Busy Brag

Hey there,

Here’s Billy…the bard form Barking. All round good guy.

You’ll find him in the 'Leftfield’ tent at Glastonbury Festival.

This is not a story about Corporate Colin, he’ll be back again though I’m sure. (I’ve now blocked him from my strava but that’s a story for another day).

I’m all about Busy Bragg today safe in the knowledge he’s just too darn busy to be reading this.

It’s a seemingly innocuous comment this exec leader made in a meeting first thing Monday but its impact hit me like a backfiring watermelon slingshot.

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“I read through your presentation yesterday and have jotted down some thoughts”

Come again?

You read through my business presentation (the one I sent to you weeks ago) on Sunday?

So…while I was spending my time pruning the jazelias

This is not the name of a real plant btw…it just sounds like one. I really don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to gardening, I just like it to be neat.

NOR IS THIS A EUPHEMISM!

And while I was spending my time doing what most normal and nice people do…you know time with my loved ones and catching up on ‘The Rest is Politics’…

You were reading my powerpoint slides and jotting down some notes.

ICYMI

My best Linkedin post of the week:

• 5 Reasons Procurement is the best job in the World

So this is what it takes to be an exec leader?

Sacrificing your Sunday to read through presentations?

and then telling everyone on a Monday that’s what you did so you can make your team feel

• Inspired (I’d rather be smashed in the face by a backfiring watermelon tbf) or

• Inadequate (I already feel that way because my Jazelias just won’t stay upright these days)

People work late, I get it.

Sometimes even I do some work at the weekend.

But I will NEVER mention it to my team.

Nor am I the type of numbskull who will send that ‘out of hours’ email to prove how busy and important I am.

It’s not big, it’s certainly not clever.

It’s just a sign of inefficiency and a completely misplaced perspective on life.

“I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
I'm just looking for a different Corporate World”

one where sacrificing our personal lives to our business doesn’t become something we flaunt as a rite of passage.

Tom

When you're ready, here are 2 ways I can help:​ 👇🏽