Category Archives: Knowledge
Practical wisdom

I’m inspired by a presentation at the 2009 TED Conference from Barry Schwartz on the increasing need and value of what he calls ‘practical wisdom.’ He actually mentions Aristotle and the Greek values understood as the ‘virtues’ at one point, ….»
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 ….»
Failures are inveitable! Brave failures are necessary!

Some formulae … High Self-Efficacy: Failure = lack of effort Low Self-Efficacy: Failure = lack of ability A Brave Failure = learning + spur to greater effort or effect A Brave Failure builds resilience Effort & ….»
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 ….»
Coaches as Uncles and Aunts

Putting together a coaching bureau is an interesting challenge. I’ve been working on this for some months, gathering together half a dozen friends and colleagues with coaching experience in a group I hope will make a very wide range ….»
Speaking at the Hive
I was asked to give a short talk at a Brisbane networking function called The Hive on 30 June 09, on the topic of ‘entrepreneurship’. The talk was filmed, and video is now on Youtube, but to save the bother ….»
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 ….»
Speaking at the Brisbane Ideas Festival
I was invited to convene a session at the Brisbane Ideas Festival in March 2009, a panel on the topic of Creative Entrepreneurs: The Artists of Commerce. I selected a group of Edgies from a variety of businesses and a ….»
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 ….»
Hard Wired for Stories

We are social animals We are hard wired for stories We use stories to sing the world: Body as Land, Land as Story Discourses arrive after the singing, as both agents and actors We make category errors all the time, ….»
Physician, heal thyself

A working hypothesis: every coach needs a coach. Like every shrink needs a shrink. Something about keeping yourself honest, setting up a sounding board for reflection on the practice, shrugging off the Mantle of the Expert (something I learned from ….»
Incompleteness

“In 1931, the Czech-born mathematician Kurt Gödel demonstrated that within any given branch of mathematics, there would always be some propositions that couldn’t be proven either true or false using the rules and axioms … of that mathematical branch itself. ….»
Dancing About Architecture

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Laurie Anderson In 1994 we stayed for a couple of nights with our friend Klaus Maier, Director of Theater von Menschen für Menschen in Nürnberg. Not a terribly gloomy place – I ….»