A couple of days ago I was biking alongside the Danube and a washed up log caught my eye, strikingly shaped like a slingshot. Was this coincidence or inspiration?

A central premise behind Slingshot is that the most limiting boundaries are the ones we place on our own perception. Removing them starts with cultivating open eyes and an open mind - and the ongoing practice of scanning our environment to notice new cues without filtering out what doesn’t fit our current thinking. 

So for me the log was not a coincidental encounter, but an inspirational reminder to stay wide-eyed, receptive and curious.  

#ReimagineBoundaries #SmartLeadership #Futureshaping #StrategicThinking

When Scott Belsky and I spoke on my former Good Life Network radio series interviewing future-shaping personalities, he described the Project Plateau — the moment where excitement dies, and most ideas are quietly abandoned.

The real killers?

• Replacing one idea with another.

• Letting daily urgency overpower long-term vision.

This is exactly why the Slingshot Framework guides the systematic application of creative thinking, from targeted exploration and ideation ranking to impactful implementation and organization-wide alignment.

Re-imagining boundaries isn’t just about having better ideas. It’s also about the structure to carry them across the plateau.

Here is the question for you: Which of the best ideas are currently dying quietly in your organization — and why are you letting it happen?

#leadership #creativity #execution #innovation #transformation

 

To commence your week on a motivational high, here is the freshly minted TED Conferences talk by my friend Peter Sage. In his talk, Peter shares key takeaways from voluntarily participating in the world's most grueling, over the top, insane, pure madness endurance race.

Profound insights from a man who revels in pushing boundaries and obsessed with the magical powers of the human mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BOrbMlaxPg 

#TED #lifelessons #motivation #leadership #selfimprovement

I recently had the opportunity to ride a historic relic. 

Invented in the 1860s, the Paternoster elevator was a marvel of continuous motion — a chain of open compartments looping endlessly up and down, with no doors and no waiting. You simply stepped in as it ascended or descended. Its name came from the Latin prayer “Pater Noster” (“Our Father”), because the compartments moved like beads on a rosary.

The Paternoster was once a symbol of bold European engineering, a model of operational efficiency and continuous flow. Today, only a few hundred still operate in Europe, mostly in Germany.

Getting to ride one is not only a thrilling moment of time travel.  It is also a point of inspiration, a reminder of the importance of continuous motion and innovation.  In our environment of unrelenting uncertainty and change, standing still is not an option. 

#Innovation#Technology#DigitalTransformation#Future#Management

They say laughter is the best medicine—but at INSEAD it was always more than that. During welcome week’s initial orientation, every incoming class was unknowingly enveloped in an elaborate, imaginatively configured practical joke – inclusive of weird events, fake clubs, and surreal challenges. These windups weren’t just rituals — they were rites of passage. They put students into situations of sheer absurdity, where the only option was to laugh, adapt, and bond.

Here was one of the world’s leading business universities fully embracing and cultivating an atmosphere of levity. The entire community, including students, faculty, and administration played their parts in creating a shared theater of the ridiculous. And because promotions overlapped, each student was first the subject of a prank, and then the orchestrator of one. Far from hazing, it was a bold, community-building initiative that alumni overwhelmingly cherished and one of that forged INSEAD’s special character.

Then, in 2018, after decades of continuously running, the tradition was suddenly banned amid a flurry of political correctness and an official investigation over student complaint. On paper, it was about mental health and well-being; in reality, something precious was lost. Because in stripping away absurdity, INSEAD tore down one of its most human, unique, and unifying experiences.

Sure, the tradition could have been tweaked to minimize possible embarrassment and discomfort on the part of any participant. But banned altogether? Which leads to the real question for alumni and educators: Do we value safety, conformity and polish so much that we need to renounce absurdity and laughter, qualities that teach adaptability, humility, and connectedness?

#INSEAD #HigherEducation #Leadership #Tradition #Community #Absurdity #Laughter