30 years on…thanks for the lessons Dad.

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My father retired from work 30 years ago and, had he lived, would have been 95 today.

He left school in 1938 aged 16 and started work for WH Smith & Son leaving them in 1954 to join the publishers and stationers William Collins where he finally became sales director.  

I keep a framed copy of this profile on my workroom wall and re-read it last week for the first time in a decade or more. The two paragraphs below leapt out at me; I had not realised how much his core beliefs, values and experience coincided with mine.

These say a a lot about him and, I would like to think, about me too.

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Thanks for the lessons Dad – even if I didn’t realise what I was learning at the time.

Building A 21st Century Brand

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From the “The Story of Telling”, and as always, well worth a read. Full article here

Forty years ago a brand was an identifier. Branding was what we did to the outside of a product or service after it was conceived and created. Brands became tales woven to increase visibility and memorability using design, clever copy, print and TV…….

….But this isn’t how you build a beloved brand now. Today a brand is a promise that people align with, believe and invest in and branding begins from the inside out. 21st century brands are purpose-driven. They have a reason to exist beyond making a profit, and they no longer aim to appeal to the average or everyone……

….If the nature and function of brands have changed, then the process for developing brands and brand stories must evolve too. We’ll be on our way when we begin by prioritising the objectives on the second list. A brand story is no longer like the top coat of gloss paint applied at the last moment to make the surface shinier and more immediately attractive. It’s the undercoat that often nobody sees, but which allows the brand to endure.

 

 

The Monday Morning Quote #403

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

— Greek Proverb

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The Weekend Read – The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

9781936891023I have recently read this book for the third time in 12 years. It was a gift from my coach just after I completed the sale of my practice in 2005. Presumably he identified my proclivity for procrastination which has frequently led me away from the right direction, if not always entirely in the wrong one.

The forward by Robert McKee starts, “Steven Pressfield wrote The War of Art for Me. He undoubtedly wrote it for you too, but I know he did it expressly for me because I hold Olympic records for procrastination. I can procrastinate thinking about my procrastination problem. I can procrastinate dealing with my problem of procrastination thinking about my procrastination problem.” All I can say Robert is you’re probably right and it was such a relief to realise that I am not alone.

This is a book in three parts. Book One is about the enemy of creativity which he names Resistance, Book Two is “Turning Pro” and it’s all about Combating Resistance and the author identifies the characteristics, traits and habits that make one “A Pro”.

Finally Book Three is “Beyond Resistance” – The Higher Realm and he considers Inspiration.

I realise that this all sounds well and good, with lofty ideals and ideas, but in reality this book will help, encourage and inspire you to identify the reasons for your lack of accomplishment and with practical ideas get you going again. Time after time after time.

A gem.

Buy it here

In case you missed..TGBSL #24

TGBSL? see here…

1 Natural tooth repair method, using Alzheimer’s drug, could revolutionise dental treatments.

A new method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer’s drug has been discovered by a team of researchers at King’s College London.

Following trauma or an infection, the inner, soft pulp of a tooth can become exposed and infected. In order to protect the tooth from infection, a thin band of dentine is naturally produced and this seals the tooth pulp, but it is insufficient to effectively repair large cavities.

Currently dentists use man-made cements or fillings, such as calcium and silicon-based products, to treat these larger cavities and fill holes in teeth. This cement remains in the tooth and fails to disintegrate, meaning that the normal mineral level of the tooth is never completely restored.

Continues here..

 2 E-cigarettes ‘just as harmful as tobacco’ for oral health

Electronic cigarettes are often marketed as a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes. When it comes to oral health, however, new research suggests vaping may be just as harmful as smoking.

Continues here..

3 Sugar Is the New Tobacco, so Let’s Treat It That Way

I was recently asked to speak at the UK parliamentary “Sugar Summit.” This event was convened by Rend Platings, a mother so disturbed by England’s chief medical officer’s revelation that, as a result of obesity, today’s generation of parents may be the first to outlive their children, that she launched a campaign, Sugarwise, to help consumers identify foods with added sugar.

Continues here…

The Monday Morning Quote #402

“You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stickout teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

Roald Dahl in The Twits

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The Monday Morning Quote #401

“… but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.” – Sherlock Holmes”

The Man With The Twisted Lip

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The Weekend Read – Let my people go surfing by Yvon Chouinard

chouinardSub-titled “The Education of a Reluctant Businessman”, I am indebted to my friend Richard Hellen for recommending this book. If you fail to be informed, inspired and encouraged then ask yourself why you are in business.

Patagonia is a company that deserves the attention of any business owner, employee or customer. Founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1964 as a mail order company to follow on from his original business of designing, manufacturing and distributing rock-climbing equipment which would not damage the rocks. The business grew slowly until 1972 when he started selling rugby shirts and the clothing business took off.

Dedicated to inspire and and implement solutions to the environmental crisis Patagonia pledges 1% of sales to preservation and restoration of the natural environment. Their products are designed to be sustainable, to work hard and to last.

They have suffered setbacks not least when they lost a series of law suits for “failing to inform” of safety issues related to usage of climbing hardware including one filed by the survivors of a climber who died in a fall after slipping out of a Chouinard climbing harness. The financial outcome led to bankruptcy and their abandoning climbing gear manufacture, but they regrouped and persevered.

This book is part autobiography, part story of a unique business and a detailed blueprint for hope. Firstly a man who has lived fully and challenged the wilderness, a business that lives as close to its principles as it can with a culture that cares for its people, both customers and staff, and products and finally does its best to sustain and protect our environment.

I cannot recommend it highly enough, it recently absorbed, entertained, informed and influenced me through two trans-Atlantic flights making me wonder about the source of the clothes that I was wearing and increasingly guilty about every mile of the damage that my journey was causing.

You can buy it here from The Book Depository.

In case you missed…TGBSL #23

Research

TGBSL? see more here.

1. New definition of oral health announced;

“Oral health is multifaceted and includes the ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow, and convey a range of emotions through facial expressions with confidence and without pain, discomfort, and disease of the craniofacial complex,” reads the definition.

More here.

2. Dental implants with antibacterial activity and designed to facilitate integration into the bone.

Mouth infections are currently regarded as the main reason why dental implants fail. A piece of research by the UPV/EHU has succeeded in developing coatings capable of preventing potential bacterial infection and should it arise, eliminate it as well as providing implants with osseointegrating properties, in other words, ones that facilitate anchoring to the bone.

More here.

3. New research suggests e-cigarettes could be harmful to gums

E-CIGARETTES COULD DAMAGE gums and teeth, according to a significant recent study on the effects of vaping on oral health.

Full story here

4. Researchers add to evidence that common bacterial cause of gum disease may drive rheumatoid arthritis

Investigators at Johns Hopkins report they have new evidence that a bacterium known to cause chronic inflammatory gum infections also triggers the inflammatory “autoimmune” response characteristic of chronic, joint-destroying rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The new findings have important implications for prevention and treatment of RA, say the researchers.

Full story here

The Monday Morning Quote #400

“Five years from today, you will be the same person that you are today,

except for the books you read and the people you meet.” .

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones

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photo – a portion of one wall of ‘The Woodshed” at ReesAcres.ie