enjoyed a book recently that has really challenged some ideas that I have held. 'Talent is Overrated' by Geoff Colvin is a treatise of hope about what it takes to be a high performance individual. He brings to life the idea of 'deliberate practice' and debunks the myth of innate extraordinary performance - its all down to specific practice...which if I can bring that to my working life should help me achieve some of my long-term goals (although I hope I have made some headway as he states that it usually takes 'ten years' of four hours of deliberate practice a day as the benchmark for any extraordinary achievement). Its already had an impact in a couple of areas where I realise I had told (sold!) myself that 'I'm just not good at that...' - I realise now that I had given myself a great get-out clause that justified avoiding just doing the work. Ouch!

Meeting with my mentor

I met with Caroline this week and she has set me a challenge to meet with three HR Directors before we next. I have managed to set up two meetings so far and just need to find one other. Caroline has also been flying my flag and has already introduced me to someone pretty senior and experienced operating in our area of interest.

Intense Experience
My hour and a half with her was an incredibly positively intense experience. What was great was that in spite of identifying a number of gaps in my knowledge and work the way she approached it was so supportive and helpful that in spite of my 'Doh!' moments she always made me feel like everything was completely natural and that we were doing a good job.

Given the difference just one session has made has made me feel so enthused about the future.

This week has been about lead generating and creating our 2009 overview. We have been pretty successful at generating some new leads as well as helping my existing team produce some strong results.

So far..

I am meeting with Caroline next week and have sent her over various things to look through (business plan; marketing materials etc).

What's been going on

We just completed a foundation programme this week with a group of students from Essex and the last day was held at Skanska at St Paul's. We also saw a real behavioural shift amongst another group of students we are working with from Paddington Academy.

At the previous session (held about 2 weeks ago) they were 45 minutes late. For the session we held with them this Tuesday one group was an hour early (getting to the venue at 8am) and everyone was there at least 30 mins early. So something obviously shifted.

What's next

Next week I am drafting a potential leadership development programme with Virgin focussing on a Summer Success School for our students based on the Virgin values and 'Star employee model'.

We also had a meeting about a potential JV which we have put on ice and we have sent out our first 'we're hiring' communication.