I was setting up to do a talk at a conference and, as usual, there was a spaghetti bush of wires, so I asked a guy if he knew how to connect my laptop.
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s not my home competency,’ he said, and disappeared to grab himself a coffee.
As I went about sifting the spaghetti wiring all by myself (muttering under my breath that it’s also not my ‘home competency’), I reflected on how he could have replied differently. A simple, ‘No mate, I haven’t a clue,’ would suffice. ‘But I’m going for a coffee. Can I get you one?’
But, my mind doesn’t stop there. ‘It’s not my home competency’ is up there with all the other meetings bingo phrases. You know the ones:
Circle back, blue-sky thinking, pushing the envelope, low-hanging fruit, reaching out, boil the ocean…
Things are changing so fast that some of the new-fangled phrases have already been surpassed. For example, ‘drill down’ has now been usurped by, ‘Let’s double click on that’.
Come on people. ‘Let’s double click on that’? Listen to yourselves!
Anyhow, rather than huff and puff about change (because that’s not what this blog does), it got me thinking about what we do at Art of Brilliance, and how it hasn’t really changed in the 15 years we’ve been doing it.
Sure, we’ve moved with the times. We’ve continued our own research and learning. We’ve developed new content. We’ve added some of the brightest, inspiring trainers to our team. We’ve brought our website, our books and all we offer to life with magic, thanks to our IT guru and Designer. We’ve tweaked our stories and humour. But, it’s the exact same core message since day one. It’s the same simplicity, obviousness, humour, fun… and absolutely no nonsense. Whether we’re delivering in boardrooms or classrooms, it’s a consistent message.
Why? Because some things never change. The core principles of happiness, wellbeing and human flourishing are constant. Being genuinely positive, upbeat, helpful and solution-focused – they’re our ‘home competencies’.
It’s well worth checking out our training menus