Posts filed under 'Personal'

Leadership focus: do or delegate?

Phil Gerbyshak pitched in with a super comment on Make things better: aphorism or action item? :

… it may be something that you’d really rather not do, or something that really doesn’t make things better…at least not in the moment. I think the key is to focus on the big picture and see how this fits overall in your life. If you can find a way to fit it in there, it’s often worth doing.

The other thing that I find that often helps is finding someone else you can energize, because it’s more her/his strength than yours… .

I think Phil’s comment is right on the money: “do X” can be reframed as “delegate the doing of X to the most appropriate person.”

For example, after each meeting of the City of London Toastmasters Club , I used to help our Sergeant-at-Arms rearrange the chairs, take down the club banner and generally reset the room. It’s a mundane, but vital thing, because if we leave the room untidy, we might well lose our venue. But this year, I am President of the club. Is it right that I roll up my sleeves and move chairs? Or should I be talking to our guests and signing up new members?

I took the view that my role now is to represent the club with professionalism and show our guests the warmest possible welcome, not snub them because I am busy with heavy lifting. But what an uncomfortable transition. Those chairs need shifting, after all.

In the end, I reframed: instead of shifting the chairs myself, I remind our members to assist the Sergeant at Arms, leaving the VPs and me to talk with our guests and sign up those who wish to join.

Sometimes, leadership focus is as simple as turning “do” into “delegate.”

1 comment August 19th, 2005

Aaaaaaaah

Donna emailed me this BBC story about an orphaned dog today. Neither of us are pet people, but in Donna’s words, this warmed our cockles.

Filed under Personal , because I don’t have a Cute Dog category.

Add comment August 18th, 2005

Innuendo: a how to guide

OK, don’t blame me; this is all Brendan Connelly ’s fault. When it comes to a good innuendo, I really cannot help myself. Let me explain:

Three years ago, I had great success in my first Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest with a Speech entitled “Innuendo a how to guide.” A friend asked afterwards if the competition was very stiff and I had to tell her that it was hard for all the speakers. I stood up in suit and tie and used a very business-like format (tell ‘em what you are going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em, tell ‘em what you told ‘em) to explain that lowest form of humour. The speech began:

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Innuendo: a How to Guide. We’ll be covering all the basic techniques today: How to make your own innuendo. How to spot innuendos made by others. And, of course, how to draw attention correctly to the innuendos that you make or spot. Finally, we’ll look at career options. But first the history

I cited examples from Milton and Shakespeare and, of course, Frankie Howard in “Up Pompei.” I taught the audience how to make Conscious First Person Innuendo, or CFPI for short, and we even covered the dangers of unconscious innuendo:

It is possible of course to make an Unconscious First Person Innuendo… but, if you find it slipping out by accident on a regular basis, do see a doctor about that.

And those career options I mentioned:

By now, you’re having so much fun, you’re thinking “But how can I make a career out of innuendo?” The only answer is advertising. The big knobs in advertising use innuendo all the time. My current favourite is the poster on the Underground featuring four ladies and a tub of margarine with the slogan:

“Only one of these women is getting enough.”

Brendan just brought it all flooding back with this naughty little post: Penetrating insight . Unconscious Visual Innuendo at its finest. I salute you, sir.

I will admit, I was given pause for thought as I wrote this. What if readers are offended by this post, or indeed Brendan’s original? Then I remembered my advice to my audience three years ago:

Always remember the words of Humphrey Lyttleton from Radio 4:

“if people see something rude in it, very few of them complain, because that would be confessing that they saw something rude in it.”

So there you have it. If you’re wondering why you are laughing so hard, it’s because you have a filthy mind.

2 comments August 11th, 2005

All clear

The Guardian reports that today’s bomb attacks were probably intended to kill, but that the bombers failed .

Thank God for that.

Add comment July 21st, 2005

10 tips for safe cycling

Four things have converged to spur me to write this post: I got on my bike after a long hiatus; Todd Storch urged me to be careful, during a discussion we had about motorists who abuse cyclists; Mike Little came a cropper on his bike . Finally, following the attacks in London a few weeks ago, with the resulting disruption on public transport, I hear there has been a surge in bike sales in London.

So I face a catch-22 with this post. I want to encourage others to cycle, but I want to talk about the risks involved. I don’t know if I am pitching my advice correctly, but the context for my advice is this: I love cycling. I have been a cyclist for as long as I can remember, commuting through central London for years and, for over a year, working as a bike messenger. It’s a great way to get around, it’s environmentally friendly, it’s healthy and fun and I have made great friends with other cyclists. I have also hit the deck half a dozen times. Thankfully, I have never had an accident involving a motor vehicle.

All the good stuff far outweighs the risk for me and I hope that it does for you too. Cycling can be dangerous. That doesn’t mean don’t ride. It does mean take care. Here are my ten tips for cycling safely (mainly for UK cyclists, but as international as I can make them):

  1. Wear a helmet . When people talk with me about cycling in London, they invariably ask do I wear a pollution mask. I always reply “No, but I wear a helmet, because that’s the bit of me that I is in most immediate danger.”

  2. Know the rules of the road and stick to them - but don’t rely on others to do the same. It’s no good saying “I had the right of way” when they are scraping you off the road and putting you in an ambulance. What I mean here is: don’t you be the one who causes an accident because you break the rules.

  3. Concentrate. It’s easy to drop your head when you are tired or you are having gear trouble. Don’t. You have to know what is going on around you. You can develop the concentration habit by keeping up a commentary in your head of what you see and your responses (left turn coming up… green Audi turning in front of me… no… he is giving way… lights are red… there’s a queue… I’m going up the left hand side… I’m watching for car doors… etc etc).

  4. Be a mind reader. You can’t see into the future, but you can develop good instincts. For example: big traffic jam? Then motorists will be impatient and erratic. They might U-turn or duck into a side road without signalling. If a bus stops, watch out for pedestrians stepping out from behind the bus and watch the other side of the road for peds running to catch it. Be aware of the time of day, too: if you pass a school, for example, is it “home time?”

  5. Look behind you. Look behind whenever you turn or change lanes and whenever you approach a junction or piece of traffic furniture, whether you intend to turn or not. This will literally save your life.

  6. Signal your intentions clearly. People give you more space if they know where you are going. If you can, identify the danger man or woman (the motorist who is on your shoulder, the pedestrian who is day dreaming) and make eye contact. Be ready to shout too (go for assertive, not rude), to make your intentions clear.

  7. Use bus lanes - but keep looking behind, however, for motorists who use bus lanes illegally. These guys will squeeze past you. It’s safest just to get to the kerb and let them go past. Bus drivers are generally patient because they know a stop is coming up anyway, but occasionally a bus driver will be an idiot. Avoid the centre of bus lanes, that’s where buses drop diesel fuel and it’s like riding on ice, especially in the wet.

  8. Use cycle lanes - but remember you are not obliged to use them. Many are designed more for the convenience of the motorist than the safety of the cyclist. If the cycle lane is tricky and dangerous, use the regular road instead, then rejoin the cycle lane when it is safe to do so.

  9. Speed is your friend. Counter intuitive, I know, but if you ride briskly, it is easier to keep your balance and you are less likely to annoy motorists. If you keep up with the traffic, instead of holding it up, motorists generally treat you with more respect and give you more room to manoeuvre.

  10. If necessary, drop your bike. Mike knew he wasn’t going to stop in time, so he put the bike on it’s side and slid to a stop. If you have the choice between laying the bike down and getting some gravel rash or going head first into a solid object, go with the gravel rash every time. Cuts and scrapes heal far faster than broken bones and internal injuries.

All of that deals with the business of staying safe in the face of everyday hazards. There is one final thing I want to share:

Never, ever get into a fight with a “bike-hater.” This is the motorists who is angry with you, or who is angry with his spouse/boss/kids/world and you are the nearest target. The warning signs are erratic or aggressive driving, rude hand gestures, verbal abuse. This is the person who deliberately blocks bicycle lanes, or who passes you with only a hair’s breadth between his wing mirror and your handlebars, then shouts abuse if you complain. Very rarely, it can escalate to objects being thrown at you, car doors being opened in your path, sometimes even to full on ramming. Don’t let it get that far.

The only way to tackle a bike-hater is not to tackle him at all. Simply get off the road to a place of safety as quickly as you can. If you feel threatened, get help. If that means walking up to the nearest building and ringing the bell, or walking into a shop to ask for help, do it. As soon as it is safe to do so, ring the police with your location and the car’s number plate.

You will want to fight back, your pride will be hurt, but never let that tempt you into escalating a confrontation. Let’s be clear about this: you might be in the right, but your antagonist has over a ton of metal at his disposal. When a cyclist mixes it up with a motorist, the cyclist will always lose. Just let the motorist go.

Like I said at the beginning, please don’t let any of this put you off. These tips are not to frighten you, but to help you have a safe and enjoyable time on your bike. Keep riding. Your confidence and fitness will improve quickly. Get together with other riders, informally, or through the London Cycling Campaign or the CTC or any other cycling club. Encourage others to get on their bikes, because the more of us who cycle, the safer it gets for everyone. And if you are in East London or Essex, look me up and we can go cycling together.

Above all, ride safely.

6 comments July 21st, 2005

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