[28-Nov-23] Get ready for a change ...

Standing still is actually a step backwards

As personal, team or company change is a daily/weekly/monthly business for a lot of people, it is good to have a strategy to handle it. Some examples on the Cheat Sheet today.

In the last days I did try a FREE LinkedIn campaign for one of my KISA Posts. Kind of boosting the presence/visibility in the LinkedIn environment. For the value of $100 I did get 98 website visits and 12k impressions in 4 days. No idea if this is good or bad, but currently no motivation for me to start another campaign with my own money.

Some links more or less related to change:

• Video: SAME AS EVER by Morgan Housel | Core Message
• The New Happy: How to be a better listener

• How to prepare for anything

• Dan Rockwell: 16 WAYS TO GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK LIKE A HUMAN

• SWOT analysis can be a very strategic tool to address the issues effectively

• Transform your team with the Harry Potter Retrospective

• Shipping is targeting zero emissions. Here’s how an industry coalition plans to help

When Albert Einstein met Charlie Chaplin in 1931, Einstein said, "What I admire most about your art is its universality. You do not say a word, and yet the world understands you." "It's true." Replied Chaplin, "But your fame is even greater. The world admires you, when no one understands you."

[27-Nov-23] The Power of Patience ...

Thriving in Stillness - Don't Rush the Process

Patience to learn new topics, improve on your weakness and further develop your strength:

• Personal MBA degree courses for free

• Start delegating like a Fortune 500 CEO

• Watch these 8 TED Talks to level-up your life

• IBM: AI Academy

• How This Vietnamese Company Burned Down The Traditional Management Playbook (explaining picture)

• 5 Lessons from Comcast on Building a Skills-First Approach to Talent

As I will have another coaching session tomorrow, some OpenAI based insights before:

Coaching is a process where a trained professional, known as a coach, helps individuals or teams to achieve their goals and maximize their potential. It involves a collaborative partnership where the coach supports and guides the client in identifying their strengths, setting realistic objectives, overcoming obstacles, and developing new skills and strategies.

There are various coaching frameworks that coaches use to structure their sessions and provide a systematic approach. Here are the 10 most common coaching frameworks:

1. GROW Model: It stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Way forward. This framework helps clients clarify their goals, assess the current reality, explore options, and create an action plan.

2. SMART Goals: This framework emphasizes setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals to increase motivation and track progress effectively.

3. Positive Psychology: This framework focuses on building strengths and cultivating positive emotions to enhance well-being and resilience.

4. Solution-Focused Coaching: It centers on exploring solutions rather than dwelling on problems. It involves envisioning the desired outcome and identifying practical steps to achieve it.

5. Cognitive Behavioral Coaching: This framework combines elements of cognitive-behavioral therapy with coaching techniques to help clients identify and change negative thought patterns that may be hindering their progress.

6. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP): NLP techniques are used in coaching to reprogram thought patterns, beliefs, and behaviors for personal and professional growth.

7. Emotional Intelligence Coaching: This framework aims to develop clients' emotional intelligence, which is the ability to recognize and manage their own emotions and effectively deal with others.

8. Appreciative Inquiry: It involves focusing on strengths and positive aspects to create a desired future. This framework helps clients explore what is already working well and build upon it.

9. Wheel of Life: This visual tool helps clients assess and balance different areas of their life, such as career, health, relationships, and personal growth.

10. 5 Why's Technique: This questioning technique is used to dig deeper into the root causes of a problem or challenge by repeatedly asking "why" to uncover underlying issues and potential solutions.

Each framework offers a unique approach to coaching, and coaches tailor their methods based on the individual client's needs and goals.

Looking forward to the session ...

[26-Nov-23] The week 47-2023 summary

"Retrospectives and reviews of performance can sometimes focus on the negatives. Rose Thorn Bud ensures a balanced discussion." -- Olina Glindevi

As retrospectives are not always appreciated by the teams, speaking out loud requires a good level of trust, it can be a helpful approach to use interesting templates like the ones from Chris Stone or Olina Glindeva for example.

Just today I uploaded a new version of my 6th eBOOK, now the whole year 2023 until 24-Nov-23 is included, see Downloads for more details. Yesterday I did work on our yearly family calendar that we use as Christmas present for friends and family. A lot of work to reduce 1,200+ pictures to 12 A4 pages only, with an average of 10 pictures per page, in total just 10%. And when the calendar is ready, it has to get the approval of all family members, my wife and daughters, before it will be printed. A very critical audience, but this time I only had to select 4 new pictures after review.

Next week I will be 2 days at the Campus, to meet my new team members that will be finally coming together early 2024 after the latest reorganization. Besides that some socializing and a face-to-face coaching session for another colleague. Wednesday 06.00 PM the LinkedIn Prioritize, Structure, and Cultivate Business Success with Scrum@Scale event.

Have a great week, some interesting links below:

Videos:

• Last Night on Earth | Short Film (2022)

• Why Self Discipline is So Difficult

• Happiness is helping others

Learning:

• The silent secret to the world's best teams: They prioritise psychological safety

• Here are the top 15 free courses Steve Nouri recommends to learn AI in 2023

• Your perspective matters

• Five tactics to combat a culture of false urgency at work. Building your personal braintrust. The ThreePercentRule

• How can we truly make an impact in our lives and the lives of those around us?

Links:

• Ranked: The Most Innovative Countries in 2023

• The Top 5 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends For 2024

• The Surprising Benefits of Gratitude Every Team Should Know

• Visualizing the Global Coffee Trade by Country

[24-Nov-23] Fun retrospectives

The Virtual Agile Coach Chris Stone is offering a wide variety of retrospective templates, have fun

The project wide retrospective was yesterday and I used the DIWALI template as main theme. For the Indian colleagues to remember their festival that was just one week ago, and for the other team members to get some cultural awareness. My plan did work out pretty well, we got some good results and the team members had interesting discussions about non-business topics.

Next will be some brainstorming about the main topics per category, to agree next steps and some responsible people to drive the progress. All volunteers welcome, because we have self-managed teams now and no command and control anymore.

This week I started a new coaching assignment for a colleague, due to psychological safety only some very high level comments. 1st the person being coached has to formulate the problem to focus on. 2nd is to solve this problem, and the coach is just facilitating the process and offers a helping hand, nothing more. Main topics for the problem statement are for example communication skills, time management and change strategies.

"Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen." -- Pete Carroll, taken from 21 Powerful Quotes About Coaching

[21-Nov-23] AI at work ...

Insights from the LinkedIn Nov-23 Future of Work Report

A pretty consistent picture for the different countries listed on the picture for Non-AI as well as AI Skills. I have seen the report the 1st time today and found several related artices afterwards:

• AI Candidate Assessments: The Hiring Process Now

• 21 ChatGPT prompts for HR you can use to assist you across a variety of HR tasks

• Julian Joseph's used AI to apply for 5,000 jobs offers insights into the evolving job market

Interesting to see that both sides, companies and candidates, are using AI to reduce effort and work. With the hope to be more successful, I assume? In the end AI is writing the application on the one side and another AI is rejecting it, as it does not meet the expectations. A brave new world.

Back in 1989 when I did apply for my 1st job, the general advice was "you have to stand out and differentiate yourself". Could be a good idea for 2023 as well, why not?

First check, what AI would be writing about you in the application and then make it more YOU, authentic and standing out. With a personal touch ...

• Top 12 free courses with certificates for PMs

• As a Scrum Master, your primary goal is to create an environment where everyone can contribute to their fullest potential

• Top Universities Offering FREE Courses in All Fields.. It's Best Time to Grow

• Video: Versatile Organization Design with the unFIX Model by Jurgen Appelo
• Dan Rockwell: ONE-ON-ONES: 7 POWERFUL PHRASES TO USE
• unFIX: Hard Agile, Soft Agile, and Not Agile

[20-Nov-23] What is your reference?

It is always a matter of your perspective and where you stand ...

Being a German, I can confirm that we tend to be more negative than positive and complain a lot. When you look at the picture today you would be asking WHY? A pretty good average weekly salary for the lowest average working hours per week. 

YES it is just an average and there are definitely worse situations, no doubt, but what about a more relaxed and realistic perspective? Just now one of the train driver Unions is voting about a longer strike during the upcoming holiday season. Shutting down the public transport in the X-Mas break, not a propotional approach and solution I would say.

Nothing against Unions and their rights to strike, but what is their reference point here? Asking for a salary increase in general and less working time for the same payment might be a good starting point for the negotiation? But when it becomes a too political discussion and influences the life of many bystanders, where is an acceptable level? 

Some case studies for less working time:

• 4 Day Week: We love sharing the stories of successful companies

• 4-Hour Case Studies

"I think 'Dilbert' will remain popular as long as employees are frustrated and they fear the consequences of complaining too loudly. 'Dilbert' is the designated voice of discontent for the workplace. I never planned it that way. It just happened." -- Scott Adams, American - Cartoonist Born: June 8, 1957

[19-Nov-23] My week 46-2023 highlights

Only a quick summary today ...

Just coming back from a concert with Michael Kaeshammer and Seven, as part of the Leverkusen Jazz Days 2023. Really great artists with good bands. Always welcome when musicians know how to use their instruments. And Jazz offers a lot of opportunities to show capabilities and talent.

Our Sprint-4 planning was scheduled for tomorrow, but it is not going to happen, as we do not have enough worth content to present. Due to the Diwali festival during the 4th Sprint we had only reduced capacity available and could not finish some of the MVPs. Not an issue, we will now focus all resources on the System Demo on 04-Dec-23.

Have a great and successful next week.

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (17-Nov-23)

• Agile 2: The Dilemma of Elon Musk
• Video: What Exactly Happened On SpaceX's Second Starship Launch Attempt?

• What to do while waiting for AI to turn your world upside down?

• The workforce is aging. 3 labour experts share how companies can prepare

• The best 18 AI Tools you need for your landing your dream job!

• Nov-22: Where the Next 1,000 Babies Will Be Born
• IMDb: Top 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
• ChatGPT: A similar discussion about the Top 100 films

[17-Nov-23] Self-awareness ...

The Team Building workshop did go really well

"Self-awareness is your ability to perceive and understand the things that make you who you are as an individual, including your personality, actions, values, beliefs, emotions, and thoughts. Essentially, it is a psychological state in which the self becomes the focus of attention."

The workshop was all about self- and team-awareness, to bring some of the hidden topics above the "waterline", when you use the Iceberg Model as analogy. We covered some personal topics, individual and team values, and made a retrospective of the collaboration and communication in the team. Even the best teams can still find some room for improvement, what we did.

The best and most out of their Comfort Zone part was Speed Feedback. Like Speed Dating, but with a 1 minute feedback in both directions. Then you change the partner and do this with the whole team, we had 9 people yesterday. In their faces you could see that it took some time to get warm and used to the situation, but in the end everybody did really appreciate the experience. Something you could/should do more often.

In the end the whole day was flying by pretty fast and we might plan a follow up workshop next year? Before my holiday season starts on 20-Dec-23, I have 3 more workshops on my list. The ART retrospective next week, a team logo workshop early December, and the regular team building workshop to close our 2-day planning phases on 14-Dec-23.

• Charted: Marvel’s Box Office Rise (and Fall?)

• We often hear that AI will take our jobs. But what jobs will it create?

• Climate: The ultimate industry disruptor

• Dan Rockwell: THE KEY TO BEING A GOOD MENTOR

• Find your edge: escape competition through authenticity

• The power of diversity

• EU criminalises environmental damage ‘comparable to ecocide’

[15-Nov-23] Remember the basics again

We are often too busy and stressed to remember, what should be common knowledge ... 

Tomorrow is the Team Building workshop, an opportunity for the participants to remember some useful knowledge, to learn something new and to leave their comfort zone sometimes. No pressure.

All my agenda topics have an idea behind, not always obvious, but helpful for a holistic approach. To best use both sides of the brain and to avoid using the standard answers. Addressing most of their senses and to combine some of it at the same time, for new ideas and impressions. Some helpful links for the text and picture:

• 83% of people suffer from stress at work

• 18 effective strategies to improve your communication skills

• Dan Rockwell: 5 ACCOUNTABILITY PRACTICES THAT GUARANTEE TEAMS ROW TOGETHER
• Grant Snider: The Worry Nest

• No Matter How You Feel…You’re Not Alone

• The New Happy: The best relationships

• The DISC model is a powerful tool for understanding and improving communication, behaviour and leadership skills

• Be more open for change

Will keep you posted about some highlights, but only in general terms, because it is a safe environment.

“You think it’s dumb when someone says there’s no ‘I’ in team, but you stick one in there and you see how dumb that looks.” – Brendan Kiely, Author, taken from 61 Best Team Building Quotes for Bonding at Work in 2023

[13-Nov-23] World Kindness Day

"Kindness shows us we’re all worth the effort and all our efforts have worth."

The picture is a good fit to the Kindness Day today. The more kind you are, the less do you hurt someone. Sounds straight forward?

I did follow The 2nd Curiosity Forum online today and worked on my Retrospective preparation in parallel. The content and panel discussions were okay, but not really a lot of great news from my perspective. Maybe I was not listening too focused, as multi-tasking does not really work well. Anyway the concept for my ART-wide Retrospective is ready and thanks a lot to Chris Stone for his great template ideas.

I selected the DIWALI retrospective as the most team members are from India and they are just celebrating this festival this week. Will be interesting to see, how they react to my proposal?

• Slack announces radical week-long shutdown due to an internal skills crisis

• Global Gender Gap Report 2023

• 2 Companies That Are Getting Internal Mobility Right

• 2 WAYS TO BE WATER FOR THE THIRSTY

• 6 Toxic Relationships You Should Avoid Like the Plague

• This cheatsheet is your go-to resource for navigating vast AI toolkits

• For anyone, whether you are a leader or just navigating through your life, dealing with challenges is inevitable

• 11 MEETINGS PROJECT MANAGERS-DO NOT NEED

• Video: HIDDEN POTENTIAL by Adam Grant | Core Message

[12-Nov-23] The week 45-2023 summary

Good start today with the Norman Vincent Peale quote

I released another KISA post today, this time I used the main Looney Tunes characters and checked their strength and weakness related to an Agile Mindset:

Bugs Bunny:

Strengths: Agile adaptability, quick thinking, and resourcefulness. Bugs' ability to adapt to any situation, think on his feet, and turn things to his advantage reflects Agile principles.
Weaknesses: Sometimes his overconfidence and desire to outsmart everyone might lead to situations where teamwork might suffer in Agile contexts.

A summary of all my KISA analogies so far is here.

Tomorrow is the Curiosity Forum: 2nd Edition
Curious About Gen AI - November 13, 2023 - 14:30-16:30 GMT • 15:30-17:30 CET • 9:30-11:30 EST • 6:30-8:30 PST, looking forward to it.

On Thursday the Team Building workshop and in parallel I am preparing an Agile Release Train (ART) wide retrospective on 23-Nov-23. Will be a combination of fun and work for the teams.

Some LEARNING links:

• Microsoft Offering One of Amazing Free Courses to be a Professional in using Power BI and be a Data Analyst

• 167 pages of Machine Learning with Python tutorial

• The University of Queensland Australia, FREE online courses

• MIT University is offering free online courses

• How to Build a Culture of Feedback That Actually Works

And some other links for the new week:

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (10-Nov-23)

• Sketchplanations: Greeble
• Video: Why Really Successful People Say No To Almost Everything

• Problem solving is a skill, made up of many sub-skills

• The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Leading Change Effectively

• The Hu.ma.ne AI Pin is an innovative, screenless wearable device designed to offer a range of AI-powered features, potentially rivaling smartphones

[11-Nov-23] Interesting artworks ...

Christo and Jeanne-Claude compared with HA Schult and Elke Koska

I had a discussion with my wife today about art and what e.g. Picasso or Van Gogh would think about the amount of money people pay for their pictures these days. We quickly came to local artists in the Cologne and Duesseldorf area and ended up with Elke Koska and HA Schult. 

Long read curly hair seems to be a commonality of Jeanne-Claude and Elke, below what OpenAI had to say about the two couples:

ME: Please compare the art work of Christo and Jean-Claude with the activities of HA Schult and Elke Koska. What are their main differences and commonalities?

ChatGPT: Christo and Jean-Claude were known for their large-scale environmental artworks, often involving the wrapping of buildings or natural landscapes, like "The Gates" in Central Park. Their collaborative approach, where both were considered equal partners in the creative process, was a distinctive aspect of their work.

On the other hand, H.A. Schult and Elke Koska have their own unique artistic endeavors. Schult, known for his "Trash People" installation, focuses on social commentary and environmental awareness through the use of recycled materials, particularly garbage. Elke Koska, a sculptor and installation artist, explores themes of nature, transformation, and the relationship between human beings and the environment in her artworks.

While both pairs of artists engage in large-scale installations and environmental art, their methodologies and messages differ. Christo and Jean-Claude's work often involved monumental, visually striking transformations of existing landscapes or architecture, often for a temporary period. Their art was more about reshaping the perception of familiar spaces.

In contrast, H.A. Schult and Elke Koska use recycled materials and direct social commentary in their works, focusing on environmental issues and the human impact on the planet. Their art tends to have a more direct, provocative message about society and consumption.

Commonalities between these artists might include their shared interest in environmental art and the use of large-scale installations to engage audiences. However, their approaches, materials used, and the messages they convey differ significantly.

ME: What are the most mentioned artworks of both couples?

ChatGPT: Christo and Jean-Claude are renowned for several iconic artworks, but a few that often come up in discussions are:

The Gates (2005): Installed in New York City's Central Park, this project involved installing 7,503 gates with saffron-colored fabric panels along the park's pathways.

Running Fence (1976): A 24.5-mile fence of white fabric running through the California countryside, ending at the Pacific Ocean.

Surrounded Islands (1983): They surrounded several islands in Biscayne Bay, Florida, with pink polypropylene fabric.

H.A. Schult's "Trash People" series is a frequently mentioned body of work, where life-sized human figures made entirely from recycled materials are placed in various locations. As for Elke Koska, her notable artworks may not have the same level of widespread recognition, but pieces like "Seedbed," which consists of sculptural installations reflecting nature and transformation, have gained attention in environmental art circles.

ChatGPT is still not perfect, as you can see from my misspelling of Jeanne-Claude in the initial question. The content is correct, but the system did not adjust the name spelling. Room for improvement.

As I could not find enough details about Elke Koska and do not use Wikipedia as source, I asked ChatGPT for a summary, see at the end of the chat.

[10-Nov-23] Be open for the unexpected

Have fun, be open, flexible and authentic ...

I found the quote on LinkedIn today and it perfectly fits to several stories in this post.

For possible measurement have a look at:

• Tom Brady Says Remarkable Success Comes Down to This Simple Mindset Change: Why You Should Embrace the Power of Lead Metrics

• Leading, Lagging, and Coincident Indicators

The quote might also fit to the Beatles and their latest single, now #1 in the UK and Germany:

• The Beatles top singles chart 60 years after their first hit

• The Rolling Stones' new album Hackney Diamonds sets US chart record

As we are talking with our Indian colleagues about the upcoming Diwali festival for days now, this might be another good example for the quote selected today? "Diwali is India’s most important holiday—and a celebration of good over evil. Observed by more than a billion people across faiths, this five-day festival of lights brings prayer, feasts, fireworks and, for some, a new year."

In order to do some personal marketing for my small - one man ReThinkandFocus business, I am pushing my related LinkedIn page today. 250 free credits to invite new followers, a nice opportunity to come to some better times maybe? And a fun side effect could be to re-establish some relationships and contacts from the past. Definitely a lot of potential after 34 years of work.

Besides my full-day Team Building workshop next week Thursday I started to work on the upcoming team building session after the next 2-day planning phase in my project, scheduled for 14-Dec-23. As it is also the Year End session for the whole team before the holiday season starts, I will do some fun activities during these 90 minutes. 1st an anagram quiz, followed by a scavenger hunt and closure with a sketching challenge.

• 7 Proven Ways To Keep Stress From Damaging Your Brain

• Unlocking the Potential of MachineLearning

• The 8 Biggest Future Of Work Trends In 2024 Everyone Needs To Be Ready For Now

• Uncovering the AI Industry: 50 Most Visited AI Tools and Their 24B+ Traffic Behavior

• How to Gain the Ultimate Advantage in Life

• Where nature is in peril, these industries are too

[07-Nov-23] Thoughts to Build On

Referencing the Tanmay Vora 02-Nov-23 Blog post

“The first step to living the life you want is leaving the life you don’t want. Taking the first step forward is always the hardest. But then each step forward gets easier and easier. And each step forward gets you closer and closer until eventually, what had once been invisible starts to be visible. And what once felt impossible starts to feel possible.” – Karen Salmansohn, taken from 88 Baby First Steps Quotes

A great summary by Tanmay in his post about the book "Thoughts to Build On" by M. R. Kopmeyer.

Perfect fit to our Learning Day tomorrow, the 4th one in 2023. When you know where your weak points are, just take a first step and move. If you are not sure where to look, ask your family, friends or colleagues for help. The Johari Window is a good tool for explanation, everybody has a Blind Spot.

Also a good reference to the Peer Group picture from yesterday. Properly select the group you are learning with, train less advanced people and use more advanced people as your target level.

• 4 must-have decision tools for leaders

• Transform Your Life with Positive Psychology

• Continued self development is necessary to increase your leadership potential

• Building High-Performing Leadership Teams: The Power of Group Dynamics

• Psychological safety boosts employee engagement by 76%

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiative Readiness Assessment: Free Download

[06-Nov-23] Picture Monday again ...

Fit best in the right place to build your reputation

I did add another example to my KISA = Keep it Simple Agile discussion with ChatGPT. This time matching the main Marvel and Star Wars characters with Agile Roles. I am collecting all my examples on one webpage. Have a look.

ZEAM is Connecting companies with the future for Generation Z & Alpha. An interesting approach, just in case you have the need?

Some helpful links to start the week:

• Sketchplanations: Whose job is it?

• 10 Habits of Mentally Strong People

• Four-day work week trial in Spain leads to healthier workers, less pollution

• FREE (Google) Courses you will regret not taking in 2023

• Use this ChatGPT cheat sheet to get ahead in your career

• Mothers: The Unseen Masters of Systemic Thinking

• Young people who work remotely are 'probably not' going to become corporate CEOs, an NYU business professor says

[04-Nov-23] Where are you heading?

You always have a choice, like it or not ... 

After two days break I am back today. I did celebrate my birthday on Thursday and did go out with one of my present yesterday evening. A cooking show in front of 100+ people in our city hall. The chef is a former journalist, who made his hobby to his profession, 1st just on the radio and in the meantime live with a larger audience.

He likes to make cooking as simple and easy as possible and provides helpful background information about the quality and origin of his ingredients and spices. Was a lot of fun and did taste really well.

Today I did get two references on LinkedIn. The first from a project member who did get a team appreciation on Friday, for the good work he did lately. He posted the certificate and was really proud for getting it. Exactly the idea behind our approach, surprise the people and show them that we are interested in their work and the outcome for our project stakeholders.

Second one from our new Intern, who did start Thursday and shared that he was happy about the onboarding during the first two days and that he will be supporting us until Apr-24.

Besides that I did find several interesting articles, videos and free training courses from well known Universities or Companies. As mentioned on the picture, you can use it to proceed in your current direction or to change it. The more opinions you listen to or information you process, the better for you and your way forward.

The articles:

• Tesla Agile Success

• Byron Wien’s 20 Life Lessons

• THE BEATLES JUST RELEASED THEIR FINAL SONG THAT RESURRECTS JOHN LENNON’S VOICE WITH AI
  A LONG AND WINDING ROAD INDEED!

• The Techno-Optimist Manifesto by Marc Andreessen

• Why kindness at work pays off. It’s okay to not be okay. How to start a startup.

• Investing to Deliver Value: A New Model for People Analytics

The videos:

• TED Talk: The powerful possibilities of recycling the world's batteries

• A Viral Interaction On The Sidelines Of World’s First AI Summit -

  British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk

• Simon Sinek: Purpose should be prioritized over metrics

• Science Behind Disney's Adorable And Lifelike Robot AT IROSS 2023

• New Innovation Launched! The T-REX wheel-legged robot from AgileX Robotics! Let's unlock the T-REX!

• LDRIC the golf robot info HD (from 2016)

There is an interesting difference between LDRIC and the Disney and T-REX robot. In 2016 it was a rudimentary piece of mechanic with some smart programming, today it is a tool box of mechanical movements/possibilities with a self-learning engine. Similar to the differences between Atlas and the Tesla Bot.

About Learning:

• Top 10 skills for the 21st Century Worker (FREE online courses included)

• Today, AI does not outperform people on most tasks.

• The Agile Coach Hype Cycle

• 6 Free Online Leadership Courses from Harvard University

• Harvard University is offering FREE world class education in Data Science

• Google is offering free online courses with certification.

• 1963-2023: From 0.0 Leadership to 5.0 Leadership

• Free Data Analytics Courses for Beginners

• The CEO's KPI Checklist

[01-Nov-23] Humans and A.I.

Comparing two sides of one future coin? 

Frank Sonnenberg did come up with a very detailed "Are you a good friend" list today, as you can see on the picture. From my perspective adding long term investment in a friendship and not directly asking for or expecting something in return, could be a good addition?

Let's see, what the build in OpenAI writer thinks about this topic in comparison?

A good friendship is defined by the sincere support and care shared between individuals. Here are ten examples that demonstrate what it means to be a good friend:

1. Being a good listener - giving your undivided attention when your friend needs someone to confide in.
2. Offering encouragement - motivating and cheering your friend on during both challenging and triumphant times.
3. Showing empathy - understanding and sharing their feelings, demonstrating that you truly care.
4. Respecting boundaries - recognizing and being mindful of your friend's personal space and limits.
5. Being reliable - always being there for your friend when they need help or companionship.
6. Keeping secrets - maintaining confidentiality and not divulging their personal information to others.
7. Being honest - providing genuine feedback and advice, even if it's not what they want to hear.
8. Resolving conflicts - working together to find a solution and not letting disagreements affect your friendship.
9. Celebrating milestones - rejoicing in your friend's achievements and being genuinely happy for them.
10. Being forgiving - understanding that nobody is perfect and forgiving your friend's mistakes or shortcomings.

By incorporating these qualities into your friendship, you can create a strong and lasting bond with your friends.

Sounds good and in a lot of areas pretty similar, but my point is not included as well.

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." --

Oprah Winfrey taken from 50 Inspiring Quotes About Friendship

[29-Oct-23] The week 43-2023 summary

Simple language and simple usage

As you see on the Affordance picture, the easier (with the least possible options) the solution you offer, the better for the customer.

I did add another picture for the KISA idea from yesterday (simple language for difficult topics). This time explaining Scrum with the Monty Python Holy Grail film as analogy and the help of ChatGPT.

Not every analogy works for everybody as we did find out last Friday during the OneTeam Coffee meeting. During the 45 minute discussion we did touch Monty Python films and only the 55+ age guys did know the details. All younger participants had no idea, so not a perfect analogy for them.

Since today I am showing the Green Web Foundation certificate that my BLOG hosting company One.com is running on green energy, see on the Welcome page. "WE WORK TOWARDS A FOSSIL-FREE INTERNET BY 2030 - The Green Web Foundation is an independent non-profit that tracks how much of the internet runs on green energy. Manage the environmental impact of your digital products. Apply best practices in digital sustainability. Advocate for a more sustainable and just internet."

See this related article - "The artificial intelligence (AI) industry could consume as much energy as a country the size of the Netherlands by 2027, a new study warns."

Tomorrow we start the week with the Retro of our Data & Analytics Meetup from 26-Sep-23. It took some time until everybody was back from Autumn holidays. We are looking forward to a 4-Day work week, as Wednesday 01-Nov-23 is a public holiday in Germany. The next Intern starts on Thursday with one day delay due to this. Have a great week.

• How to Run an Effective Team Offsite: Success Metrics Explained

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (27-Oct-23)

• Video: 5 Advanced Tips to Study Effectively

• What Do ChatGPT’s New Capabilities Really Mean For Us All?

• Westrum organizational culture image gallery

• A typology of organisational cultures by R. Westrum

• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Revolutionizing Women's Sexual Health

• Dr. Stephen R. Covey lists the following seven behaviours of highly effective people

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Applied to Employee Engagement

• Explaining 9 types of API testing

• How responsible, equitable AI can help us improve global health outcomes

[27-Oct-23] Personal Growth ...

About Lifelong Learning and other areas 

Personal growth is a lifelong journey that involves continuous learning and development. To help you on this path, here are five key areas to focus on for personal growth:

1. Emotional intelligence - building self-awareness and empathy;
2. Communication skills - effective listening and expressing ideas clearly;
3. Goal setting - defining objectives and taking steps towards achieving them;
4. Time management - prioritizing tasks and managing time effectively;
5. Mindfulness - practicing presence and cultivating a positive mindset.

By working on these areas, you can enhance your personal growth and create lasting positive change in your life. Start embracing growth today!

A good summary and start from the OpenAI text generator I would say. All AI generated content in Italics font and Orange color, for clarification purposes.

In the monthly OneTeam coffee meeting this morning we covered some of the 5 key areas above. It is a voluntary meeting with 400+ invited people and 4 did show up today. Big Thank You to my Interns community, they represented 50% of the participants. I definitely have to work on some marketing here, but it is also a mindset issue. Voluntary and mostly not business related topics get only low or even no priority. Has to do with e.g. Time Management, Emotional Intelligence, Communication, personal Goal Setting and Mindfulness. Surprise, surprise the 5 Personal Growth areas. You can either focus on or avoid these topics.

Experience comes from experiencing, in a positive or negative way.

We did talk about proper time management, to make the OneTeam coffee happen once per month for example and lifelong learning. Depending on the life cycle phase you are currently in. It is a difference between an Intern, still learning for their Bachelor or Master Studies and people with 20+ years of work experience. Interesting discussion for the 4 people , the other 396 missed it :-)

[25-Oct-23] "Lipstick does not shrink the brain"

Was Tijen Onaran's answer to a hater comment after taking some time to think about it before ...

Sounds like an INTROVERT approach and does not need to be a contradiction, when you see her in public. I would judge myself as introvert as well, even when I am hosting the Meetup on stage in front of nearly 100 people and do regular workshops for groups of 5 to 50+.

A lot of the students that apply for our Internship positions want to be a Data Analyst or Scientist in the future. Below some insights for a good development path:

• Self Guide to become a Data Analyst
• Become a Data Scientist in 50 days

We had a discussion about KPIs in our agile project today. I believe this has to be implemented Top Down. Senior Management has to be clear, how they want to drive the organization. For these drivers you can think about adequate measurements as basis for the KPI. When you know, what to measure you will be clear about the data that are required. Finally this gives clarity about sources and tools to use. Sounds easy.

• What are agile metrics?

• 12 Agile Metrics & KPIs You Must Track in 2023

• 27 Examples of Key Performance Indicators

• 30 KPIs To Measure Performance

Interested about building great teams?

• Video: Ray Dalio & Bill Belichick on Building Great Teams

• There’s a lot of talk about “customer experience” and “employee experience.”
  

[22-Oct-23] My week 42-2023 highlights

Some more questions to work with ... 

I finished the 2nd Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS) book yesterday and did get additional questions. See the blue picture. Very helpful framework and once again easy to understand and use. We will see ...

Tomorrow is our Sprint-2 demo, the Sprint-1 demo did not happen, as we had no real content to share and I was on holiday. We will be taking the same customer facing and customer language approach as for the System Demo last month. Only content related to our Top-5 objectives will be shown. Might be hard for some team members, who cannot present their work anymore, but the best possible approach for customer buy-in and business understanding.

For November and December I agreed two new workshops. A follow up Team Building workshop, based on my activities in August and a Logo/Slogan workshop for a team I am working with. We had initially planned the activity for Mar-23 already, but it had to be delayed, until Dec-23 now.

In a discussion with one of my Scrum Masters last Friday we did wonder about a rule that seemed to be existing, but nobody knows why and when it was implemented. Might be based on the The Five Monkeys Experiment as you can also see on the white picture? Always question the status quo and try to understand the WHY behind the rules, something I tell my Interns during the onboarding meeting as well.

The next book I started to read is "Be your own f*cking hero" from Tijen Onaran. She is questioning the status quo in all areas - entrepreneurship, business fashion, migration, integration and many more. She has her own Role Model Barbie and lipstick called "Red Tijen", not bad from an appreciation and visibility perspective I would say. The beginning of the book is already offering a lot of insights, more to come and to share.

Have a great, surprising and successful week:

• The New Happy: Another view

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (20-Oct-23)

• Chat GPT kind of knows what a Scrum Master does -- But not fully - and that is problematic

• Two is Better Than One: The Art and Science of Workplace Buddy Systems

• Sketchplanations: VUCA

• 24 hours with a Navy SEAL - Lessons from a day (and night) in the wilderness

• Agile 2: Why Most Leadership Training Is Not Effective for Product Companies

• Pros and Cons of the 4 Day Work Week -- Pssst... 4 day work week = 32hrs with no drop in salary

• There is a world outside of ChatGPT: Here are new AI websites you don't want to miss

[18-Oct-23] Employee Archetypes ...

Picture based on a McKinsey research - Some employees are destroying value. Others are building it. Do you know the difference?

"Archetypes are universal, inborn models of people, behaviors, and personalities that play a role in influencing human behavior. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung's theory suggested that these archetypes were archaic forms of innate human knowledge passed down from our ancestors."

3 days back in the office and not a lot did change during my holidays. 2 weeks is a good time, not a lot will happen in 10 working days anyway and you can still remember your password. I just had to change it when I was back, due to the security guidelines for a regular update.

Besides the daily project work we discussed topics around the reverse mentoring program with our GenZ employees, some basic coaching approaches and direct feedback:

• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

• Systemic coaching questions

• Systemische Fragen für erfolgreiche Coachings

• How to Overcome Protective Hesitation So EVERYONE Gets the Feedback They Deserve to Learn and Grow

For the review about the reverse mentoring pilot I had a lot of agreement with my Mentor:

• The proper definition and common understanding of the Mentoring phrase would have been helpful
• The difference between generations is not specific for GenZ, in the last 4,000+ years older generations always had issues and concerns about younger generations
• Having a discussion with younger people is helpful, but I personally have a lot of experience there already, with 2 GenZ daughters, my handling of the Intern hiring process and the regular school workshops
• And we should not underestimate the state of the personal life cycle and the difference of motivation and priorities based on your age

Some helpful links to close for today:

• Change How You Feel About Change: 4 Tips on How to Embrace It

• Dan Rockwell: PURPOSEFUL ABANDONMENT: HOW TO LET GO OF WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK

• Python Tricks pdf
  

• The most detailed SQL Cheatsheet

• Do you know the difference between vision, mission and purpose? Here’s a version of a meaningful distinction and a simple formula for how they relate to each other

[16-Oct-23] Women in the Workplace 2023

Women in the Workplace is the largest comprehensive study of the state of women in corporate America.

"LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company have published this report annually since 2015 to give companies the information they need to advance women and improve gender diversity. Over the past nine years, we have collected information from almost 900 organizations employing more than 23 million people."

In the time of "War for Talent" no company can staff the VP, SVP and C-Suite levels only with external hires. So you better develop your own talents, what requires a much larger entry level base and good development and promotion circumstances/environments. Take care.

As a side note: CAROL in the marketoonist picture is using an AI solution to handle "waste of time" work - working smarter not harder.

First day in the office and a lot of questions about my holiday. Luckily I did post some insights between 04- and 14-Oct-23, even with pictures. Works as a good reference. 

• Video: CLEAR THINKING by Shane Parrish | Core Message

• Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Outcomes

• The Most Important Recruiting Metric You’ve Never Heard Of: Time to Alignment

• Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2024

• 10 Habits That Will Dramatically Improve Your Life

• Do you see the signs that you need an attitude adjustment?

[14-Oct-23] Last holiday greeting ...

Some more details about the Alpaca hiking yesterday

To start with, below what OpenAI did quickly summarize about Alpacas:

Alpacas, a domesticated South American animal, are known for their soft and luxurious fleece. These gentle creatures belong to the camelid family and are closely related to llamas. Alpacas have been raised for thousands of years for their valuable fiber, which is used to make various textiles and garments.

Alpacas are social animals that are often found grazing in herds. They have a curious and friendly nature, which makes them popular among farmers and animal enthusiasts. These creatures are hardy and adaptable to different climates, able to withstand harsh conditions including high altitudes and freezing temperatures. Alpaca fleece is highly prized for its excellent thermal properties, as it is lightweight, hypoallergenic, and naturally fire-resistant.

In addition to their valuable fleece, alpacas are also cherished for their gentle temperament and easy maintenance. They are known to be intelligent animals and can be trained to be lead with a halter or to perform various tasks. Alpacas communicate through body language, humming, and different vocalizations. Their diet primarily consists of grass and hay, and they have efficient digestive systems that allow them to obtain nutrients from low-quality forage.

Alpacas are not only an important source of livelihood for many communities but also fascinating animals to learn about and be around. Their unique characteristics, stunning fleece, and serene nature make them a delight to have on farms, as well as an intriguing subject for those interested in agriculture or animal husbandry. Whether you are considering raising alpacas or simply curious about these captivating animals, exploring the world of alpacas can be an enriching experience. Remember, this is just the beginning of your journey into the extraordinary world of alpacas.

Interesting content compared to what our guides told us during the hiking. There are roughly 40,000 Alpacas in Germany either for their wool or for hiking tours. There are two types of Alpacas - Huacaya and Suri -

they are really very social animals, go together to the toilet and decide on their own the order of the Alpacas during the hiking. Every participant did get one Alpaca, mine was called Paul, the only black one. White Alpacas are preferred for breeding, it is easier to use their wool and to color it. In general Alpaca wool has very interesting characteristics. Have a look.

• Rosenhan (1973) Experiment – ‘On Being Sane In Insane Places’ - mentioned in a Dr. Peter Kreuz article

• Which of these 10 types do you recognize? Welcome to the Management Zoo

• Artificial Intimacy: How Generative AI Can Now Create Your Dream Girlfriend

[12-Oct-23] 5th holiday greeting ...

We traveled from the Black Forest close to Ulm today

We came here to be in time for the planned Alpaca hiking tomorrow afternoon.

"What is an alpaca?
Alpacas are members of the camel family, domesticated by the people of the Peruvian Andes 6,000 years ago for food, fuel, and fiber. They are ungulates, a group of large hooved mammals that also include sheep and giraffes, with large bodies and legs, long necks, small heads, and medium-length fluffy tails. Although they are often confused with their cousin, the llama, alpacas have shorter ears and blunter, but equally adorable, faces."

On the picture you see: "Ulm´s town hall is situated not far from the Minster and is easily recognised by its opulently painted, early renaissance facade. The oldest part of the present building, the main south east building, was built in 1370 as a ›new trading house‹. It was first mentioned as a town hall in 1419."

Will keep you posted about the hiking tour.

• SWEDEN INVENTS FLAT PACK CAR. IT'S LIKE IKEA, BUT FOR YOUR CAR.

• 15+ powerful writing tips to transform your writing game

• Dan Rockwell: LET GO WHEN YOU’RE AT THE END OF THE ROPE

• You Can’t Be a True Scrum Master With Only a Certificate Or Training

• Want to be a leader people love and respect? It's time to put serving first!

• AI is taking the world to the next level

• These countries are leading the way in the energy transition

• “What’s the difference between knowledge and wisdom?”

• Jurgen Appelo: The Agile Movement Is Shrinking, but the Agile Mindset Is Growing

[10-Oct-23] 4th holiday greeting ...

We did visit the Blackforest Line yesterday

"Take your time before you take your first step on the BLACKFORESTLINE and enjoy the anticipation. Ahead of you lie 380 metres of bliss, supported by just two pylons and held by two steel cables. The interplay of distinctive architecture and wild nature fascinates not only technology fans." - Really a great experience and impressive technology, especially for me as engineer. Was a lot of fun and a great day yesterday.

Today we did visit another Black Forest lake with a small city at the shore, but it was very touristic. A lot of souvenir shops and several groups from Asia and the USA. Tomorrow we have our last day in the Black Forest before we leave to another region for two days on Thursday. We drive back home Saturday morning.

After covering the feedback topic last Sunday I found several more articles and pictures, see below:

• Dan Rockwell: FEEDBACK: SOLVING THE MOST COMMON FAILURE IN LEADERSHIP
• The New Happy: The power of feedback

• Here's how the best leaders handle difficult conversations

• The importance of giving feedback cannot be overstated

• Sketchplanations: Feedback fear

Before I share some other links another feedback quote: “Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.” – Jim Rohn, once again taken from 49 Best Quotes on Feedback

• Performance Development: Unlock Your Team’s Potential

• Keep the circle of control in mind and just let go stuff

• 3 Principles for Better Wellbeing

• "Godfather of Artificial Intelligence" Geoffrey Hinton on the promise, risks of advanced AI

• What if You Could Skip the Resistance of Changes?

• Internal growth requires a constant change of environment

[06-Oct-23] 2nd holiday greeting ... 

Having a great time ...

Yesterday we did some hiking today we made a boats trip on the largest lake in the black forest. Both days really sunny and warm.

"The Black Forest in Germany is known for its breathtaking beauty and rich cultural heritage. With its dense, evergreen forests, charming villages, and stunning landscapes, it offers an array of attractions for visitors to explore. Here are the top 10 attractions in the Black Forest:

1. Triberg Waterfalls: Marvel at the picturesque waterfalls, which are among the highest in Germany.

2. Europa-Park: Experience the thrills and adventures of one of Europe's largest theme parks.

3. Titisee: Relax by the tranquil lake and indulge in water sports or boat rides.

4. Freiburg: Discover the vibrant city with its historic old town and magnificent Gothic cathedral.

5. Black Forest Open Air Museum: Immerse yourself in the region's traditional culture and architecture.

6. Feldberg: Climb the highest peak of the Black Forest for panoramic views and outdoor activities.

7. Baden-Baden: Unwind in the famous spa town known for its thermal baths and luxurious resorts.

8. Mummelsee: Visit the mystical lake nestled in the heart of the forest, surrounded by legends.

9. Schauinsland: Take a cable car ride to enjoy stunning vistas and explore the mountain's hiking trails.

10. Vogtsbauernhof: Step back in time with a visit to this open-air museum showcasing the region's rural history.

Whether you are seeking adventure, relaxation, or cultural immersion, the Black Forest offers a myriad of attractions that promise to leave you mesmerized."

• A Recruitment Process That’s Out of This World: How NASA Selects Astronauts

• Candidate Experience: How To Get It Right and Win More Top-Tier Talent

• Chart Your Path towards Mastery - 15 Agile Coaching reads

• "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does" - William James

[01-Oct-23] The week 39-2023 summary

A really funny picture, great kind of humor ...

Perfect fit as I am not a Microsoft fan, even when it is the operating system on my work laptop. I prefer Linux or even Chrome OS sometimes.

The 75th city anniversary was great and we did even get two free concerts in the evening, sponsored by two local companies. 5,000 people on a parking lot with great warm weather on 30-Sep-23. First we have seen Kasalla, a well known band from Cologne that did play back in 2011 in our city in front of ~150 people. Afterwards greenbeats a percussion band, well known even on International level. A great event.

After a really successful week with the Meetup and the school workshop, two well deserved weeks of holiday. We will go to southern Germany on Tuesday. I will keep you posted with some updates during the time off, but not every day as it is my holiday.

Then I just found an interesting article - Should We Fire All the Agile Coaches? - what triggered several thoughts:

• I still do not understand, why Agile Coaches are called Coaches and not Mentors, but this might be my personal problem?

• "The reality is, you don’t need a coach to be agile at the team level. You can just start. And that may lead to another reason that organizations get rid of coaches – they focus only on “doing agile”" - it is more about a cultural change towards an agile mindset and there you need all employees

• Agile Coaches are often external resources and they are cut first when costs have to be reduced, similar to external consultants

What do you think?

• Java vs. Python: The Tale of Two Titans - And a Speed Debate!

• Effective team management rests on several pillars

[29-Sep-23] All tasks finished

Final workshop done today, ready for holidays now

Last day in the office and some activities had to be finished before going on holiday. I did summarize the different team inputs from the retrospective after the last planning phase and finalized the video editing for the Meetup on Tuesday. Then a presentation preparation about my project for an interested team and a meeting directly after the holidays.

In the morning I had the school workshop about Digital Transformation with 30 kids in the room, this time 1/3 girls and 2/3 boys. The topic was well received and especially taking a personality test was a real success. Only issue was that the kids could not be silent together as a group and their Attention Span was just too short:

• Why Everyone's Worried About Their Attention Span—and How to Improve Yours

• 5 Things To Do For Better Focus & A Longer Attention Span

No further details about the workshop due to psychological safety, GDPR and the Las Vegas slogan. Makes sense ...

“Las Vegas is a place where you can have a great time, and then wake up the next day and wonder what the hell happened.” – Drew Carey

“In general, the route to establishing psychological safety begins with the team’s leader. So if you are leading a team—be it a group of coworkers or a sports team, a church gathering, or your family dinner table—think about what message your choices send. Are you encouraging equality in speaking, or rewarding the loudest people? Are you modeling listening?” – Charles Duhigg

Have a great weekend. We will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of our town officially becoming a city, party on ...

• The New Happy: Take a step back

• PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023

• Dan Rockwell: HOW TO B.U.I.L.D. T.R.U.S.T.

• Navigating the Realm of Data Science? Here's your roadmap

• Automated Machine Learning: Top technologies & Benefits

• Video: Big Data | Don McMillan Comedy
• Video: This Is How You Build Trust With Short-Term Teams

[27-Sep-23] Get into doing quickly ...

Do not wait for things to happen by magic ...

Two of the ten factors of the Frank Sonnenberg What’s Holding You Back? article above.

The 3rd Data & Analytics Meetup yesterday did go really well, besides two unplanable impacts. A short power outage of 3 seconds that did shutdown all audio and video equipment including our live stream for 5 minutes. And a change in the order of our agenda, as two participants had to leave earlier than initially planned. 

The feedback yesterday and today was very positive about content, the mix of topics in the agenda and the way of presentation. We collected good data for the next Meetup in 2024, assuming it will happen after a retrospective we are planning for end of October-23.

Also the 11 BreakOut session in the afternoon had been visited by a lot of people. 36 on average and 71 in the session with the most people. Really interesting topics and good insights into the work we are doing in our department.

Another topic is CHATGPT AS CEO: STARTUP'S €400K PROFIT & RAPID SUCCESS WITH AI - ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, takes the reins as CEO of a Portuguese startup, AIsthetic Apparel, turning it profitable within a week. The AI-driven company focuses on selling T-shirts with AI-generated designs, and with its innovative approach, projects a promising €400,000 annual profit.

An interesting idea as a lot of companies are looking for young people with a lot of work experience. ChatGPT is definitely young and the 3.5 version has a lot of "CEO" experience until 2021. The missing two years until today should be easily covered by all the available knowledge and expertise taken from a nearly endless database. Have a look.

• Dan Rockwell: 3 RULES FOR BEING YOURSELF AT WORK

• 37 Ways to Be Happier at Work ASAP

• ChatGPT Data Analysis Cheat Sheet
• How to give feedback Cheat Sheet

• 10 Things Smart People Never Say

• Virtually Agile: 18 Templates / Canvases for building great teams

• “What’s the best way for someone to grow professionally?” 70-20-10

[24-Sep-23] My week 38-2023 highlights

"The culture and leadership of your business play a critical role in promoting or hindering effective communication." -- Monte Pedersen

A good picture for our Meetup event on Tuesday that is all about communication and story telling. We will do some small preparation work tomorrow and then we are good to go after more than 6 month preparation work. Two good links related to the communication topic below:

• International Day of Sign Languages 23 September

• Video: MOHAMMED QAHTANI: The Power Of Words (a Saudi Arabian engineer, won the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking)

You potentially know already that I like Japanese frameworks and special ways to do things, here a new one that I heard about today - Furoshiki - a really sustainable way for e.g. gift wrapping

"The most popular modern day uses for Japanese furoshiki include: packing bento lunch boxes and protecting them from spilling open; wrapping gifts; transporting glass, ceramic or fragile goods. Particularly fine patterns can be hung on the wall as art, or worn over the shoulders as a shawl. Furoshiki bags can come in all shapes and sizes. They can also be easily used as a tablecloth, or a picnic hamper for your next hanami picnic. In an emergency a furoshiki also makes a great sling or temporary bandage! The uses of the furoshiki are limited by only your creativity."

For further communication purposes some interesting content to look at:

• Happiness at work? A competitive advantage, indeed. Stay on the bus: the proven path to doing unique and meaningful work. Digital transformation KPI.

• The 30 Questions Every Leader Must Ask to Stress-Proof Their Workplace Culture

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (22-Sep-23)

• McKinsey & Company: Top Ten Reports │ Third Quarter 2023

• HOUSE of LEAN (Sketchnote)

• Scaling the Leadership mountain

• 7 Books to Help You Press Reset on Your Mindset

• 8 ways to develop Metacognitive skills

• Emotions and mindset. Fascinating combination. These can be paradoxical more often than not (image)

• The Amazing Ways Snowflake Uses Generative AI For Synthetic Data And Natural Language Queries

[22-Sep-23] You are the sum ...

Of the 5 people around you or maybe A.I. soon? 

Quick summary of the last week. PI planning was finished successfully and the confidence vote delivered a 4.1/5, a pretty good result. The next 3-month project phase starts next week Tuesday, the same day when we have our 3rd Data & Analytics Meetup. For this event the slides are ready and everything is prepared. The short-notice surprises will be handled, when they come up, really agile.

Remaining on my ToDo list after the Tuesday event is the school workshop next week Friday, then I am ready for two weeks holiday. For sure well deserved.

Then I have seen a picture and article about the topic - AI systems perform better than humans in language and image recognition in some tests - let's see, what OpenAI thinks about this topic?

AI systems have proven their superior performance compared to humans in language and image recognition tests. With advancements in technology, AI algorithms have been fine-tuned to accurately understand and process vast amounts of written and visual data. Whether it's understanding natural language patterns or identifying objects and patterns in images, AI systems have shown remarkable capabilities in outperforming human counterparts. This breakthrough in AI has paved the way for significant advancements in various fields, such as healthcare, self-driving cars, and customer service.

The ability of AI systems to surpass human performance in language and image recognition tasks opens up endless possibilities for businesses and individuals alike. With AI, the speed and accuracy of processing large volumes of data have skyrocketed, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and gain competitive advantages. Moreover, these AI systems can learn and improve over time, constantly refining their abilities and staying up-to-date with the latest trends and patterns. The growth of AI technology is revolutionizing industries, empowering us to harness the potential of intelligent algorithms and achieve new levels of efficiency and accuracy in language and image recognition.

Not so bad I would say and A.I. found the bear on the chocolate packaging by the way :-) -- Have a great weekend.

• Here are the top 10 mental models that will revolutionize your prioritization approach

• The true 100% commitment at work😁

[19-Sep-23] About Productivity ...

Some quick insights and links before the PI planning tomorrow

"Simply put, productivity measures the amount of value created for each hour that is worked in a society." -- McKinsey

The presentation for tomorrow is nearly finished, possibly some final changes are required between 07.30 and 08.30 AM in the morning, last minute. Better to do it then in time for the kick-off meeting.

Preparation for the 3rd Meetup is also making progress, I am just collecting the slides from all presenters.

• 10 Most Common Leadership Styles and Their Pros and Cons in 2023

• 2023 AI Maturity Model

• 9 Bad Manager Mistakes That Make Good People Quit

• "A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it." - Chinese proverb

• 12 AI Profile Picture Generation Tools

• Moms Who Lead: The Overlooked Impact of Closing the Talent Gap, Equal Pay, and DEI

• Your personal brain lab (great sketchnote by Maria Luisa Engels)

• Self-promotion done right: how to share your successes without sounding arrogant

• Your Sprint length doesn't have to be two weeks!

• The ultimate Leading Change cheat sheet
• Do you need that meeting? Cheat sheet

[15-Sep-23] How to uncover potential?

The Pygmalion Effect: the powerful influence of shared expectations.

In order to come from a rock to statue you need some tools. It is the same when you want to uncover your potential. The right tools might be learning, personality tests, some mentoring/coaching, maybe just some feedback from an outside opinion or perspective? Up to you, and depending from where you are and where you want to be?

Another potential could be found in hidden champions - Hidden champions are companies that dominate their respective niches, but are largely unknown to the general public. These companies are typically small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with annual revenues of less than €5 billion - I did see a Peter Kreuz article about this topic today (only in German), but also found his series of English speaking videos on Youtube for the same topic, have a look. 

Finally a paradigm shift could help as well and unlock a lot of potential. See an example for leadership with a great Tanmay Vora sketchnote included.

“Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.” -- John Maxwell, taken from 40 Inspirational Quotes On Potential.

• The secret to accelerating performance - What winning companies do differently

• JAW-DROPPING ELECTRIC MINI RACER ACCELERATES TO 62 MPH IN LESS THAN ONE SECOND

• The Scrum Master as the Leader of the Future

• MEETINGS ARE TOO BIG TOO FREQUENT AND TOO LONG

• Kotter's 8-Step Process for Leading Change

• The 5 Biggest Risks of Generative AI: Steering the Behemoth Responsibly

• The 5 Guiding Laws of Life!

• 10 Sentences advice on what Scrum Master need (credit to Mike Cohn)

[13-Sep-23] Issue and improvement

Clarify the problem and find a solution

I found the picture yesterday and shared it in my team. The spillover joke came up immediately and I answered, when you want to keep a clean table, don't do any spillovers. Today I found an even better solution on Youtube, the 2023 answer - Robot Barista Making Latte Art!

Next issues is the baby-boomer generation retiring shortly and the current

shortage of skilled workers. Two trends going in opposite directions. A huge number of baby-boomers are leaving the workforce in the coming years and the current shortage of skilled workers will be getting worse. So re- or upskill your younger employees and develop what you need on your own. My project will be facing the same issues with respect to software development. A first idea is to do pair-programming or mentoring between older and young team members, maybe a coding autumn-school to upskill a larger group quickly. I will be thinking about this in more details after my October holiday.

Finally a new idea to avoid synchronization or undertitles in videos - just use AI for translation into other languages and to match the new words and mouth movements. Have a look at HeyGen or this example.

• Dan Rockwell: 7 WAYS TO LEARN TO SAY NO WITH KINDNESS

• Redesigning your career path in a Skills-Driven world

• Frank Sonnenberg: How to Work Smart and Achieve More

• 10 metrics more valuable than velocity

• Activating Growth Mindset (at scale)

• Worrying is not at all bad if you have the right mindset.

[10-Sep-23] My week 36-2023 highlights

Basketball World Cup Final: Germany 83 : Serbia 77

The historical days did go on today, when the German Basketball team did win the World Cup for the 1st time. What a great day and very well deserved after winning all games during this tournament. And a perfect analogy to the picture today, as the great intersection of all player types and their experience in the past together made a winning team. Congratulations and Basketball will now get much more visibility with a broader audience, because only the final was shown on free TV in Germany.

Germany can be lucky to have Basketball now, as Soccer is a complete disaster in the moment. After losing against Japan yesterday the coach was fired today, much too late from my perspective, but better late than never. Next friendly game is against France on Tuesday already and an interim coach has been announced. Will be interesting to see, who gets this position long-term. 

I was busy the whole day yesterday to update and fine-tune my presentation for the school workshop on 29-Sep-23. A lot did happen in the technology and digitalization area in the last 2 years, what had influence on the content I plan to present. I asked ChatGPT to get 10 key topics to be covered during this workshop and 5 dangers I should warn the kids about. Really great results for easy questions, very helpful. And a good confirmation for the content I did share in previous workshops in the school already. Good to have this task finished now, only some additional notes will be required for my voice-over during the presentation. I plan to have two active sessions for the audience besides the slides I will show. 

The coming week starts with our System Demo on Monday, much more customer focused this time. Looking forward to the feedback of the audience afterwards, to see if our effort and change in direction was successful?

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (08-Sep-23)

• Why Shallow Leadership Principles Backfire: The Dangers of Simplistic Mantras

• The 2023 MAD (Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence & Data) Landscape

• Our VELUM system steps in to provide a solution. sewts VELUM feeds towels and other terrycloth into folding machines, closing this significant gap in automation of industrial laundries. Our inhouse developed AI analyzes the textile and translates these findings into robotic commands.

• SQL in a Nutshell

• What technology analysts are saying about the future of generative AI

• Teach Your Children To Care Inspirational Video

• The best example of “don’t try to change something that works”.

"I always thought of myself as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics. Then I read something that one of my heroes, Edwin Land of Polaroid, said about the importance of people who could stand at the intersection of humanities and sciences, and I decided that's what I wanted to do." -- Steve Jobs

[08-Sep-23] A historical day ...

Basketball World Cup: Germany 113 : USA 111

The German team was the 1st time in the Semi-Finals after 21 years, did win against the favorites from the USA today and is now for the 1st time ever in theWorld Cup final on Sunday. Well done guys.

As well today is the 1st anniversary of the death of Elizabeth II, 70 years on the throne and now the 1st year without her, still a little bit unusual.

The picture today is another great Tanmay Vora sketchnote, always a good combination of content and related sketches.

12 more days to go until the next 2-day project planning starts, another 6 days for the 3rd Meetup and then finally the school workshop on 29-Sep-23, before 2 weeks holiday start, will be well deserved by then.

Next Monday we will have our System Demo with the main customers and stakeholders, as official finish for the last 3-month period. Then we start our 5-days of dedicated innovation, training and exploration phase before the next planning. As we want to be much more customer focused and less technical in language on Monday, we had a dry-run with all team members today. Some minor adjustments are required, but the rest will be working fine. Looking forward to it and the feedback of the audience afterwards.

• Dan Rockwell: BETWEEN STUPIDITY AND WISDOM
• Dan Rockwell: CHANGE YOUR FRIENDS CHANGE YOUR LIFE
• The New Happy: Borrow it
• The New Happy: Talking all day
• Simon Sinek Video: Optimism Is NOT Blind Positivity
• Video: Amphibious Velox robot uses undulating fins to swim and crawl

• XEV YOYO MY23 is here! The full electric city car, which responds to a need for urban mobility with practicality, technology, and an unmistakable design, improves in every aspect

• Generative Team Design: Innovation, Psychological Safety, and Empathy

• DevOps Tools Stack Wheel

• 11 Important Soft Skills
  

• Mindsets, the unseen builders or wreckers of success, play a crucial role in teams and organisations

• Intrinsic drive: from curiosity to mastery to achieve the impossible

• The Power of Intrinsic Motivation: The most powerful habits are those that come completely from within.

"For artists, scientists, inventors, schoolchildren, and the rest of us, intrinsic motivation-the drive to do something because it is interesting, challenging, and absorbing-is essential for high levels of creativity." -- Daniel H. Pink

[06-Sep-23] The Bulldozer ...

Sometimes you just need to drive alternative ideas

In one of our strategic projects we have a "driver triangle" of Time - Resources - and Smartness. As the enddate is fixed and we cannot increase the number of skilled resources in the remaining time, we have to work smarter and push new, alternative and maybe crazy ideas, to get things done.

During a meeting today I took the Bulldozer role and shared some "fancy" ideas. Why should we spend a lot of effort to reduce the duration of an existing process from e.g. 11 to 8 days? Just tell the involved people that the new duration cannot be longer than 3 days and they should be coming up with smart ideas to make it happen. Discuss good pratices and combine what works well. If a competition between teams is required to be faster, why not - gamification can help as well.

Another proposal was to use the Pareto Principle - by just spending 20% team effort, we should come to a 80% quality and confidence level after testing. We will see soon, if this is possible?

• Lean for the modern company

• Dan Rockwell: 4 BAD HABITS THE WORST LEADERS LOVE

• What is an Agile Release Tram?

• 11 Habits of Ridiculously Likeable People

• Eve Simon: Maternal Ingenuity: How Moms Drive Progressive Innovation
• Sketchplanations: Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• Frank Sonnenberg: Some People Have No Shame

• 10 Time Management Tips for Talent Professionals

• Beyond the Facade: Why a Strong Core Is Key to IT Success

• How to stop - Taking Things Personally

[04-Sep-23] Meeting the requirements?

It is always good to have a plan B or version 2.0

I am just reading two new books from Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS):

• The Coaching Habit (2016)

  • The Coaching Habit gives you 7 questions and the tools to make them an everyday habit. Master them, and you’ll be able to work less hard and have more impact.

• How To Work With Almost Anyone (2023)

  • Every working relationship can be better.
    This book is your guide to creating relationships
    that are safe, vital, and repairable.

I started with the Coaching Habit and it is really easy to read and understand. Looking forward to the remaining content and then the latest book from MBS.

As promised I did select the Interns for the 2nd round of interviews today. Difficult to meet the requirements of the departments searching for Interns, and making it to the 2nd round is no guarantee to be invited for a 2nd interview. We will see.

"The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it." -- Ray Kroc, American - Businessman October 5, 1902 - January 14, 1984

• FROM THEORY TO TRIUMPH: THE CIO’S GUIDE TO GENUINE BUSINESS AGILITY

• Video: 100 WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF by Steve Chandler | Core Message
• Video: Simon Sinek - Great Leaders INSPIRE Others To Do Great Things
• TED Talk Mar-22: How "digital twins" could help us predict the future
• Dan Rockwell: YOUR LENS DETERMINES VISION

• Coaching questions are the most powerful tools in your arsenal as a coach

• A collaborative communication framework

The A.I cartoon from Paul Noth as perfect fit to the Labor Day in the USA today.

[03-Sep-23] The week 35-2023 summary

A happy heart is good medicine ...

Above the text from my Fortune cookie that I took away from the Vietnam restaurant where we had our dinner today. Nice food for a happy heart.

We did book our October holiday today, nearly two weeks in the southern part of Germany, looking forward to it. Besides that I started to prepare my presentation for the School workshop end of Sep-23. Just 90 minutes this time, what is good as my 2nd hands-on activity will be changed and ites are necessarys much shorter than normal. As the last workshop was back in 2021, some updates are necessary. ChatGPT did not exist by then, definitely one topic to add. There might be more?

Next week some basic decisions are to be taken, as we enter the hot weeks before the next two day planning phase on 20-Sep-23. Have a great week 36:

• TED Talk: Why I'm done trying to be "man enough" | Justin Baldoni
• Video: After Learning to Code at 81, She Made a Game for Fellow Seniors
• TED Talk: Now is the time to get your own wings | Masako Wakamiya 
• Video: How to Stop Overthinking

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (01-Sep-23)

• 10 Agile Transformation Pitfalls - Old habits die hard

• What Is a Blameless Culture – And Why Should You Care?

• 99% dont know those 10 AI tools that will save you hundreds of hours of your work

• Uncertainty. It's the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about

• Write queries with Duet AI assistance

• Good leadership requires you to think like a farmer!

• 7 Keys To Human Leadership

[01-Sep-23] 1st 1,000k reader anniversary

One year can pass by pretty fast ...

Exactly one year ago I was celebrating the first time 1,000k readers on the counter of my BLOG. I am wearing my celebration jacket today that I did design for this occasion back then. As best possible assumption I did set the counter to 1,308,000 readers today, see the bottom of the Welcome page as reference. Just in case you are interested in more details about the celebration last year, see

[01-Sep-22] Blog post, see 2022 eBOOK page 121 for details.

Had a busy day today, starting in the morning with our monthly OneTeam coffee, a voluntary meeting that does not need to have any business context. Out of 450 potential participants only 4 showed up. Voluntary none business topics are not really attractive is my summary, but we had a great time. Did talk about Indian lunch, Vietnam as the 2nd largest coffee producer in the world and some really good Spanish wine. A promising start in the day.

After lunch a one hour Q&A session about our Cloud strategy with 100 people, seemed to be a more fancy topic, based on the pure numbers. People were invited to give feedback about the session and 9 did take the time to share some thoughts. The result was between 1 (complete waste of time) and 5 (cool stuff), difficult to make everybody happy. Anyway we provided some transparency and this is the idea.

In the afternoon two interviews with potential Interns, one 20 the other 36 years old. I will take the decision about next steps in the coming week.

Have a great weekend ...

• Google Cloud Tech Blog

• Challenge accepted: High-speed AI drone overtakes world-champion drone racers

• Charted: Youth Unemployment in the OECD and China

• Tracking Antarctica Sea Ice Loss in 2023

• Adam Grant: The 12 New Fall Books to Enrich Your Thinking
• TED Talk 2023: The AI-powered tools supercharging your imagination
• Dan Rockwell: 20 WAYS TO INCREASE PERSONAL ENERGY

• The 8 Paths to Humility, How to Recover from Setbacks, & More

• Tanmay Vora: How to Have an Effective Dialogue

• The best HR & People Analytics articles of August 2023

• India's $7 billion electric bus plan, and other city-focused stories you need to read

• Why is the Moon's south pole so important?
• 5 Team Practices that improve Agility and Focus

[30-Aug-23] Watermark AI

Making AI generated content visible ...

The AI capabilities are really impressive in the meantime, but how to find out who created the content you see or read? Some options below:

• Identifying AI-generated images with SynthID

• Breaking Barriers: Originality.AI's Multilanguage Release Supports 15 Languages (Most Accurate AI Content Checker & Plagiarism Checker for Content Marketers)

• EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence

Just today I uploaded a new version of my 6th eBOOK with content until 29-Aug-23. You can get it via the Downloads page in the menu above.

On Friday 01-Sep-23 I will celebrate the 1st anniversary of having 1,000,000 visitors on the counter of my BLOG for the first time. Due to the change of my BLOG hosting company on 08-Dec-22 the visitors are counted differently in the meantime. Based on some earlier investigation my estimation for the counter status, according to the previous measurement logic, is 1,306,700 today.

• TED Talk 2022: How to find joy in climate action by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

• Gallup and Lumina Foundation are committed to studying perceptions around the most pressing issues facing higher education (FEATURED REPORT)

• Dan Rockwell: TAKE THE NEXT STEP

• The Fairphone 5 is finally here

• Frank Sonnenberg: It’s Better Done Than Said

• Are you working enough ON your business?

“We have seen AI providing conversation and comfort to the lonely; we have also seen AI engaging in racial discrimination. Yet the biggest harm that AI is likely to do to individuals in the short term is job displacement, as the amount of work we can automate with AI is vastly larger than before. As leaders, it is incumbent on all of us to make sure we are building a world in which every individual has an opportunity to thrive.”

– Andrew Ng, taken from 40 Best Artificial Intelligence Quotes

• The New Happy: It’s never too late

• The longer you think about something, the less likely you are to do it

• Dan Rockwell: WHEN SOLUTIONS CREATE PROBLEMS

• Build a positive Team Culture

• Video: Is the World Ready For The Impacts Of AI?

• The 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle for AI is here

• Increase Your Talent Pool Up to 10 Times by Doing This

• The History of Innovation Cycles from 2021

[24-Aug-23] Tools or Frameworks

Two sketches from Olina Glindevi, the Visual Agile Coach

I like her approach to capture rather difficult topics in easy pictures:

• Left: The Agile Manifesto: Where it all began!
• Right: Dysfunction Mapping; A tool for effective agile coaching

Just back from my two days with workshops, on Tuesday for 2 hours with my senior management team and Wednesday a whole day offsite with a small management team of another department. Both a great success and the basis for more assignments.

I am still working on my future position as the Feelgood Manager of my department and see two ways to get there. Either to be nominated by the HR department or via an election of all employees. The more workshops I host the higher is the probability for option two. I will go on with this approach, as it is a great experience and learning for me. The fun to see that the preparation work is leading to a smooth workshop is on top of this.

Now the focus will go back to the project and the 3rd Meetup coming up end of Sep-23. The next planned holiday is early Oct-23 for two weeks. One day before I will be hosting the school workshop this year, needs some preparation work as well, as the last one was 2021. The topic is Digital Transformation and this is changing really fast.

"The personal ego already has a strong element of dysfunction, but the collective ego is, frequently, even more dysfunctional, to the point of absolute insanity." -- Eckhart Tolle, German - Speaker Born: February 16, 1948

[21-Aug-23] Asking more questions

Best advice for people of all age ...

Asking questions is the best and first advice for the Interns during their onboarding session. It also works for other people, independent of their age. And with ChatGPT there is now a new tool available that can answer basically any question with a pretty accurate answer.

I used it yesterday for my upcoming school workshop in September. The pupils are close to leaving school and will either start an apprenticeship or study. Some know already what they will be doing, others are struggling with the available offers or cannot take a final decision. In order to help I am collecting websites that support the decision making process. I did post 6 new sites today on my German Beratung & Coaching page. With the right question ChatGPT can add many more

pages, I stopped after 15 new ideas and will be using this way of generating valuable content during my workshop. Making best use of the available capabilities.

• 13 Timeless Lessons from the Father of Advertising

• TED Talk: The case for a 4-day work week
• TED Talk: How to binge a college semester in one week | Steven Hayward
• Video: I am blind, please help
• Video: How to stop procrastinating | SOLVING THE PROCRASTINATION PUZZLE by Timothy Pychyl | Core Message

• 11 Things Organized and Productive People Do Every Day

[20-Aug-23] The week 33-2023 summary

Handling fear and your comfort zone ...

No additional title for the England team as Spain did win the final today and did become now the 5th team to ever win the Women's World Cup. Congratulations.

This morning I had a discussion with my wife about leaving the Comfort Zone, as this was one of the workshop topics in the past week. Here what OpenAI thinks about the topic:

Leaving the comfort zone can be a daunting prospect, but it is essential for personal growth and development. Here are 10 compelling arguments why taking that leap of faith is worth it:

1. Self-discovery: Stepping out of your comfort zone allows you to explore new challenges and push your limits, leading to a better understanding of yourself and your capabilities.

2. Increased resilience: By confronting difficult situations outside of your comfort zone, you build resilience and learn to adapt to change more effectively.

3. Expanded horizons: Embracing the unknown opens doors to new experiences, opportunities, and perspectives that you may have never encountered otherwise.

4. Overcoming fears: Facing your fears head-on can be liberating and empowering, helping you to become more courageous and confident in all areas of life.

5. Enhanced creativity: By exploring new situations and environments, you stimulate your creativity and problem-solving skills, finding innovative solutions to challenges.

6. Personal growth: Leaving your comfort zone pushes you to learn and develop new skills, expanding your knowledge base and fostering personal growth.

7. Building resilience: By facing uncertainty and adversity outside of your comfort zone, you become more resilient and better equipped to handle life's challenges.

8. Boosted self-confidence: Each time you step out of your comfort zone and achieve success, your self-confidence grows, paving the way for greater accomplishments in the future.

9. Embracing change: Leaving your comfort zone prepares you to embrace change gracefully, ensuring you are not left behind in an ever-evolving world.

10. Increased opportunities: By venturing beyond what is familiar, you expose yourself to a broader range of opportunities and possibilities, both personally and professionally.

Not so bad, some minor adjustments and all is great. 

In The Mouse on TV today they explained why the track and field athletes run around the stadium to their left (counter-clockwise)? They did look at different possibilities like e.g. Historical Tradition, left-footed versus right footed people (bio-mechanics), Fairness, Comparability and Standardization. In the end it was a very short IAAF rules book entry from 1913 to standardize on a global basis. 

In the afternoon I did ask ChatGPT 3.5 the same question and got the same answer - "Ultimately, the combination of historical tradition and practical considerations, as defined by the IAAF rules, has led to the widespread practice of track and field athletes running in a counter-clockwise direction around the stadium.". Only when I asked for a combination of this story and leaving the comfort zone in the same article, the system was struggling a lot. More to come ...

• Domestic chores could be done by robots 40% of the time within a decade - new study

• TSMC, Bosch, Infineon, and NXP Establish Joint Venture to Bring Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing to Europe

• Video: How to Consistently Enter Flow States

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (18-Aug-23)

[17-Aug-23] Getting luckier ...

Lifelong Learning, you have to practice, practice, ...

Today I delivered the final package to the participants of the workshop yesterday. The presentation and a summary of the results the teams did work out together. I did get more posititve feedback about the two days and even an offer to host another workshop next week. A little bit too short notice for me, as I had two other workshops scheduled already. Maybe next time?

Later today I delivered several appreciation certificates to team members of my project. This time to the silent heroes/performers. They do great work and deliver or over deliver on their commitments on a regular basis, are a backbone of their teams and do not talk about it a lot. As recognition is one of the top motivation drivers in our teams, we do these kind of appreciation regularly. Helps the recognized people a lot, and is a good signal to their supervisors as well for the next performance review for example.

• Grant Snider: Fairy Tale After Jan Pieńkowski

• This infographic identifies 6 principles underlying influence

• Dan Rockwell: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: A LIVING DOG IS BETTER THAN A DEAD LION

• Boston Dynamics wants to change the world with its state-of-the-art robots

• What the Most Engaged Organisations in EMEA Do Differently

• The CIGAR Coaching Model

[16-Aug-23] Passing the fear zone

Back from the 2-day offsite workshop

Besides the public transport that did really work well in both directions, I had to take two trains and two busses to get there and again on the way back, the workshop was a great success. It was the 1st time for me to host nearly 50 people in one room, so far the larger workshops with 50+ people were only online.

On the first day we did the Motivation workshop that works well with any kind of participant number, together in a room, online or in a hybrid setup. This morning the presentation of the Personality Type test results and to close the session the 2025/26 journey.

All three topics are related to leaving the personal Comfort Zone, by passing the Fear Zone on the way to the  Learning and Growth Zone. And the same happened on the evening before, when Karaoke was on the agenda.

Some people could really sing well, others did it just for fun or did not care that they still have room for improvement, and a lot did not sing at all. Too much fear to leave the comfort zone, so we potentially missed some good singers, who did not even know how good they are, because they never tried? Overall a lot of fun and good mood of the team, and a good preparation for my workshop today, as I could use the behavior as example for my story line.

The next two workshops are next week Tuesday and Wednesday.

• Frank Sonnenberg: Map Out Your Life’s Journey

• Dr. Marcus Raitner: Practice Makes Perfect

• Ten Signs You’re Burning Out (And How To Stop It)

• Want to Be a Talent Leader? Here's How 600,000 Others Got There

• 24 Cognitive Biases

• Anders Indset: Leben ohne Leistung ist Sinnlos (German only)

• Dan Rockwell: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DISAGREE WITH LEADERSHIP

• The ‘Godfather of AI’ Has a Hopeful Plan for Keeping Future AI Friendly

• Strategy in the Face of Complexity: Revisiting the Stacey Matrix

• 5G-Nachfolger: Netzwerk-Analysen sind Voraussetzung für 6G-Forschung (German only)

[09-Aug-23] Learn from your personality

You just have to find the right details ...

Today was the last day to deliver the "homework" for the workshop next week. In order to avoid triggering bad vibes from their former school time, I called the homework preparation task lately. Maybe this will help. When I left the office today we had a return rate of 81%. As the participation is voluntary for all workshop participants a good result so far. Maybe we will see some more late deliveries in the coming days, I will keep the door open until Friday noon.

According to 16Personalities their test results are rated 91% accurate, what is a great starting point for further activities with the data. As you can see on the picture there are several JOB ideas for every of the 16 personality types. Definitely a hint and something to think about, but in the end everybody has to make the decision on their own.Maybe some helpful ideas for you as well?

At work we had a discussion about pros and cons for a Part-time Master study. A lot of additional stress and work for minimum 3 years on the one side, versus making a dream come true and the possibility to earn more money and reach higher positions in the organization. Besides the general Yes/No decision, what to do - there is also a discussion about the right content and topic for the Master study required. Especially in the current situation of the industry with an increase of AI, the baby boomer retirement coming up shortly and the already existing shortage of skilled workers.

Taking a Personality Test could be a good starting point, to understand yourself and what could be a good decision and content? Exactly my proposal: Go for the Master study, but spend some more quality time on the right subject and content to be selected.

• Sahil Bloom: Career Advice That Doesn't Suck

• Employee Resistance to Strategic Change

• Frank Sonnenberg: Is There a Difference Between Right and Wrong?

• 6 Soft Skills Recruiters Will Need in the Age of AI

• Comic Agile: #138 – Dual Operating System
• Comic Agile: #254 – The Psychological Safety Self-Assessment

[06-Aug-23] The week 31-2023 summary

FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 making progress

On 02-Aug-23 I did write about the four teams that did win the World Cups so far - USA, Germany, Norway and Japan - after 2 games of the last 16 teams today only one team is left - Japan.

The USA team did lose against Sweden after penalties. The end of the career for another great player - Megan Rapinoe. Possibly not the end she was looking for, but it was not in her hand today.

“Real change lies within all of us. It is in the choices we make every day. It’s in how we talk, who we hire, and what we permit others to say in our presence. It’s in reading more, thinking more, considering a different perspective. At its simplest, it’s in whether we’re willing to spend even five minutes a day thinking about how we can make the world better.” --

Megan Rapinoe

One more day of holiday tomorrow and the summer is coming back on Thursday, no rain anymore and temperatures above 25 degrees celsius again. Not so good for the kids in school as the summer holidays will be ending on Monday and for me as well, only rain during my days off. But do not get frustrated about stuff you cannot influence or change (in case of the weather possibly not yet, but anywehere soon) anyway!! 

First thing Tuesday will be to remind the two audiences of my workshops in the week after, to finish their homework in time. I am pretty sure people who are 20 - 40 years out of school did not change their attitude towards doing their homework. It is still the same, people who did do their homework in the bus or just shortly before the time they had to deliver it, will still do the same. Today they just need a final reminder and the consequence that their delivery will not count, will be my pleasure.

Have a great and productive week, maybe with some sun?

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (04-Aug-23)

• Sketchplanations: The isolation effect
• Video: 4 Strategies To Accelerate Your Personal Growth By 200%

• The science of habits: how small changes lead to big results

• 5 monkeys in a cage with a ladder

• Google just released 10 FREE Generative AI Courses

• Business analysts and data analysts are two distinct roles that play critical roles in decision-making for organizations

• 6 key data terms you should know

• On Scrum, the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Nash’s Curse

[03-Aug-23] Having the right skills

Knowing what you have and what you need ...

I have seen the Korea Republic v Germany | Group H | FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ game today and it was really painful. The difference between the potential outcome on paper (in theory) and what was visible on the field, really hard to understand.

The German team just had to win, but this was not possible today. So they have to go home now and the remaining 16 teams will find out the new World Cup champion on their own. Immediately after the game the discussion started about the WHY could this happen? "Not enough professionalism in Germany's women soccer and the mentality was not sufficient to handle the pressure situation and to adjust to changing circumstances during the game quickly". 

More and more mental coaches and psychologists are working in professional sports, but mentality problems are still used as argument when things go bad. What is going wrong there?

I think you need a good combination of basic skills, the right attitude, some experienced players and fresh minds, combined with good team spirit and the believe that your participation in the tournament is a one time opportunity. Main focus should be on the combination of the right attitudes in the different team members, because this is a given, you can just train skills.

For sure there are many different ways to handle this, doing a 16Personalities Team Assessments could be one of many? We just should give it a try.

• If you don't want to be average, build these 7 habits

• MANAGING COMPLEX CHANGE

• The 10 Biggest Mistakes Companies Make When Creating an AI Strategy

• How To Set Your Goals

• Smart people are assets, not threats

[02-Aug-23] Time for holidays

Some days to relax before the next busy phase

Yesterday we had a final dinner with my friends from Scotland. Some beers and Indian food, a good final for their Germany visit. Today my holiday started. The weather is still more rainy than dry and temperatures around 20 degrees celsius. The same weather is expected in the coming days in a 2 hour radius by car. So we decided to stay at home and to do daily tours in the area around us.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is making good progress, just one day to go until the round of the final 16 teams is complete. USA, Norway and Japan are already qualified - Germany has to win tomorrow, then all four former champions are under the last 16 again. Brasilia, Italy and Argentina are out, but two teams from Africa and Jamaica are qualified. Will be an interesting next round.

"Never give up, and be confident in what you do. There may be tough times, but the difficulties which you face will make you more determined to achieve your objectives and to win against all the odds."

-- Marta, Brazilian - Athlete Born: February 19, 1986

• Don’t Waste Constraints: How Challenging Times Can Drive Change

• Grant Snider: No Time for Burnout

• Be a grasshopper

• The art of the turnaround—circa 27 BC

• Top 28 cheat sheets for leaders

• How nature can help cities fend off record-smashing heat

• Leadership Freak: 3 WAYS TO BE LIKED AND RESPECTED

• Frank Sonnenberg: Are You Set in Your Ways?

• Why These Talent Leaders Are Pushing Back On Gen Z Workplace Stereotypes

• AI Content Detector Accuracy Review + Open Source Dataset and Research Tool

"I think my main objective is to watch as many players as I can and grab a little bit from each of them, especially the things they do well." -- Marta

[31-Jul-23] By the numbers ...

4 colors/categories to describe personality types

Besides the DISC model you can find many more personality test on My new business page, just scroll down a little bit.

For one of my Aug-23 workshops I am using the 16Personalities test, the return rate from 55+ participants is over 60% already. And a lot of people are surprised and in a positive mood about their results. Mission already accomplished.

• 25 Technology Megatrends and Future Predictions – Tech that shapes our future

• CURIOSITY: 5 POWERFUL QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK TODAY

• Gen Zers could comprise more than one-quarter of the global workforce by 2025

• Five essential paradoxes of happiness

• Living longer in better health: Six shifts needed for healthy aging

• 5 Ways to Be Much More Persuasive

• Leadership 2.0: How Being Busy Kills Your Productivity
• 1% better every day (Atomic Habits by James Clear)
• How emotion influences B2B buying

"You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results." -- James Clear

[30-Jul-23] My week 30-2023 highlights

What is everybody thinking and no one is saying? What are the past issues that we can’t let go of?

Above 1 of the 50 Most Powerful Questions Smart Leaders Can Ask

from GUSTAVO RAZZETTI. 

Today Linda Caicedo from the Colombia women soccer team did play her third World Cup in the same year. 1st the under 17 tournament, then the under 21 tournament and now the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™. She did play against Germany with her team and did win 2:1 and is just 18 years old.

Still all fine for the German team, they did win the 1st game and the 3rd game is against the last team in the current league table. We will know more on Thursday.

Sprint-2 demo tomorrow and one of the Interns will be leaving in the afternoon, the Master Thesis is nearly finished. Two new Interns will be starting on Tuesday. From 02- until 07-Aug-23 I have another short holiday before the workshop season is starting on the 14th. Three workshops in 2 weeks.

The 30th Benrather Bierboerse was really nice today, after all the rainy days last week the first day with sun and dry most of the time. My friend from Scotland liked the concept a lot, you just put up some tents, offer beer from different countries around the world and the guests will come, no worries. Next is the 36th Opladener Bierboerse from 11- until 14-Aug-23 in Leverkusen. It is a four day event, as Opladen has a separate area available outside of the city center.

Have a great week, for me it is just two working days.

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (28-Jul-23)

• Why we need business, operational and financial resilience to optimize cybersecurity

• How Tuvalu is using technology to adapt to rising sea levels

• World’s most powerful radio telescope being built in outback Australia

• Video: Tips from Simon to Improve Your Leadership Skills

[28-Jul-23] Getting unstuck ...

Small changes and different choices can help

17 Goals to Transform Our World: The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

The Our World in Data team delivered a Measuring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals article on 18-Jul-23.

In order to make different choices and to break free, it would be good to know where you are and what do you want? With respect to skills and methodologies for example.

• When To Use Which Project Management Methodology?

• Leadership Freak: NEGATIVE COMMENTS CAUSE SELF-DOUBT

• 3 Strategies To Overcome The Future Skills Shortage

• Mastering Teamwork: Top 10 Strategies for Better Collaboration at Work

• Global youth expect better access to skills. Here’s how businesses can respond

• "I-shaped," "T-shaped," "Pi-shaped," and "Comb-shaped" refer to different skill profiles or competency models that individuals may possess in the context of a team or organization

• Your productive power

• The limits of our personal experience and the value of statistics

Getting stuck is reactive, getting unstuck is proactive. — Sherene McHenry, taken from Collection of top 28 famous quotes about Unstuck

[26-Jul-23] Problems and Anger

How to solve problems and manage anger ...

My standard public transport connection from home to the office is currently under construction, the whole summer holidays and beyond until the end of Aug-23. My plan B solution is to take a bus to come to the train station of another line. Normally no issue, but it did really go bad yesterday.

The train was late and did not go until the station where I get out to catch the bus. The option was to wait for the next train (20 minutes) or walk to another bus stop. Would have been no issue, but the city center is under construction as well and the bus stop had been moved somewhere else. So I looked for another one on my way home, what took some time but helped to go beyond my 7k steps per day. When I finally reached the bus stop I had to wait another 10 minutes for the bus. 

So good anger management and problem solving skills help a lot, to stay calm. I will be away to see my friend from Scotland tomorrow, he and his wife arrived today.

• The Powerful Benefits of Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

• This is why women are bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis, according to research

• Future of jobs 2023: These are the most in-demand skills now - and beyond

• THE 5 SKILLS MANAGERS MUST MASTER

• The New Happy: How to really walk in someone’s shoes
• Management Tools: Pick mine, pick theirs, but pick a tool and stick with it!

• Frank Sonnenberg: You Can Learn a Lot from a Lousy Role Model

• Unleash The Power Of Data: Transforming Business Models For Tomorrow’s Market

• How to make great things framework

• The Most In-Demand Jobs on LinkedIn Right Now

[24-Jul-23] Different perspectives

About thinking, thoughts, experience and change

As the reverse mentoring meeting is coming up this week, the perspective is also driven by your age and especially the time you were born.

See an example from ANDERS INDSET in CHANGING THE CLIMATE OF CLIMATE CHANGE: 

"This week, I read an apt comparison to our time full of crises—a breakdown of someone born in 1900. Imagine that when you turn fourteen, World War I engulfs the globe. Four years later, by your eighteenth birthday, 22 million people have died. At the same time, the Spanish flu breaks out. Until you’re twenty, the daily confrontation with death is part of your life: another 50 million people die. In your twenty-ninth year, the New York stock market crash (October 1929) begins the great economic crisis—the Great Depression, entailing a 25-percent unemployment rate and GDP collapse of 25–30 percent. When you’re thirty-three, things ease up a bit until World War II breaks out when you’re thirty-nine. In the prime of your professional and family life (age 39–45), 75 million people die in war worldwide. Then, when you’re fifty-two, comes the Korean War, which claims another 5 million lives. When you’re sixty-four, just before retirement, the Vietnam War begins, ultimately dragging on until 1975. Millions more die. The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War are all daily topics in old age. In your seventieth year of life, the first Earth Day is organized: 20 million people take to the streets and shout “climate crisis.”"

I was born 62 years later into a much better period of time, lucky me. This drives my perspective, thinking, experience and how to handle change. Looking at Generation Z (comprises people born between 1996 and 2010) who was born ~100 years later, the perspectives are different again, no surprise.

• HOW TO OVERCOME NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

• 7 New Books on the Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence

• Video: Be an infinite leader | THE INFINITE GAME by Simon Sinek | Core Message
• Video: SMART HOUSE – ENGLISH VERSION – REMA 1000 (really funny)

• How to Recruit Passive Candidates and Unveil Hidden Talent

• Walking the Ethical Path: 12 Strategies to Enhance Your Personal and Professional Life

• Understanding the Global Supply of Water

[23-Jul-23] The week 29-2023 summary

About quotes, values, experience and control ...

A lot of very different topics covered last week and even the OpenAI text generator did get a chance.

Next week is all about workshop preparation for August. Even one more, to talk about the results of the employee survey in the meantime. It is mandatory for all departments. We are still talking about the best approach for our whole team and how to fill in the requested action plan.

Besides that further alignment for our 3rd Data & Analytics Meetup in Sep-23, for the Agenda in the morning and the Break-Out sessions in the afternoon. And on Thursday another Reverse Mentoring session with my GenZ partner. The topic will be Employee Engagement, see

• Four Elements of Employee Engagement

Finally my friend from Scotland is coming over for a Germany visit for 9 days. It was delayed some years due to the COVID-19 guidelines and travel restrictions, now it is possible again. Looking forward to it, I will see him the first time on Thursday after work.

• As Master Yoda once said, 'Do or do not, there is no try.'

• Video: 7 Habits Of Unsuccessful People You Don’t Want To Copy

• These are the 8 things I have the most problems with from Scrum Guide

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (21-Jul-23)

[22-Jul-23] Circle of Control

Control choices, thoughts and actions

Faster than expected the required document for my eSIM arrived today. Installation was working fine and now the new mobile phone is running smoothly. Just focus on, what you can control and do not worry about the rest.

Since some weeks ONE.com is offering a helping hand for writing text powered by OpenAI. Below a first example for Circle of Control in Orange color:

"In life, there are many things beyond our control. It is easy to get caught up in worrying about these external factors. However, it is important to recognize that focusing on what we can control, known as the circle of control, allows us to exert our power effectively. By directing our energy towards things like our mindset, actions, and reactions, we can improve our well-being and achieve our goals. Embracing the circle of control empowers us to navigate life's challenges with resilience and adaptability."

And an alternative by LifeHack:

"Focusing on the Circle of Control allows you to keep your psyche healthy. In other words, you can expect better mental wellness when your life is only focused on things that are within your control."

Have a great weekend.

[21-Jul-23] New Experiences ...

How to spend some money

After using my Fairphone 2 for four years I decided to buy a new Fairphone 4 this week. Initially the plan was to proceed using Ubuntu Touch as operating system, even when some constraints had to be accepted.  

But during the initial setup of the phone I updated the Android version from 11 to 12, what did not work with the current Ubuntu Touch installer anymore. Bad luck, but maybe an update of the installer in the future will help? One mistake done opens another opportunity, to use both SIM card slots of the new phone. One Nano-SIM and one eSIM.

"As the name suggests, this is a SIM card that’s built into your smartphone and can’t be removed. It performs the same function as a traditional SIM, except that it’s programmable and physically connected (soldered) to your smartphone’s motherboard." 

From a sustainability perspective a good idea as well, no plastic SIM card required and no logistics effort, just an Internet connection. So far the theory :-)

I did go on the webpage of my service provider, selected new mobile phone and exchange SIM card, but this caused an error message. After some discussion with the service chat bot I called the help desk. Something you do not very often when the service is working as expected, so I did not remember my contract password. The guy did take some action on the phone to help, what was great. Today I learned that he will send all required details for the eSIM by mail, will arrive tomorrow or Monday. Painful and funny at the same time.

As I had to call the help desk from the right mobile phone number for identification purposes and no free SIM slot in a smart phone, I took out an old Nokia 6210 that was more than 10 years in my desk switched off. Loading the battery, increasing the size of the SIM card with an adapter and ready to go. Easy usage & look and feel, like coming home. Another fun fact of this story, until I get the eSIM it will be my backup for text messages.

• How to become a true master at something?

• Shuhari is a Japanese martial arts (Aikido) concept that describes the progression of training or learning.

• Artificial Intelligence In Manufacturing: Four Use Cases You Need To Know In 2023

• Quantum Computing: What Every CEO Needs to Know

• Do you have trouble prioritizing?

• A sketchnote summary of Amy Edmondson's book the 'Fearless Organization'
  

• Video: Q & A with Simon Sinek
• Video: AMAZING. The audience singing Bohemian Rhapsody QUEEN before Harry Styles concert - Warsaw 2023
• Video: Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees (Ragtime Rockabilly Cover) ft. Wild Bill
• Video: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One | The Biggest Stunt in Cinema History (Tom Cruise)
• TED Talk: Will superintelligent AI end the world?

• 9 reasons why Scrum is great for developers

• The New Happy: Find your people

[18-Jul-23] About The Agile Triangle

The right priority for Quality, Constraints and Value

The traditional Iron Triangle is the Agile Triangle in the meantime. It is all about VALUE and we do not de-prioritize or give up on Quality. So the only area to balance/manage the progress is in the Constraints  (Cost, Schedule, Scope) area.

In one of our current activities the end date is fixed as well as the costs, in the number of available skilled resources this time. So we have to reduce the scope, to get the work done in time. Everything, what is not required anymore, can be stopped or solved differently, will help to better manage the remaining scope. In the mindset of transparency we should openly communicate the situation and our constraints to the customers, to solve the issues in partnership.

The faster we are 100% clear about the scope, the earlier we can plan the available resources in the remaining time. Let's go for it.

And according to the 10/90 rule - "The 10/90 rule states that the first 10% of the time you spend planning and organizing your work can turn into as much as 90% of the time that you save in execution." - getting the scope clear, before you start to work can save up to 90% of the required effort.

• How Do Chinese Citizens Feel About Other Countries?

• TED Talk: Could an orca give a TED Talk?

• A SIMPLE APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

• Seth Godin: Appropriate tension

• More than half of the world's large lakes are drying up, study warns

• Off the clock: How our perception of time can affect productivity

• Transforming human capital into competitive advantage

• Simon Sinek on how to best have uncomfortable (but important) conversations
  

• Nine Presentation Lessons from Steve Jobs

[16-Jul-23] My week 28-2023 highlights

Some very diverse topics and a day off

Did you ever hear about the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel - The underground cathedral protecting Tokyo from floods? I learned about it in a TV series today, initially planned and build to protect Tokyo from a once in 100 years flood, now used several times per year to handle the increasing number of heavy rain.

The so called cathedral was build because of Shikata Ga Nai - "The Japanese language has certain words and phrases that are so common, they actually become somewhat of a mindset or philosophy. One of those phrases is “shikata ga nai” and it’s common enough phrase to hear it used daily. What does shikata ga nai mean? - With that understanding of each part of the phrase, we can see that 仕方が無い means “there is no course of action (that one can take” or something like “there is nothing that one can do (in this situation).”" - you cannot avoid it, but it is good and smart to be prepared.

Tomorrow is our Sprint-1 Demo, normally not a lot to present just two weeks after the planning phase, but we have a good overview from all the teams prepared for our stakeholders. Will be interesting to see, also for me. As I am one of the reference points for understandable presentations in the customer language, because I do not really get in detail, what the teams are doing from a technical perspective. 

• The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week (14-Jul-23)

• Can we build a people and nature-positive future with systematic land use?

• A Skills Market exercise allows you to discover your team's skills, abilities, and goals, so you can support each other's development

[12-Jul-23] Some more Optimism ...

Try to change how the situation feels 

In one of the upcoming offsite workshops in August we will be using the 16Personalities framework to look at some insights of the department, based on their aggregated data. In the moment all participants are sending me their personality type, assuming they are willing to share it as the process is all voluntary, a preparation homework.

With more than 849 million test taken they can offer a lot of supporting material and statistics, really helpful for the workshop. As one random example see the Nepal Personality Profile data.

Out of experience I can say that not a lot of people have been interested in their personality type before the homework assignment. Now they take the test and get a lot of valuable information and insights about themselves. See for example the CONSUL personality, what is my type by the way :-) - really cool stuff ...

• 7 QUICK TECHNIQUES THAT MAKE MEETINGS BETTER TODAY

• 60 team building activities to bring your team together (and have fun!)

• Green buildings can reduce city temperatures by up to 2°C, study shows

• It’s Easier to Criticize Than to Contribute

• Data Cleansing: Applying the 5 Whys To Get to the Root Cause

• Global Risks Report 2023

[11-Jul-23] Back from the Ahr-valley

Quick status update after 1.5 days 

Two years after the huge flood in the Ahr-valley a lot is looking good again, some locations even better than before. Others are still struggling, waiting for money from their insurance company or the local government. 

As you can see on the picture, the water was standing in the streets

above cellar and first floor two years ago. Today the water in the Ahr creek was so low that a duck we have seen had issues to swim properly. 

The house on the picture is from 1761 and has possibly seen a lot in the last 260+ years, but the flood was special. And the repair process is still ongoing.

During the breakfast today a lot of politicians and mayors of the local villages arrived in the hotel where we stayed, to come togther for a status/progress update after two years and to give a press conference afterwards. Interesting to see all the activities behind the scenes and how many people are involved to prepare something, what looks pretty easy and straight forward on TV later.

Some guys were carrying a lot of paper around, the personal protection security guys of some politicians more muscles. You never know, what will happen.

• Video: How to defeat your inner enemy: COMING ALIVE by Barry Michels & Phil Stutz | Core Message
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