I’m not going to whine. I’m not going to ask AGAIN? I’m not going to ask why Capello brought on Heskey instead of Crouch. And I’m certainly not going to ask why the centre-backs apparently forgot what the job entails.

I am instead, going to reach for the positive message that came from the weekend’s football. Back in January Richard Denny wrote a blog about Barbara Ehrenreich’s book attacking the power of positive thinking. Basically Enrenreich says it doesn’t work.

Well Barbara, perhaps you should watch your fellow Americans play football. (World football, not American football!) On Saturday night during the US v Ghana build-up the ITV commentator mentioned that all teams that buy American footballers say their technical skills are only one of their benefits. They say US players are a bonus due to the relentless belief they will win. ‘Americans certainly believe in their capacity for coming from behind. They have proven it more than once.’

Sure the US got knocked out. But for a team that is not in the world’s top ten they did themselves proud. Positive thinking. US footballers are a good example of its power.

Maradona seems fairly positive, wouldn’t you say?

Kieran Bird

As I understand it, he’s not the only one.

A lack of facial hair has been a rule in business for many years. The reasons why are pretty solid. I remember as a child being told by a neighbour never to grow a moustache or a beard, as it indicates vanity. That was the mid 70s, and the neighbour was an elderly woman.

Since then studies have shown that some people associate facial hair (on a man, of course!) with vanity and eccentricity. Facial hair even makes some people think of dishonesty – as a beard can hide the mouth to some degree. So for me, that’s a good enough reason to be clean shaven.

But according to a recent article in the FT, beards are making a comeback amongst the upper echelons of business. Specifically, a few company owners and CEOs are sporting beards in London these days. Apparently they now see beards as a sign of social standing. That is, people like you and I might need to shave (unless you are female of course!), but the wealthy don’t need to.

A wee confession. I wore a goatee for a few years while promoting my PersonaPR book in the U.S. I decided it was worth it to look different, to cut through the clutter of competition from hundreds (if not thousands) of other professional speakers. Not really sure whether it was the right decision, but as I went back into corporate life I lost the beard.

So, can CEOs afford the luxury of looking eccentric? Richard Branson’s breaking of the rules of business deportment has never harmed him. When training executives in personal branding I always advise a conservative appearance for business. At this stage, I have no intention of changing my advice.

But are the rules changing? What do you think?

Kieran Bird

In the current economic climate where every sane business leader is striving to keep customers, to keep their brand visible and to attract new business in a declining market; there is one company that has joined Gordon Brown’s ministry of silly decisions…Norwich Union.

Norwich Union, a giant and a brand of 200 years. A great name reassuringly safe that appears to be conservative in this turbulent economic climate where there appears to be little safely in financial institutions. I can only presume that the decision to re-brand Norwich Union to Aviva must have been taken by a banker, accountant or lawyer (sorry to offend my friends in these professions). Maybe Norwich Union are going to diversify and don’t want to be identified with providing good value insurance products. Or perhaps they are going into construction, ship building or furniture retailing (great markets to lose money in right now).

Anyhow they probably spent a million or two in dreaming up the name Aviva and are now spending “trillions” (fashionable word) on their re-branding and advertising etc. This is money that could have been spent on winning new business and increasing shareholder value.

If you have a minute……how about some ideas to destroy other great brands with a new name.

Royal Mail – you can’t suggest Consignia as they tried that one Virgin Microsoft Scottish Widows Tesco Marks & Spencer McDonalds

Humiliation has become an intrinsic ingredient of so many reality TV shows. I personally find this obnoxious. What a sad departure from basic human core values of treating others as we would like to be treated.

Dare I say it again; East Enders was and still is the leader of the pack of negative TV (though not a reality show). The worst examples of taking the nastiest elements of human behaviour and communication to disgraceful excess are exemplified by East Enders. Now the last time I criticised East Enders in my book “Succeed for Yourself” the tabloids pilloried me. Even John Prescott, then deputy Prime Minister was motivated to make a ministerial announcement that East Enders was the epitome of all that was good in Britain today – sick. After that announcement the tabloids did an about turn and then claimed that probably I was right. Well it increased the sales of “Succeed for Yourself” but not much else.

The TV networks have a plethora of humiliating programmes to choose from. “The Weakest Link” – “The Apprentice” – “Big Brother” – “Come Dancing” – “Master Chef” – and of course Gordon Ramsey’s numerous exposures. But what a pleasant surprise when I switched on to Terry Wogan’s “Wogan’s Perfect Recall” to see the presenter being kind, generous and reassuring. A big man in all aspects with nothing to prove.

In business and at work bosses have no right to humiliate, to degrade or to disgrace. No boss should ever make people feel small, to crush them or to deflate their people’s self-esteem. I only hope that these demeaning programmes are not setting role models for aspiring supervisors and managers to imitate in this pathetic mindless celebrity led culture. If they do they will only enhance the employment tribunal industry.

My wife’s grandmother told Dorothy on a regular basis “you will attract a lot more flies with honey than you ever will with vinegar.” A great thought.

With 24 hours news reporting on TV and the intense competition of newspapers, journalists have to find copy to fill their editors’ insatiable appetite.

For all of us no news is good news. For the news media it is BIG trouble. So the news journalists are pressurised to find stories or items that will also satisfy the public’s insatiable appetite for the negative. As we all know the standards of newspapers are deteriorating and this is emphasised by the propensity of the overuse of the words catastrophe, disaster and calamity with all of the adjectives that can go with those words. It seems that the majority of the British public, (Brits…no offence caused, I hope) thrive on the negative. There is nothing like a disaster (9/11) to sell newspapers or get people tuning into the TV news.

Do we really want a recession, credit crunch etc. No of course not. But nevertheless there is a fascination with big companies going into bankruptcy or thousands of people losing their jobs.

Today’s journalists have learned the art of spin from some excellent teachers. It really is not too difficult to make no news into big news with a bit of a spin or the right inflection in the voice. May I suggest that you try just for one week to resist buying a newspaper. Switch off the radio news and don’t tune into the TV news…you will survive. Then buy The Week Magazine because the stale news will keep you informed but will hopefully preserve your sanity.

1. Pick your time carefully

2. Discuss the matter in private

3. Let the person know you value them

4. Look them in the eyes

5. Be strictly truthful

6. Criticize behaviour, not the person

7. Reaffirm the person’s good points

8. Set a review date

And remember to praise improvement

It is very easy for executives to get into the no-decision syndrome’: the trap of being so fearful of making an error that they actually fail to make any decisions. All the greatest success stories have involved some mistakes. Some entrepreneurs actually claim that they have made more mistakes and errors then good decisions, but that the successful decisions have greatly outweighed the errors.

What is the definition of the word “mistake“?

A misunderstanding of the meaning or significance of something.

I would like to suggest however that a more fundamental definition might be; “Doing something that is not right for you“.

6 tips for when you make a mistake

1. Determine where your desire for perfection comes from.
2. Examine your beliefs about making mistakes
3. Find instances that prove your beliefs wrong.
4. Develop new beliefs
5. Be kind to yourself when you make mistakes.
6. Make some mistakes!

Posted by Ed Aldridge

Really good management can make any job fulfilling and rewarding, and even more importantly a career opportunity. There is nothing wrong with the job, it is what the management do that makes it a McJob.

The best investment any company can make is to train their managers in leadership. Yes, we have a vested interested, but we see the outstanding results of just a little investment.

Whatever our job title, we all must overcome fears of failure and rejection to be successful and achieve what we want. Fear of failure reduces confidence when acting to a new challenge, BUT what happens when facing the challenge? You feel scared, worried and don’t know what to do, well Failure is an option. Let me remind you of a quote

If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate

3 Secrets to Help You Fire Failure!

1) Change your mental model of “success” and “failure”

Instead of viewing failure as something to be avoided, turn it into a “stepping-stone” on the path to success and gratification. In other words: Success is the destination. Failure is how you get there.

2) Intentionally increase your failure rate

If it’s true that the more we fail, the more we succeed (and it is), then your immediate goal should be to intentionally increase your failure rate! With this thought in mind, you’re succeeding even when you fail. It works!

3) Celebrate your failures, not just your successes.

It’s natural to be excited about our successes. Yes, you want to celebrate them. Yes, you want to give yourself a reward or even throw a party. But, if the key to success is to increase our failures, then it only makes sense to celebrate our set backs as well. Yes, you heard right: if someone turns you down, celebrate it!