Shift happens …..
May 19th
by Sunil Bali, 19-05-13
I suspect you may not have heard of George Buckley and probably don’t recognise him, but have used his products.
Born into abject poverty in Yorkshire in 1947, Buckley had a very tough childhood.
His parents abandoned him at 4 months old, and then his grandmother gave him to neighbours. He ended up at a school for the handicapped, crippled with anaemia and a limp, where he was easy prey to a paedophile and was raped.
Buckley left school at 15 with no qualifications but with a determination not to let his past steal his future.
He got a job as an electrician’s apprentice, took night classes at the local college and after many years studying, eventually gained a PhD.
In 1978, Buckley took a risk by going to live in America, saying he couldn’t stay in England because "I was born to the wrong parents, went to the wrong schools, attended the wrong university and have the wrong accent. So I’m going somewhere it doesn’t matter."
The risk paid off.
Sir George Buckley retired recently as Chairman and CEO of 3M (Post It Notes & Sellotape) – a $30bn operation, with over 80000 employees across more than 65 countries. He now chairs a large investment company and is on the boards of Pepsico, Rothschild and Stanley Black & Decker to name but three.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Buckley said, "I discovered in life you can choose to be a victim or a victor. I chose to be a victor".
….. shift happens.
Humour
Some old, but very good one liners….. 1,8 & 9 are my favourites.
1. We’ll be attending the National Schizophrenic’s Convention. Anybody who’s everybody will be there.
2. She quit speaking to me when I wouldn’t open the car door for her. It’s not my fault. I just panicked and swam to the surface.
3. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
4. Calories make the world go round.
5. Sign in restaurant window: "Eat now – pay Waiter".
6. Procrastinators of the world unite….. tomorrow.
7. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
8. You offer someone a sincere compliment on their moustache and suddenly she’s not your friend any more.
9. This one goes out to all the amnesiacs out there, and don’t think you know who you are.
10. The neighbour just asked if I was stealing his wi-fi, it felt like such an invasion of my piracy.
And finally, an amazing piece of street art:
(this is an update to a blog first published in 2011)
Sunil
Soul trader …..
May 12th
by Sunil Bali, 12-05-13
Oscar Wilde famously said, "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."
In a world obsessed with looking good and sounding important, deliver something which is real and which makes a difference….. you.
Tell the story you want to tell, not the story you think you have to tell.
If you want a bigger brand, then make bigger deposits in people’s emotional bank accounts.
If you want to make a mark, generate a spark and a smile, because if you don’t you’re in danger of being commoditised and carted off.
Business transactions which are tepid and soulless lead to irrelevancy, and irrelevancy is a far bigger problem in business than inefficiency.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “Either write something worth reading about or do something worth writing about."
Humour
Alternative definitions:
Macaroon
To leave a Scotsman on a desert island
Mishmash
What Sean Connery will do if he doesn’t get to church on Sunday
Module
Christmas with The Who
Unfettered
Without Greek cheese
Wince
A setting on Jonathan Ross’s washing machine
Stalemate
A primary cause of divorce
Flabbergasted
Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained
Pastiche
What Sean Connery eats in Cornwall
Sunil
Great advice from Joan Branson, Richard’s wife …..
May 5th
by Sunil Bali, 05-05-13
When asked how she coped with having such a driven husband, Joan Branson replied, "Extremism in the pursuit of excellence is not a vice."
She went on to say that behind the hype that surrounds her billionaire husband, is a man who works from home and spends a lot of time with the family.
A man who focuses on being creative rather than competitive.
A man who simply tries to be better than he was yesterday.
A man who if he fails is fond of quoting Lord Sebastian Coe: "Winning is built on a robust diet of defeat."
Excel don’t compete…..great advice Joan.
Humour
Beware Travel brochure jargon:
Stone’s throw from the beach
Mick Jagger once vomited from the top balcony
Palm fringed-beach
Surrounded by beggars
Compact swimming pool
Bidet
Staggering views
The local wine’s dodgy
We would strongly recommend hiring a car
You are 103 miles from the nearest lavatory
Plenty of nightlife
Watch out for the cockroaches
Sunil
For illuminating 
