DrContrarian

Dear Mr CEO You said your job is to develop a vision and create an organisation with the right values that will make that vision a reality, so I thought I would drop this note in your lap for consideration. It is my contention that what goes for ‘strategy’ and ‘best practice’ in the modern corporate boardroom is a terminal degree of “me too-ism”. I think you have bought into a narrative that is promulgated by people who have a gnostic view of the world and specific agendas that appeal to the pseudo-thinkers of the world, but are in reality going to lead your organisation to its premature demise. OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY Over the years business organisations have been eaten away slowly from the inside by social justice warriors (SJWs). How this happened, requires us to go back a few years and in the evolution of the business organisation. Once you understand that, you will see how it has infested your organisation. Business organisations used to have a simple, clear obje...

1. Reminiscence 2. Anticipation 3. Hope 4. Fear 5. Judgment 6. Possession

1. Lapse in corporate memory. 2. Staff turnover.

I can't recall ever having met, or knowing someone who has not been diminished by participating in the being of a Corporation. Even as people are promoted... they are criticised in some way. Some type of change is always required, from everyone. And what is perfectly acceptable (even admired) behaviour today, is out of favour tomorrow. It is especially evident when you separate from the organisation. Those who are diminished the most often take the lead in unraveling your legacy. Who is there that has never hand 'an issue' to deal with? No one, methinks.

Be secure in the knowledge that all humans have insecurity in common. The two biggest money-making sectors on the internet (porn and self-help) tap into this limitless pool of opportunity. (And any business model that does this, will succeed.)

Commentators often talk about the ‘2- percenters’ - that is doing those things that are tough, have a low probability of success and yet goes to show an attitude of perseverance and commitment to the small details other people will overlook. (It is often used as a sporting analogy to illustrate the point (for instance) that you still chase down an opponent even if they have already crossed the line because the pressure may just result in a drop ball.) This analogy is misleading because it focuses on the 99 th and 100 th steps in the percentage of effort. True success comes from the 101 st and 102 nd percentage points of effort. Sprint athletes are told to finish ‘through the line’ and martial arts experts will tell you that you get hurt when you stop the momentum of your blow on impact; you must hit through the brick to break it. This is not the proverbial ‘extra mile’ that you must walk – which is merely an optional, nice touch. That would be gesture to differentiate yourself ...

The biggest killer of success is success. (The fear of failure grows in direct proportion to what you have got to lose.) This Contrarian principle has a number of corollaries: Bigger is always worse Innovation leads to less innovation Growth leads to death If you think you disagree, just add (ultimately) to the end of each of the above. Such is Life.

Belief generates attitude. Attitude generates emotions Emotions generates performance. Performance generates results Results reinforce belief, completing the cycle

There are so many books, blogs, speakers and gurus that emphasise a few ‘mantras, millions of titles, the same old story: Believe in yourself Follow your hear and your passion and success will follow (i.e. don’t do if for the money) Stay true to yourself/Stay true to your brand Stay focussed/ Be disciplined You must have a unique selling proposition/ a niche Have a goal/ set your objectives (and write it down and read them every day) Over the coming weeks I want to debunk some of these myths/ beliefs, but for today, all I want ask is whether all these people could possibly be right, or whether these observations are simply obvious and logical (very hard for the guru followers to argue with) and that we started to believe these things through sheer repetition, rather than because of any veracity.

In this little piece I can guarantee you complete happiness for long as you live. Follow one piece of advice and you will experience complete and total happiness – I promise. But let’s begin at the beginning: There is an age-old question: when is enough, enough? The glib answer is ‘never’. Or even glibber: ‘when it bleeds’. Or something like that. But jokes aside, how good are we at detecting when enough is enough? On a physical level it is pretty easy. Most people would have pain receptors to guide them through that one. On an emotional level it is probably harder, but still not too difficult. People generally are self-aware enough to know when they are happy or sad – and also when they are making someone happy or sad. On psychological level it is another story altogether: We are told from a very young age that we can be whatever and whoever we want to be. We are led to believe that we are free to do as we please. We are brainwashed into believing having fun is all that m...

Is confidence really all it is cracked up to be? It may be counter-intuitive (hey I am contrarian) but confidence may be counter-productive. When you are confident you are less aware of your situation, your environment and the people around because you simply don’t need to be. In the first instance that makes you extremely vulnerable to delusions of grandeur which turns you into an instant arsehole. (Which might not matter to you, because you are Mr Big) but it matters to the people who buy from you, it matters to the people who want network with you. Granted, arseholeness does not follow confidence automatically, but too often it does. (Ask Trump…) The difference between confidence and over-confidence is only a wink away. Confidence makes you vulnerable to your enemies because you simply cannot physically remain alert to danger signals if you are focused on yourself and ‘being confident’. Confidence requires a high level of self-awareness (and some may say self-absorption), and t...

Festinger sums it up as follows: “ According to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance. In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behavior.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress Did you get that? When attitudes and behaviours collide, the winner is almost always…. BEHAVIOUR. Not attitude! Not even a positive mental attitude. The importance of this observation cannot be under-estimated. If there is any discordance between your attitude (positive) and your behaviour (negative) then your ATTITUDE will change to match. This means your attitude changes to match your behaviour . When the kids were younger and they still laughed at my antics, I used to play a little game with them....

Having bagged the notion of PMA in generalised way, I probably should be a bit more specific about my gripes. There are some benefits to be gained from PMA, but this does not exonerate those who have jumped on the positive thinking bandwagon. In fact I hope it reinforces the notion that the gospel of the positive attitude, as preached by the gurus who are enamoured by their own egos, is stupid and wrong – even dangerous to your mental health. Being be the parent of high-achieving children (budding sports stars, I have been exposed to my fair share of PMA, goal setting gurus – believe me. And I can promise you some of the shit they teach can have a devastating effect on people. PMA can play a role in people becoming more successful - if success is defined as the achievement of set goals. (That is a whole new debate: What is your definition of success?). But the human mind is like a finely balanced machine – you don’t want any hack mechanic to work on it – and almost definitely not a...

Success – that elusive thing A new (ish) book out now by Carol Dweck ( Mindset: The New Psychology of Success) has now postulated a new theory about success. Surprise, surprise, the ‘positive mental attitude’ (Dale Carnegie + million others) is apparently not sufficient. It really depends, according to Dr. Dweck, on whether your mindset is fixed or whether it is a growth mindset. She contends that a fixed mindset is actually negative, because, even if you believe you are talented or that you are a star, that this mindset limits your growth and achievement. On the other hand, a ‘growth’ mindset allows you to learn, grow and improve. Dweck discovered that mastery-oriented children are very keen on learning something and they effectively have “learning goals” - which inspire a different chain of thoughts and behaviours than “performance goals.” [Private thought 1: Soon, everyone will agree with my thoughts, which were originally quite contrarian J . Private th...

This will be a real short one. (I am cheating with 2 posts today) and then none for a few days as I go away to celebrate my wedding anniversary (22 years) and the reason why it lasted this long is because I know well enough what will happen if I even try to get to a computer this weekend... Anyway, being time poor: Firstly, and most obviously, the amount of time can never ever vary. The way we measure it, the way we perceive it, means 24/7 is the amount that we have and it is the same for everybody. Get that people? It is the same for everybody, and it is the same every single day. Rich or poor, young or old; no matter how you 'feel' about it does not change the number of hours in the day available to you. (Actually, there is no 'secondly'.) People are not and can never be time poor. The only thing that has happened is that we have become option rich: we have soooo many things we can do, choices to exercise, brands buy, places to go, that we feel a bit stressed. Some sm...

Read today... for the gazillionth time (MyBusiness , Mar 07, Australia) that apparently the key to success and the one thing all high achievers do without fail, is to "write down your goals" and then to keep reading them for 30 days and it will happen. I reckon somebody said it once, and every person who wrote a self-help book or article subsequently, quoted it or repeated it and somehow it has become this irrefutable, magical, meta-truth that only losers will dare refute. Question to those gurus : Can someone, anyone, actually quote some research that proves that this is so? The act of writing the goal down has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the achievement of that goal. You can wear your lucky underpants all you like, but it ain't gonna make your footy team win. There is a psychological phenomenon (e.g. post-purchase cognitive dissonance) that plays a role. Have you noticed how, once you have bought a new car, you suddenly notice how many of them are on the roa...