I spent 20 years in executive search, and I was hired by my clients to call 'the most successful people' in the world. Bold face names in bold face organisations. It was my job to recruit them away on behalf of my clients- it would sound difficult right? I would call super successful people and try to get them to do something different. However it wasn't that hard, because despite all the success, which is why I was calling them, they were not very happy which is why they were calling me back.
— Laura Gassner OttingIt's naïve to think that financial markets are not part of the battlefield.
It's tougher being a leader now, in 2022, than it was in 1982 when I joined the Foreign Office. Leaders are examined much more closely, and constantly, now than they were in the past.
Our role as coaches is essentially to help players utilise 100% of their potential. That, to me, is the essence of our job.
When you're behind a camera, you have this incredible power to freeze a moment in time. But with that power comes responsibility. You're not just taking a picture, you're creating a narrative, you're telling a story.
There's a disease shared between individuals who consider themselves the smartest people in the room that makes them think they'll be the ones that get out just in time, while others are left holding the bag. That was true for a few people, but in general… someone will always be left holding the bag.
The rest of the world sees us as the country who had the biggest empire in the world, we don't. That creates a gap in understanding.
Authenticity- for me- is incredibly important. It's easy to spot the difference between acting and authentic performance- even though it may seem a contradiction in terms. When you're acting, 10% of you needs to be conscious of what you're doing, and 90% lost in the moment.
My mother's unbelievable parenting in deploying enormous self-esteem and confidence meant I believed in myself in a way that was blind. The best entrepreneurs are the most optimistic and completely out of tune with reality right? Why would you do it otherwise. My father made me a word-is-bond, word-is-everything, shake a hand and stick to it kinda' guy. That combined with blind faith and belief has become an amazing concoction and something I live-off even today.
I often describe a Grand Slam as a marathon, not a sprint. It involves enduring extremely long matches, seven times over two weeks. In tennis, those who sprint don't make it to the finish line.
Though I'm not a politician or involved in politics, I found myself deeply entrenched in the political world because decisions about our bodies aren't made in clinics or doctor's offices. They're made in Westminster. When you step into those corridors of power, it's astonishing to witness the detachment many decision-makers have from real-life issues.
Institutional investors are decidedly more process-oriented in their due diligence, with a quantitative focus, while their non-institutional counterparts generally have a more qualitative approach and require fewer data points in the course of their due diligence.
I first heard about Twitter through a journalist friend of mine called India Knight. She said, 'it's fantastic, like a cocktail party where all of your best friends have turned up!'- she was right, it was like that, for about 15 seconds….