Week 40
Work
My job is advisor, coach, professional subject-matter expert on digital transformation, leadership and specialist digital capability. No, that’s not what it says on LinkedIN. But that’s what it usually consists of and/or focuses on. These last few weeks haven’t felt like that though, so I spent a bit of time reflecting on how it feels right now. Reflections: sorry for the war analogy, but we often describe ourselves as “in the trenches” with clients and their teams. The proposition is essentially “we’ve been in your position, we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t, let us guide you through it”. So I felt some discomfort when, over the course of a week, I went from: “you know this thing needs to be done, yeah?”; to “you know how to do this, or do you need me to show you”; to “the deadline for this thing is Friday, are you sure you’ve got it handled?”; to “here’s how to do this thing”; to “the deadline is later today so I’ve done the thing, shall we set everything up so that you can do it next time?”. It is hard building capability from a standing start - even harder when you’re up against tight delivery timescales. I guess, on weeks like these, the best we can do is ship it, and learn lessons for tomorrow.
I’ve had to travel up to Newcastle for a few weeks running now, to deliver or attend workshops, and deliver training. Like a good brie, I don’t travel well. So I prefer to set off late the night before a morning workshop, get a decent night sleep at a hotel, and arrive fresh-brained and smiling the following day. Reflections: I’ve quite a few colleagues who prefer the early morning start. I’d have to leave home at 5.30am to make it in time - but, even if it was a 7am start, I know I would not be at my best in a meeting or workshop after a 4.5hrs of travelling. If we’re spending all that time and money to have precious in-person time together, travel-weary and foggy-headed Audree is not who you want to have in the room. So I’ve decided to make this a general rule for any significant travel going forward. That and “Seatfrog is my friend” - I get so much work done when I’ve a proper table and a little space to spread out.
Home
Some really special moments this week. The Aurora Borealis above our house was something special - the first time we’ve seen it, and potentially the last given we’re at a solar maximum right now. The girls and I have been checking Aurora Watch religiously for months and so we’re stoked for that effort to have finally paid off. And - it was during the Draconids meteor shower, so we got some bonus shooting stars that night too. Reflection: these are the things they (and I) will look back on for years to come. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sense of awe and the squeals of excitement that come with seeing something so transcendent. It’s a reminder that you’ll never really know when something truly special is going to happen - you just need to be ready to seize the chance when it does.
We had a family trip to New Scientist Live. It was great seeing Z get excited by all the stands and demonstrations on Saturday - she threw a barrage of questions at pretty much everywhere she stopped, so incredibly curious. E and I got much more out of the talks - so much so that we decided to return for the second day. We heard about anomalistic psychology (Christopher French); forensic science (Anne Coxon); the art of uncertainty (David Spiegelhalter); Bayes Theorem (Tom Chivers); the laws of social connection (David Robson); life, death and disease in the Middle Ages (Alice Roberts); and the social brain (Robin Dunbar and Sam Rockey). I missed out on the astronomy sessions (I love the talks that remind us how unlikely and insignificant we all are) and the Pokemaths talk (which I’ve heard was very good). There are online recordings available so I’m going to pop back and watch them.