Driving home today from a business meeting in the delightful Crabwall Manor Hotel, I saw a van parked up with the name "Flat Pack Mark" on the side.  Looks like somebody (with the name of Mark presumably) is specialising in helping people put together and install flat packs.  Great niche!  And what a boon for all of us non-Pragmatists out there.

Being a Maximiser (cf. Tom Rath "Strengthsfinder 2.0"), I like to "polish pearls".  So by the time I'd reached the next set of traffic lights, I'd thought of "Flat Pack Man", thus raising our chappy to superhero status.

This got me thinking what I would put on "my van".  Mrs Motivation?  Magic Coach? Leadership Lisa? Yes, I know they sound a bit cheesy, but it's good to drop the image sometimes and have a bit of daft fun.  I got a bit stuck around Wonder Washing-up Woman or Network Queen.

What would you put on "your van"?  What would your Superhero or Superheroine name be in your new story for 2010?

Beyond New's Year Resolutions

Taste for Passion
Think of Cheese and you may not think of Passion.  Hunger maybe, Greed even – or just Pleasure.  Yet, as I discovered, plenty of Passion permeated Chester’s Food and Drink Festival last weekend.  And I also discovered another important element of working life – Play!

Wandering through the Taste Pavilion, there were plenty of exhibitors displaying a real commitment to excellence.  Most were extremely passionate and articulate, knowledgeable about our gastronomic traditions, and certainly mindful of modern trends and needs.  Many exhibitors were family businesses, Cheshire born and bred, united by their keen shared enthusiasm for enterprise.

And so I found that the Taste Pavilion had set the stage for a wonderfully colourful drama of human engagement, a mix of mastery of tools, expertise and sheer showmanship.

Under the white canopy, a young man demonstrating his fine wines and flavoured vinegars, carefully siphoning off the precious liquids for his customers to sample, with such care and flair.

And here a grey whiskered exhibitor, clad in a snowy-white apron, proudly protecting his creamy cheeses, warding off wasps with a bright bladed knife.
A cheerful Med Food lad shouts encouragement and enticements to the crowds, offering us the best, the cheapest, the most delicious golden baklava and sticky kataifes.  
Outside on the springy turf of the Roodee Race course, a wonderful display of gilded oyster shells attracts the discerning eye.  Here there is expert knowledge of Roman oyster farming and the trade routes from the ancient oyster beds at Menai.
Everywhere stallholders sold their wares, playfully and with passion.  What they brought to their daily commerce offer us a clue to finding a fulfilling career.

Great campaigns like Bring Yourself to Work  - www.bringyourselftowork.com - invite us to turn up to our workplaces with more passion - and engage with others more authentically.  Leaders understand this link between passion and excellence, and encourage it in their teams.  There is also a strong link between passion and career path.

I've always loved the meaning of curriculum vitae - the flow of life.  Yet somehow I can't reconcile this lovely and inspiring  phrase with its physical manifestation - two to three pages of typewritten A4, a chronological list of dates, qualifications and salaries.

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

 OK, so I had no plan.  I would just "do Art" and then something would show up.  Couldn't wait to get to Art College.  Had all the necessary accoutrements, portfolio, red hair, Doc Martens, a grant and a student rail pass.  But not a Career Plan.  Forgot to pack that somehow.

I'd always wanted to "do Art".  I loved the mesmerising focus of being absorbed into texture and paint and colour and shape.  I was good at it too.  But the dream had been squashed in favour of something more sensible, and it had to go on hold for 20 years.

Sir John Whitmore speaking at the ICF Conference London- the keynote speech