SparkPilot blog

Gavin McMurdo — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:40:17 +0000

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt - Related PostsSilver BulletQuote from Conan O’Brien’s Farewell Speech

filling up the glass

Gavin McMurdo — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:27:07 +0000

I read this post on overcoming negative thinking shortly after I posted my glass half full post where he shares some guidance on how to fill up the glass. http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2010/02/23/negative-thinking/ Related PostsJudgmentPerspectiveTrust

Glass half-full or half-empty?

Gavin McMurdo — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:00:14 +0000

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? Too often we look at the glass being half-empty which leads us to be perceived as negative, a downer or even not being a team player. Try to look at things from the perspective of the fish. There is water in the glass and therefore things are good. Having [...]

Is it about the Leader or the Followers?

Gavin McMurdo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:58:40 +0000

Wow, here is quite an entertaining yet educational video titled Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy. Enjoy www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ Related PostsTrustTop 25 Companies for LeadersReady to lead?

Judgment

Gavin McMurdo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:18:27 +0000

One of the blogs that I follow is written by Gaynor Alder and titled: The Modern Woman’s Survival Guide Gaynor’s ability to piece together words is mind blowing. Here is an exert from a recent post titled: My Name is Bridget She won’t judge me either. The only judging taking place, is me about myself. [...]

Perspective

Gavin McMurdo — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:40:23 +0000

I read this today and it resonated with me because it reminded me how our perspective can skew how we “see”. A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, The young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. “That laundry is not very clean”, she said. [...]

Trust

Gavin McMurdo — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:45:04 +0000

I arrived early at a restaurant for a meeting and overheard a discussion while waiting for the others to arrive. Here is an excerpt from their conversation that resonated with me. They don’t get it! They are oblivious to the fact that no one trusts their team. I mean they claim to be transparent [...]

Silver Bullet

Gavin McMurdo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:19:19 +0000

Careful, I am on my soapbox on this one! I am still astounded by the number of people that are always looking for the silver bullet. The magic pill that will make them lose weight, the one job that will make them rich and of the course the magic software that will solve this problem [...]

Quote from Conan O’Brien’s Farewell Speech

Gavin McMurdo — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:30:10 +0000

A quote from Conan O’Brien’s farewell speech. “if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen” ———– Conan O’Brien ———– The full transcrpt can be found here: http://freedomeden.blogspot.com/2010/01/conan-obrien-last-tonight-show-january.html Related PostsSilver Bullet

Be conscious about your actions / behavior

Gavin McMurdo — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:33:31 +0000

The basic principle is simple: be conscious about what you do, or do not do. To put it differently: Think and be aware of what you are doing. Do not just bumble along in an unconscious manner. It is important to be aware (conscious) about the actions that you are currently performing. If I know [...]

Optimistic Mindset

Gavin McMurdo — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:37:42 +0000

I was born and raised in Africa and like most places in the developing world (politically correct term for 3rd world) , culturally, we looked to the 1st world countries for leadership and guidance. As a teenager, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a number of visitors from various 1st world countries. This [...]

Never Give Up!

Gavin McMurdo — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:46:33 +0000

Here are some well known folks that Through the ages there have been numerous instances of this rule. Abraham Lincoln suffered a nervous breakdown and was defeated numerous times in his political career. Henry Ford’s first automobile company was a failure. Thomas Edison failed with his phonograph company. Albert Einstein suffered from speech difficulties as [...]

Top 25 Companies for Leaders

Gavin McMurdo — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:58:57 +0000

Press Release title: Hewitt Associates, The RBL Group and FORTUNE Announce Global Top Companies for Leaders Here are some excerpts from the press release that caught my eye: “even during the economic downturn, Global Top Companies remained committed to building leadership capability within their organizations. In other words, tighter budgets and fewer resources forced these [...]

Gavin McMurdo — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:08:31 +0000

There are no short-cuts, it takes a life time of hard work, preparation, and continuous learning! - Warren Buffet - Related PostsSilver BulletQuote from Conan O’Brien’s Farewell Speech

Free Stuff – iPhone Applications that can help you grow

Gavin McMurdo — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:39:00 +0000

In an effort to utilize some of the time that goes to waste everyday, I decided to download some non-fiction books for my iPhone. My plan was to put the various time slots that are normally spent not being used productively in a more constructive manner. And so my search started and found some free [...]

10 Reasons why we fail? Plus 3 from me for an unlucky 13

Gavin McMurdo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:41:11 +0000

I recently came across a post regarding 10 reasons why people fail. For the folks that know me, I prefer to focus on the positive but in this case I do believe that there are some great points raised. I have taken the liberty of changing the ranking sequence listed in the original post slightly. [...]

Vampires and Wolves: No, watch out for the Zombies?

Gavin McMurdo — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:37:31 +0000

With the current Twilight craze going on, everyone is talking about Vampires and Wolves. What about the Vampires, Wolves and Zombies in the business world?

Learning to ride a bicycle

Gavin McMurdo — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:51:31 +0000

Here is an extract from a recent conversation with one of my mentees, let’s call him Larry. First off, a little background: I have been mentoring him for about 8 months and we work at the same company. He is a manager of a team individual contributors that consists of engineers and project managers; the [...]

Ready to lead?

Gavin McMurdo — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:14:44 +0000

I was asked recently what traits I look for to determine if someone is ready to move into a leadership role, either as a manager or as a thought leader. This is easy if I have worked with the person because they will display the majority of these traits in their daily actions. In addition [...]

The Genius of Others – Guy Kawasaki on Innovation

Gavin McMurdo — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:22:38 +0000

I am always humbled by genius and talent; therefore when the writings of Guy Kawasaki are converted to wonderful imagery by Martha McGinnis, I just have to share. The art above was created by Martha McGinnis – a hi-res version can be found here (7.4M) Guy Kawasaki wrote this blog post on The Art of [...]