How do you look at the world?
I often consider it an unconstructive week if I find myself travelling for two days in a row, even if just into the CBD of Brisbane.
This week was one of those weeks.
Firstly on Wednesday was November Interactive Minds which had a great turn out. Many thanks again to our speakers Matt from Wotif, Rob from George Patterson Y&R and Yvette from TheCreativeCollective. December is our last event for the year and we’ve got some great people for the end of year panel discussion. Come join us for our final internet seminar of the year & for drinks, nibbles & thought provoking discussion about all things online.
Thursday was different. Firstly I took the train to Brisbane. Anyone else travelling trying to do it this week, every day has my utmost sympathy. It was badly organised chaos and downright frustrating.
Waiting at the platform I overheard many conversations, mostly around how tired people were and how they were waiting for the weekend. Laments of catching 6am trains were common plus the ever hopeful wish that on this 1hour journey they may actually get a seat. These sentiments were followed by ‘well if only I could win lotto….’
The reason for my journey to Brisbane was that I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a TEC seminar with Gary Bertwistle. TEC (The Executive Connection) works with Executives of businesses with between $2mil & $10mil turnover to provide guidance, support and mentoring. Gary Bertwistle presented on ‘Marketing Warfare’; a fabulous presentation about the fundamentals of marketing and how to use it for your business.
At my table were various CEOs from amazing companies including GOA Billboards, Riddel Architecture, Alchemy Cordials and others. Some are family companies, some will become family companies.
There a two stark contrasts here in behaviour.
1. People doing the same thing every day and viewing a Lotto win as their way ‘out’
2. People who saw an opportunity, found a passion and built a business that worked
So I changed my view of the world.
Rather than seeing another day away from the office and hours of lost time sitting on stranded trains as unproductive, I now see it as a wonderful day meeting with great business people (TEC), a great reminder of the fundamentals of marketing (Gary Bertwistle) and 3 hours of reading time that I normally do not get. I am now getting into the meaty bit of “The Breakthrough Company“. Most at my TEC table would love this book too.
