LinkyBrains LinkyBrains
I saw the best conversation on LinkedIn I’ve ever read two weeks ago. Actually, it’s amongst the only conversations on LinkedIn I’ve ever read, because it was an actual discussion. Like old style blogging with considered comments. Alex Dunsdon, Chris Tottman and Doug Scott asking why corporates don’t focus resource on individuals who think differently. I tried, but I can’t bear searching LinkedIn, so my apologies for not including a link here.
I started this confession a few days ago. It’s taken til now not because it’s been a soul search (that’s already happened in spaaades) but because I have 4 very beautiful very demanding kids (two “mine”) and one extraordinary, amazing woman who all merit more attention than me. As with all folks I like, I’m not massively comfy talking about myself, but openness is just better. This isn’t narcissism and you might get to know me a bit.
I got bored easily. Things often appear like common sense to me, and I get frustrated when others don’t grab it immediately. This, it appears, is a common trend / defining trait amongst #LinkyBrains.
What may be less common is that in the past my reaction to this has been to auto-devalue those common sense things, or stuff I can just do, as being “too common sense”. I have found out recently this has a name — imposter syndrome. I understand better these days that the best ideas are often hidden in plain sight – and they’re almost always the simplest. Most often, the best idea is just to talk to the right people. And go from there. Its most of what I’ve done professionally – I like helping people do that.
I’m a generalist that gets good at and involved in things quickly. Life’s too short to be just one thing.
Pretty much all the world’s problems have to do with conformity and fitting in. A few years back I changed the way I see the world enormously. I lived to meet others expectations and I forgot entirely the balance of fulfilment for me. In too many respects I allowed myself to be a passenger, not a driver. Never again. Life was grey before. It has been blindingly bright since.
Pretty much all the world’s problems can be solved by talking.
Pretty much all the world’s joys can be made better by talking.
I am delighted by that moment when someone you talk with “gets it”. This is not the same thing as my massive ego demanding that others see the world as I do. It’s just that in that moment they are truly with me, engaged, in the room and anything is then possible.
I grew up in Northern Ireland. I played a lot of sport including at a Junior World Cup. No-one will therefore ever persuade me that being separate from a greater thing is better than being isolated. We are simply better together, in every facet of our lives.
This said, I know I can be hard company on occasion. I’m definitely crap company watching Irish rugby matches. Either side fine, but don’t expect much while the game is on.
Growing up in Norn Irn has also made me intolerant of parochialism in every form. Our world and the people in it are unendingly fascinating and those who don’t explore and appreciate the different perspectives on offer daily do not deserve time.
I prefer to listen than talk. Except when I get excitable, which is (delightfully) increasingly often.
The most scared I have ever been was when I was 12. I was coming back north with my dad from watching Ireland play at Lansdowne Road. It was dark and as we approached the border (bandit country) dad asked me to sit on his driving licence. He was a magistrate and it said so on it – he said that wouldn’t have been a good thing if men stopped us. And we lost to Wales by a point.
The confidence of children amazes me daily. They knock on strangers doors collecting for charity without hesitation, eyes shining as they do so. We should all knock on more doors. I guess that’s why we’re delving into this LinkyBrain rabbit hole :)
I am writing a book with and for my kids. It’s about a robot who is forgetful. I love writing.
I’m at a professional crossroads. I want to help people scale things. I could found or build a business with people I massively respect and admire, or I could try again to change an established business from within. This is a microcosm of the bigger battle I have already (mostly) won – do something for myself based on a belief or focus on helping others change for the better. I think I know which way I will go.
This remains the most mesmerising thing on Twitter.
I’m excited.
And I’m here. Say hello :)
