Category Archives: Perception
Never take NO

Never take “no” from someone who does not also have the power to say “yes”. – Eleanor Roosevelt I’m inspired by this, and I often focus the topic of efficacy: ie, our understanding of our capacity to Get Stuff ….»
Visualisation

I’m increasingly attracted to using ‘focusing’ or visualisation activities, in both my own practice and my own business, and with my coaching clients. The foundation of this is the idea that, to the extent that we can visualise and ….»
Profit and value creation

… The fundamental mission of a business (is) not profit, but value creation. It sees profit as a vital consequence of value creation – a means rather than an end, a result as opposed to a purpose. The Loyalty ….»
Altruism in business

A kind of dog-eat-dog mindset seems to be at the heart of many business cultures, capitalism framed as ‘looking after number one’, and if that has to happen at the expense of another, then sorry, it’s just business. I ….»
What you measure is what you get

Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible. – Milton Friedman I ….»
Creative learning gets you high

When you are involved in a pleasurable social learning experience, your brain is stimulated by a series of natural chemicals – dopamine, adrenalin and endorphins – often associated with the high experienced using drugs such as cocaine. Human beings ….»
Rope sight

In the 16th Century, due to radically improved bell technology, the English developed church bell-ringing into a fabulously complex art form. ‘Ringing the hours’ is a method for ringing a set of bells in various combinations (many with evocative ….»
The placebo effect

The placebo effect I have a little business on the side, one that grew from a conversation about marketing – and specifically, the trade in intangibles or the ‘experience economy’. It’s called Universal Placebos, and it’s built around the extraordinary ….»
Persistence

A number of Edgeware presenters, and writers on entrepreneurship generally, emphasise the value of persistence, of constant striving and application to your business goals. But if you feel you’re not strongly inclined this way, how might you develop this core ….»
Optical illusions

What is this? We often use optical illusions in Edgeware presentations. They break the ice, and they are a good leader into our position that *the way we see the world is the way the world becomes*. There’s ….»
High touch, high concept

Interesting to hear the increasing use of the word ‘touch’ in marketing: how many times, and in what way, does your product message and brand ‘touch’ your customers? Daniel Pink says that products and services of the ‘concept economy’ focus ….»
Nouns & verbs

Things are fast and getting faster. Whole industry groups, whole professions, are disappearing from view. Who would have thought 10 years ago that General Motors and Chrysler would go broke? What’s missing, and where’s the opportunity? It’s not a ….»
Your business as your baby

Starting up, emerging entrepreneurs need mentors, coaches and critical friends. We can think of these as the uncles and aunts to the growing baby. (Edgies so often claim they feel that their *business is their baby*, with all the ….»
Happiness comes from experiences, not things

From the blog Neuronarrative Not only are people happier experiencing than possessing, but they are also happier having the experience of thinking about possessing something than actually getting it. Understanding that bit of knowledge about ourselves goes a long ….»
Decisions on intangibles

Intangible values (e.g. brands, data bases, expert knowledge, leadership, productivity) are increasingly important in markets – at least if we use the instrument of stock market valuations rather than the those of accountants. How might we consider them in ….»
Thinking/doing good

“Doing good makes us feel good. Altruism enhances our self-esteem. It gets our eyes off ourselves, makes us less self-preoccupied, gets us closer to the unself-consciousness that characterizes the flow state” (1). In other words, caring for others creates a ….»
How trees grow

It sounds counter-intuitive that, while a tree is rooted in the ground, it actually feeds on what it extracts from the air. I think this is a compelling metaphor for business (and life, if it comes to it): we ….»
Love signals real

In this Age of Metaphor, love will be the signal of real. One of the ways we will know when a thing has passed from “as-if” to “is” is when it earns unalloyed love from humans. Kevin Kelly, As ….»
3D business plans

At Edgeware’s first Upload Young Entrepreneurs Camp (Jan 12-16, 2009) we tried out our first 3D Business Plan. Everyone selected materials and objects which represented elements of their plan, then arranged and connected these to indicate the dynamics of ….»
Positive psychology

Positive Psychology has three central concerns: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Understanding positive emotions entails the study of contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future. Understanding positive individual traits ….»
Not-Design

Sitting last week in a workshop on the theme of ‘design’ I found myself uncomfortable with the tone and tenor of the offering. I realized eventually that the source of this discomfort was the assumption on the part ….»
6 Word Memoirs

Smith Magazine invites us to summarise our lives in six words – ‘Six Word Memoirs’. I thought, ‘Easy! I have the Edgeware motto, near enough to six words: make money, have fun, change the world. I could lose the article ….»
Coach as Cartographer

Everyone is coaching or being coached; there are life coaches, career coaches, personal coaches, fitness coaches, executive coaches, coaches for getting out of bed in the morning and coaches for getting to sleep at night. Why do we need coaches ….»
Intentionality and Creative Leadership

I’m fascinated by the emerging field of ‘experimental philosophy‘, where it seems that philosophers are stepping away from their armchairs and using research methods from psychology to tackle philosophical questions. Like intentionality. This is interesting enough in itself, but just ….»
360 Degrees

I’ve noticed that I’ll often use optical illusions or some kind of perceptual trick in my presentations, to indicate not only how easy it is to trick the eye or the brain, but that the way see the world is ….»