Vive Le Tour
As the Tour de France grinds its way through the mountains in the second week we were considering it as a metaphor for life, for business life and for our careers.…
Insanity Check
In our daily interactions with clients, we encounter many different leaders in all disciplines and generally these individuals are very determined people. They are…
Kung Fu for Business
Recently here at Optimize we were thinking about business philosophy and the links to leadership and organizational culture. I’m not sure too many of us spend…
Moments of Truth
Customers have never had higher expectations – or been more empowered than they are today. How you respond to, and take care of, your customers across all of their…
Coping with Complexity
The general view on complexity is that it is a bad thing and that simplification will bring value by removing unnecessary costs. Here at Optimize we are Lean Practitioners…
A Little Toe Much
A pub in Derbyshire has hosted the latest “World Toe Wrestling Championship” which has now been going on for more than 40 years. Open to male and female…
Vanity Unfair
Many commentators think that we are facing a narcissism epidemic fueled by the internet, instant celebrity, easy credit and cultural pressures that impact us on…
Me, Myself and I
In business, the secret to effectively leading collaboration with others is finding a middle ground between too much and too little team think, where leaders encourage,…
Pudding Politics
As the festive season’s ultimate celebration looms large in the form of the mighty Christmas dinner we would like to provide a few paragraphs to honour the Christmas…
The Thinking Persons' Olympics
As Calgary debates making a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, as mere mortals we can only guess at the dedication, athleticism, sacrifices and mental fortitude…
Plus Ca Change
Plus ca change is the term often used to express the resigned acknowledgement of the fundamental immutability of human nature – “the more things change, the…
Last Minute Larceny
Leaving things to the last minute is a recipe for disaster and on the way causes stress, anxiety and a series of corners that have been cut. Quality suffers and…
Same Old, Same Old…
We often hear the term ‘innovation’ being used in organizations and generally used appropriately as people recognize that within business, innovation is key.…
Looking the Part
A question we get asked a lot is if leaders are born or made. Apparently this is a discussion that has been undertaken since the time of Plato so clearly there is…
The Blame Game
Blame is an interesting concept and often confused with accountability. We find leaders conceptually accepting that mistakes are a learning opportunity but in the…
Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink
One of the founding fathers of “nudge” theory has been awarded the 2017 Nobel prize for economics. Richard Thaler co-wrote a bestselling book on the nudge concept…
There's No 'I' in Team
….but of course if you look closely you will find the word ‘me’. Here at Zeitgeist we do a lot of work with building high performing teams and of course many…
An Excessive Need to be Me
Few things can discredit a leader faster than being perceived as phony. Sometimes, leaders will say what they don’t believe or they sugarcoat the truth so people…
Alone Again
Astronaut Al Worden was once proclaimed the “most isolated human being”. Let us explain. Al Worden was one of seven men that undertook the role of Apollo command…
Cyber Sense
DEF CON is the catchy title of a security conference held in Las Vegas every year and unlike other security conferences, DEF CON is more for those on the bleeding…