A coaching client came to me to discuss a challenge they had at work. This client works in an executive role at a large professional services company. A team member was coming to the executive’s office on a regular basis with seemingly long-winded, rambling and meandering background information about various…
Bringing the Essential Mix to work
For over 25 years, the UK’s BBC Radio One has hosted a weekly Saturday night show called the Essential Mix. Comprised of a continuous 2 hour mixtape by an established or breakthrough electronic music artist, the show is hosted by veteran DJ and presenter Pete Tong. Despite the plethora of…
Pressure brings performance – or does it?
“Pressure brings performance” You may have heard this saying. It’s a nice maxim, but is it just a story we tell ourselves to try and suppress the fear? On ‘The Moment’ podcast hosted by Billions creator Brian Koppelman, author Steven Pressfield and Koppelman talk about pressure and performance through the…
5 x Why, 5 x Who
You may have heard about the 5 Whys. It was originally developed at Toyota to help them figure out the root causes of failures and inefficiencies on their manufacturing line. Over time, the idea spread – it now shows up in everything from Six Sigma to goal setting. It’s a…
“You had to be there”
When we’re told a joke or a tale that falls a little flat we may hear a sheepish response along the lines of “well, I guess you had to be there”. The same is true elsewhere of course – gigs, movie premieres and theme parks to name but three. It’s…
The Action & The Juice
Well ya know, for me, the action is the juice. Michael Cheritto, Heat In Michael Mann’s classic movie Heat, Robert DeNiro’s crew of high-end thieves eventually feel the heat closing in on them. As they make a call on whether to push on with their audacious heist plan, each member…
Tickets Podcast: David Lavin on representing some of the world’s leading intellectual talent
Listen now:Apple Podcasts | Castbox | Overcast | Spotify | Stitcher | Acast | Google Play Think about talent agents and the first image that comes to mind may be something similar to the character of Ari Gold in the TV show ‘Entourage’; fast-talking, fickle, and more focused on the action toys and awards than the quality of the art. But beyond…
Design Thinking: Culture and Contraceptives
One of the first initiatives the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched in Africa was supplying contraception to women who couldn’t otherwise access it. After distributing a huge number of condoms to the women of the towns and villages in their target locations, they went to check in on how…
6 lessons from going live with Oprah
I was sitting at my computer willing the words to come. I’m creating a workbook/guide for independent professionals and the last 10% of it has proved by far the hardest. Midway through my mid-distance stare into nothing in particular, my phone rang. It was someone I’d spoken to only once…
The Gallery
It’s time for your next show. Take a moment to see in your mind’s eye a spacious, empty room in an art gallery. You choose what gets displayed, but you can only have a handful of things on show. The good news is you can choose any of your projects…