Barry's Blog... read my regular thoughts, observations and experiences.

Sunday 29 January

Egypt at the crossroads; observations of an extraordinary nation. And the passing of an extraordinary man.

Jakkie and I are just back from a fascinating week in Egypt, floating down the Nile. We visited Cairo and the Giza pyramids a year ago, the day before the revolution began, and ever since then I have been captivated by the country and it's wonderful people, and have been desperate to return. One year on from the revolution, as the country edges towards democracy, was the perfect time to go back, and to reflect on progress. We found a country on the edge.

But first a passing reference to 4,000 years of history. Inspired by Agatha Christie's 'Death on the Nile' we had decided this time to take a boat from Luxor to Aswan, enabling us to visit the Valley of the Kings and numerous other temples and tombs. Jakkie and I really compliment each other on these trips, she is absolutely fascinated by the ancient history while I am equally obsessed with observing contemporary Egypt. So while I would have been happy to just sit each day watching everyday life along the banks of the most beautiful of rivers, Jakkie ensured that we hopped off the boat every time it moored to visit yet more tombs.

My problem is that I find there is just so much to take in. If there was just one temple covered floor to ceiling in cartouches and other drawings that would be enough for me, but they are everywhere. There is just, literally, so much history surrounding you that it becomes overwhelming. The Egyptologists accompanying you bring it to life, but I'm not sure how many names of Gods and Kings it is possible to remember.

I also found the Valley of the Kings a little bit of an anticlimax. I know that might sound ridiculous, but it is one of the most famous places in the world and maybe I expected more. If that sounds crazy I'm sorry. We did visit Tutankhamun's tomb and saw his mummified body. Most fascinating is that he and Jakkie have very similar feet.

Reading back the last two paragraphs I've painted far more negative a picture than it all deserves. The amount of amazing things to see is extraordinary, as is the fact you can actually touch the 4,000 year old carvings, there are few, if any, restrictions. History is everywhere, it surrounds and consumes you. And for me that was the problem.

It was contemporary Egypt that I found so fascinating. This is a poor country, half the population cannot read and write and there are high levels of poverty. Their people had lived under Mubarak's dictatorship for 30 years, until in January last year the Arab Spring revolution commenced and within a month or so Mubarak was ousted.

Such a wonderful outcome, however, inevitably brings massive challenges. Tourism is Egypt's second biggest income generator (behind the Suez canal, and ahead of oil and gas exports) but visitor numbers are currently running at just 10% of their pre-revolution levels. This is having a devastating effect on the economy. We saw evidence of it everywhere. Most cruise boats on the Nile moored up and empty, no queuing even in the Valley of the Kings, guides and coach drivers out of work, and 1,000 visitors a day at one temple where just over a year ago there were 10,000. I did not hear one American accent all week, which was of course great for me but not for the economy.

This downturn has had a devastating effect on the country and of course the people. And it has created an edge. The local sellers always were right in the face of the tourists. But its what you expect across much of north Africa and beyond, and was generally good natured. Now it seemed just a little more desperate. The issue for me is the more the holiday companies try to shield you from these sellers (repeated warnings to be careful) the more antagonistic it can all become.

The second issue that creates the edge is that the people now understand they have more power. And so they should, they put their lives on the line (literally) to defy the army and overthrow Mubarak. People are beginning to challenge the status quo, to demand more freedom. But there is a big line of divide between democratic power and the rule of the mob. Groups are now making demands of the tourist companies to change established practices and it can quickly become tense and escalate.

It is very tough, and here is an example. Right in the midfdle of the Valley of the Kings, next to Tutankhamun's tomb, the only café has closed down, because the operators could no longer afford the rent. In the Valley of the Kings. Crazy!

But these are wonderful people. Conversations everywhere confirm that. And now they have at least a chance of democracy. Elections have just taken place, which brings its own challenges in a society which has no history of voting and is 50% illiterate. One answer is to use simple symbols of everyday objects on election posters and ballot papers to differentiate between candidates.

There was so much to experience. In Aswan we visited the high dam and Lake Nasser, and learned something about the Nubian people. Fiercely independent, 200,000 Nubians were displaced form their homeland when it was flooded to create Lake Nasser. These proud people were moved to other parts of Egypt. They have their own language, but it is only spoken, not written.

Aswan is in the conservative south of Egypt where it is very unusual for women to work. In an attempt to address this we visited a project where they are paid to produce crafts, giving them the opportunity to earn money and develop their skills. It was really inspiring.

Also in Aswan we visited the Old Cataract Hotel, where Agatha Christie wrote 'Death on the Nile.' It is a beautiful hotel, recently renovated and run by an international hotel company. The height of luxury. The view of the Nile as we sipped cocktails on the balcony was breathtaking. It was suitably ironic, however, to be drinking expensive cocktails moments after bartering over a few pence in the bazaar.

And that was Egypt. We left the country on 25th January, the anniversary of the beginning of the revolution, a fitting day, and one on which rule under a state of emergency, in place throughout Mubarak's term of office, was finally lifted.

Incidentally we were told during our visit to the women's centre that the project had been set up under Murbarak's government and given his name. But all reference to him is now being expunged from the records, just as Pharaohs obliterated their predecessor's thousands of years ago. A rather neat example of history repeating itself.

But the country and its people now face a really challenging few months. This is a country on the edge, and it needs our support, it needs tourists to start visiting again and television programmes in the UK placing doubt in our minds over the intentions of the Islamic parties now elected to parliament cannot help.

On the last morning, as the sun came up, we floated over the Valley of the Kings in a hot air balloon. Nothing could have been more beautiful. Simply breathtaking. It helped me understand the sheer magnitude of its history. We are going back next January, I hope we will only be two of many visitors and we will see a real step forward in this fledgling democracy full of wonderful people.


Talking of wonderful people, I could not end this blog this week without talking about an extraordinary friend called Ian King who has finally lost his battle against cancer. I have known Ian for over 30 years. He was a colleague many years ago when I started my working life as an elected officer and then a staff member in a Students' Union, he remained a friend during my corporate career and when I set up my own business he was first to make contact to give me support, but also real opportunities.

But that was so typical of Ian. Throughout the past thirty years he worked selflessly and tirelessly to help others, probably to a greater extent than anybody I have ever met. His advise and support to generations of student officers who have gone on to achieve great things in their careers is extraordinary. He has played his full part in stimulating the minds, and launching the careers of some of the country's brightest talent. The legacy he leaves is immense.

For twelve years he bravely fought cancer, never complaining. He was, for me, the greatest example of a real servant-leader that is has ever been my pleasure to know. I am personally indebted to him, and enriched by his friendship. It was a privilege to have known him.




Saturday 14 January

Some reflections on getting the most out of your people. And pharaohs and crocodiles.

A shorter blog this week. I'm squeezing it in at the end of a hectic week on the road, a trip to Newcastle to see numerous relatives tomorrow, two days more work and then off to Egypt for a week. On reflection I have little to complain about.

I was lucky enough last week to have a whole day with a client talking about their people. I say lucky because not every senior team in organisations takes the development of their people so seriously. Most people would say they are just too busy to take out a whole day to focus on their people. This team are as busy as any other. They lead a technology company which is a global business with an aggressive growth strategy, stretching financial targets to achieve, and many pressing day to day issues. Just like any other senior team really. But they also recognise they can achieve nothing without having the right people in place. So they were willing to devote a whole day to reviewing their people and ensuring they had the right development plans in place.

We started the day off by telling stories. Stories are an incredibly powerful way to share experiences and understand issues. So we shared experiences of developing people, dealing with issues, solving problems.

What emerged were some really simple messages for getting the most out of your people. As ever, only common sense, but that's all effective people management is ever about. Let me share some.

1. Treat every single person as a unique individual. You cannot get the most out of someone unless you do that. Every person needs to be led in a subtly different way to anyone else if you are to get the best from them. Get to know your people as individuals, discover what makes them tick, learn about their lives outside work as well.

2. Do you have people who are coasting? Actually, I should rephrase that. Of course you do. These are the people in the middle of the bus gazing out of the window. They are not doing a bad job, but are just doing enough, just getting by. And if you want to build a truly great organisation you have no room for coasters. But before you blame them, hold the mirror up to yourself. Are you doing enough to motivate them, give them clarity, understand them, engage them, excite them? What can you do to make a difference? And if you have tried or do try and get no improvement, them a firmer intervention is necessary.

3. When you need to make a people change act! Never, ever ignore an issue in the hope or belief it will go way, because it won't. How often do we put up with an issue just because it is too difficult or time consuming to address? But it doesn't go away. So sort it!

4. Of course sorting these issues is never easy. Have you got your boss's support? Are you involving them so they understand your people challenges? And if you are the boss, do you understand the challenges your people have with their people? Are you giving just the right level of support?


5. How someone behaves is just as important as their capability and the results they are delivering. This takes a little bit of understanding to start with, because so often the way in which we measure people is solely based on their results. But when we also focus on their attitude and their behaviours, when we give equal importance to both capability and behaviours, we begin to build the kind of culture in which anything is possible.

6. Not only do we need the right people, we also need them to be in the right role. Sometimes we identify a problem with a person underperforming, and when we really evaluate it the issue is not just the person, they are simply doing the wrong job. How many times, for example, have I seen a successful individual across a whole number of disciplines promoted into a management role leading people, only to discover that they are just not right for that role. So when you do identify issues always look at the role.

These six points are all obvious of course, which reaffirms my earlier comment that they are only common sense. But take a few minutes to reflect on each of them in the context of your organisation, your team, your people.


So Jak and I head off to Egypt on Wednesday for a week on the Nile exploring pharaoh's tombs and avoiding crocodiles. We were in Cairo a year ago on the day before the Arab Spring began in Egypt. Hopefully we will have a quieter week, but it will also be fascinating to reflect on the changes. See you in a couple of weeks.



Monday 9 January

The wisdom of Steve Jobs, the excitement of Australia and a photographic opportunity

To all those who are reading this blog for the first time in 2011, Happy New Year. It's an interesting point (or at least a moderately interesting point) as to how far into 2012 you do wish people a happy new year. I got into a debate about this at our village coffee shop on Saturday, with opinions ranging from the first few days of January, to the whole of the first month, to the slightly bizarre suggestion that it should continue all year. Okay it was a fairly pointless debate but as about as intellectual as our village coffee shop gets. And at least it stopped the Daisy the Cow incident of 1872 rearing its ugly head once more.

In the run up to Christmas I read the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It's a fantastic read which I would strongly recommend to you. It's well written and gives a fascinating insight into the all too short life of a genius. As many of you know I do approach this from a biased perspective. Apple is up there as my favourite brand (well, neck and neck with Land Rover) and I think the products Jobs has given us over the past few years are amazing. I genuinely believe he was a genius. But he was also a flawed genius in many ways. In my view some of the ways he treated his staff, and even many members of his family, were indefensible, his short temper and domineering manner were the stuff of legends, but maybe some of that behaviour lay at the heart of what he achieved.

If you have not done so I urge you to get hold of the book and read it for yourself, but in the meantime I offer you some insights into Jobs, his thinking, his sheer brilliance and occasionally his failings, taken from the book.

1. Back in the late seventies a guy called Mike Markkula was introduced to Jobs and became a father figure to him. He invested some money and taught Jobs about marketing and sales. One of his early lessons stayed with Jobs for the rest of his life. Markkula wrote down just three principles in a one-page paper titled 'The Apple Marketing Philosophy'. First, understand the needs and desires of your customers better than anyone else. Second, decide what you are going to do, focus on it and eliminate all unimportant opportunities. Third, become obsessive about delivering brilliantly, be creative, professional, get every detail right. You can see how those three principles shine through even today and I believe they can be applied to any organisation, anywhere.

2. Jobs on Picasso. "Picasso had a saying, 'good artists copy, great artists steal', and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas." And you should be equally shameless, if your competitor has a great idea, steal it, implement it, improve it, we don't always have to reinvent the wheel.

3. Jobs understood the absolutely crucial importance of perfect execution. In the annals of innovation, new ideas are only part of the equation. Execution is just a important. What would have been the point of coming up with the idea of the iPod if Apple could not take the concept, create the product and get it to market. It applies to everything we do. As they say, better perfect execution of an imperfect strategy than the other way round. Become obsessed in 2012 in demanding prefect execution.

4. Understanding your customers needs is of course crucial and we've already touched on that, but Jobs also understood that 'customers don't know what they want until we've shown them'. As Henry Ford observed, 'if I'd asked them what they wanted they'd have said a better horse.'

5. Stretching your thinking. Jobs chose a quote from Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking Glass' to prove his point. After Alice laments that no matter how hard she tries she can't believe impossible things, the White Queen retorts, 'why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.' Okay, it is stretching the point, but how many times do our limiting beliefs prevent us from making progress?

6. This picks up on his early lessons, but one of Jobs's great strengths was knowing how to focus. 'Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do', he said, 'that's true for companies and it's true for products.' How focussed are you? How focussed is your team or organisation? How many things have you stopped doing, how many opportunities have you turned down in the last 12 months?

7. I mentioned this in my '12 gifts for Christmas' blog a couple of weeks ago, but this next one is worthy of repeating. Jobs despised PowerPoint. 'I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. People would confront a problem by creating a presentation. I wanted them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People who know what they're talking about don't need PowerPoint.' And to see the serious side of this google 'Death by PowerPoint' and read the Challenger story.

8. Jobs was absolutely fanatical in his approach to recruitment. He knew how easy it was to get the wrong person. Not my choice of words but he saw his goal as being vigilant against the 'Bozo explosion', that leads to the company being 'larded with second-rate talent.' I urge you to be equally fanatical about recruitment. Never ever accept second best. If in doubt, don't hire, keep searching. It's a time consuming process, especially when your people are desperate for gaps to be filled, but we have all recruited in haste and repented at leisure. As one of my clients once famously remarked 'better a hole that an arsehole.' Sorry, but you get the point.

9. Don't just be rigorous in recruitment, be rigorous in everything you do. Apple's store openings are an amazing example of that. Jobs focussed on every single detail and would held back the firs opening until he was absolutely sure it was right. Compare that with our all too often rush to hit deadlines. A bar restaurant in my local town rushed to open just before Christmas. It was a disaster, running out of food, long waiting times, poor service. The damage to their reputation is enormous and I am still not sure they will recover. Jobs's approach was just the opposite, with record breaking results. He stayed involved in every aspect. I know that flies in the face of the need to delegate but sometimes things are just so important that as a leader you have to immerse yourself in the detail.

10. Jobs seemed t possess this ability to do what Jim Collins, in his new book, calls 'zooming out and zooming in.' He was capable of horizon gazing, looking to the future, creating a vision, but was equally adept at focussing on key issues, on getting every detail right, on execution.

At the end of his book Isaacson summarised the Jobs legacy as follows, 'some leaders push innovations by being good at the big picture. Others do so by mastering detail. Jobs did both, relentlessly. As a result he launched a series of products over three decades that transformed whole industries, the Apple II, the Macintosh, Toy Story, and the Pixar company, Apple stores, the iPod, the iTunes store, the iPhone, the App Store, the iPad, iCloud.'

It's an impressive list. The guy may have had his failings but what a genius. And I do think that in each of the above ten points there are gems we can take away to enhance our own leadership journeys.


Such excitement at home this week as Jak and I have decided to go and visit my daughter Lindsay in Australia. Lindsay has now decided to stay in Melbourne for maybe another year. So we are going there at the end of June. What started as an idea which we assumed we would plan for weeks turned into booked flights in something like an hour! The Emirates deals being highly promoted at the moment really are as good as they seem. And we even have a stopover in Dubai in both directions. I can't wait to go, to see Lindsay of course, but also the promised tour of the MCG is high on the list as well.


I love how Twitter and Facebook allow you to come up with new and different ways of connecting with people. A great example is something I'm trying to get going at the moment which is called 'my day in one photo.' The concept is simple. Post each day, on Twitter or Facebook, one photo which captures the day for you. It could be anything, but it summarises your day. So far me and others have posted photos as diverse as a box of handkerchiefs, Sidney zoo, a roaring fire, the dentist's, walks in the country (a favourite over the Christmas period), a shelving unit, the rush hour and various meals. Join in, and if using Twitter, the hash tag is #mydayinaphoto.

In fact as the new year starts I am trying to re-enforce the ways I can stay in touch with you to share leadership and other news. If you do not do so already please follow me on Twitter (@barrydore) or join my Leadership Group on Face book (search for Barry's Leadership Group).

Have a good week.




Sunday 1 January

The first day of the new year, a chance to reflect, dream and plan- big style.


Happy New Year!


I hope you had the most pleasant of Christmas breaks and enter the New Year rested and in good spirits.

I am so looking forward to 2012. We have spent to day sat by the fire making plans for the year and booking some flights. Very exciting. And most importantly it's the year of the London Olympics. I need to get something off my chest here. It has become fashionable to be negative about the games, to jump on the bandwagon by knocking them. I disagree completely. I think it is an amazing opportunity to showcase our brilliant country, and will be a fantastic spectacle. We should all be 100% behind them.

For many people new year is a time of reflection. It can involve making new year's resolutions, but I'm not a fan of these, they usually have little depth and are quickly forgotten and broken. But it can also be an opportunity to think more deeply, to make plans not just for the next year but to consider and re-establish what is really important to you as a person, and to look much further ahead.

This may seem far too deep as the over indulgence of the Christmas period fades, but maybe stick with it. The principles are exactly the same as the framework I use with clients when developing future plans for their organisations. It starts with defining (or often re-affirming) the purpose of the organisation (why they exist), and then considering the organisation's core values, the things that are most important to it now and in the future. Then it's about establishing a future vision (a picture of where they want to get to) and then the big goals and plans that will get them there. Finally it's about making short term plans to commence the journey, often for the first year.

If we wish to we can apply exactly the same framework to ourselves. Let me walk through it with you, I do so with caution and I understand you may choose to bale out at any minute (and return to the last of the left over turkey) but maybe you will give it a go.

First of all, each of us can establish our own core purpose, why we exist. This is the most wonderful opportunity to think through what lies deep at our centre, what is most important to us. All sorts of things may emerge, there is absolutely no set formula or right answer (obviously) but from deep reflection thinking can develop over the kind of person we want to be, the sort of life we want to lead, how we want to be regarded by those who are important to us. We may focus in our consideration of our core purpose on ourselves, our family, our work, a life mission we might want to achieve, a particular path we might want to follow. Try it, over a period of time, and see what thinking emerges. You may even get to the point where some words emerge which allow you to articulate your purpose. There are examples which you may consider trite, but 'to live, love, learn and leave a legacy', something that was shared with me some years ago, remains a very powerful statement of purpose.

Then we move on to core values, the principles that are most important to us, the things we wish to keep close as we move forward. Again we are all different, but typically thinking around honesty, integrity and the like emerges. One of my core values is to be polite. I think it is such a simple thing to be and so often lacking in people we encounter. Another is to listen for understanding (I do try) and to choose my attitude. The point about values is that they must be hard to live up to and we should not expect to be perfect in constantly and consistently demonstrate them. But they give us a point of reference when times are tough and we can strive to live them.

Next, and I have spoken about this before, we can begin to focus on the kind of life we want to lead going forward and the things we want to achieve. Again many people will find this uncomfortable and irrelevant, my view is give it a go, see if it works for you. Include some really big dreams, and don't let others knock you off course, remember 'those who discourage your dreams likely have abandoned their own.'

This can be tough to get going with so try it this way. Go forward in your mind to a big future birthday. Maybe make it one with a 'big zero' on the end, but not your next 'big zero' birthday, but the one after that, which gives you somewhere between 11 and 19 years to focus on achieving your vision.

If this is still too vague, focus on three areas when thinking about this future birthday, what you want to have in your life at that point (tangible and intangible), what you wan to be doing (and to have done), and the kind of person you want to be. Try and take the time to build up the picture and maybe commit it to paper.

As you build up the picture I can see things maybe around things you want to do with your family, career moves, voluntary work, things with friends, adventures for you, hobbies, maybe property and other possessions, and something around happiness, good health, love and fulfilment. See, I told you this stuff was deep!

Now is the time to put in place the big plans that will bring this to fruition between now and that future birthday. What are the big areas of focus, the big goals that will enable you to turn your picture of the future into a reality.

There is, however, one final piece, and that is setting goals for 2012. But these are not new year's resolutions. These are big goals which will take you towards your future picture, even in year one. Never forget the saying 'we constantly over estimate want we can achieve in a day and under estimate what we can achieve in a year.' So go set some audacious goals for 2012! And then make daily and weekly plans that take you very steadily towards them.


Assuming you have reached this point thank you for sticking with me through deeper ramblings than normal. Thinking about our purpose, our core values, our dreams and ambitions is daunting but as human beings we have so much potential inside us, we are capable of achieving so much, of giving so much to those special to us. So throw away the left over turkey and go dream and plan!

If you'd like to comment or share your views on anything here, get in touch!