October 2023
#MonthNotes
Hi, welcome to my MonthNotes — reflective notes looking back over the past month, loosely based on a set of questions which help me reflect.
“At any time of life, follow your own questions; don’t mistake other people’s questions for your own.” David Whyte
1. What went well?
- Our launch of the alpha version of Scopus AI at the start of August was a great example of innovation and agility. So many people worked together across functions at speed to develop and release this next generation tool to users for testing. There was a positive initial reaction from users, so we’ve now released a beta version of Scopus AI, with several new and improved features, including: restructured summaries for better readability, so users can get the most important concepts quickly; and a concept map to visualize topics and links between research concepts, in order to help users to discover connections between topics and discover untapped areas to explore.
- The second module in my 3-year Somatic Experiencing (SE) training
“The question is not ‘where will I get to?’ It is ‘how will I walk?’” Thomas Huebl
“The true traveler has no destination and no fixed time of arrival.” Laozi
2. What did you fail with?
- I had been asked to explain something to a team, and I failed to paint a simple picture for them to help them understand it. Instead I revealed the complexity I see, which I fear was more confusing than helpful.
3. What was hard?
- I stopped a community of practice that I set up a couple of years ago.
It had run its course and attendance was dwindling. When I asked for feedback, it was clear what decision to take. I like to think the community served its purpose and things have moved on, but still.
“The first question I ask myself when something doesn’t seem to be beautiful is why do I think it’s not beautiful? And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.” John Cage (HT John Tarrant)
4. What made you proud?
- A cross-functional talent review for our Academic Leaders & Funders customer segment
- Reviewing submissions for a hackathon — so many great ideas
- Celebrating my elder daughter completing her earth stewardship apprecticeship, after a multi-year journey
- I am now formally accredited with the Association for Coaches, and in my coaching accreditation assessmemt the summary feedback was: “You evidence strong capability in all competencies, in both understanding and application”. Yay!
“Shout loudly with your optimism, and keep quiet with your cynicism. […] mentors need to be givers of energy, not takers of it” Cue Balls
5. Who inspired you?
- Kavi Gemin
- Hubert Godard (cf here and here):
6. What inspired you?
- Talking about artscaping
7. What blew your mind?
- The hollow mask illusion (HT Andy Clark):
8. What did you get reminded of?
- Prioritisation can be hard:
“It’s easy not to say no to something in isoltation” My colleague Jeff
- That an idea is killed doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea:
It might just be a case of ‘not here’ or ‘not now’. Whether or not the seed of an idea takes root and grows depends on the soil where it lands. A proposal I put forward last year was rejected, and yet this month I was told that it is now going to be taken forward. Nothing in the idea has changed, but the soil/environment has.
- A coachee reminded me of a piece of advice that I told them over a year ago that they were still finding helpful
- The continuing power of the question (HT Giselle): ‘what else is possible?’
- Goodhart’s law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”. [Random fact: I once met Charles Goodhart.]
- “Just because nobody disagrees, it doesn’t mean you’re doing the right thing.” (HT Tiankai Feng):
9. What did you learn?
- Apparently there is “no proof” that a group of wild lemmings would drive themselves off a cliff, jumping to their death. Rather, this image of mass suicide is a “myth perpetuated by a 1958 Disney documentary called White Wilderness, in which the filmmakers manually ran a pack of lemmings off of a cliff to make for good television.” [*]
- The phrenic nerve controls your diaphragm, and you can easily stimulate it yourself, through simple neck exercises/stretches, and it will thereby expand/relax your diaphram, making it easier to breath
- Cats have very expressive faces — people have distinguished nearly 300 feline facial expressions
- The stupidity manifesto aims to help us stop making each other feel stupid (HT Ian Ames):
10. What poems touched you?
Partly because I watched a seminar with David Whyte, many of the poems that touched me this month are his:
- Frozen Lake, by Henry Shukman
- One Day, by David Whyte
- All the True Vows, by David Whyte
- Sometimes, by David Whyte
- The Truelove, by David Whyte
- Finisterre, by David Whyte
- Cleave, by David Whyte
- Just beyond yourself, by David Whyte
- Sonnets to Orpheus I, 13, by Rilke (HT Rupert Spira)
- Crossroads, by Louise Glück
11. What books did you read?
“the impulse to give freely to the world seems to be at the bottom of the well of human intentions where the purist and clearest water arises. To be able to offer back what the world has given you, but shaped a little by your touch — that makes a true life. Eventually we find our song and sing it. And we can never know who else will sing the song, or how the story will turn out in the end; its ripples widen beyond us and there is no end in sight.” John Tarrant
12. What was fun?
- A long weekend in Paris
13. What did you enjoy?
- @chrisbeaubrun dancing on the street in Paris
- The Dreamachine
- Discovering new music, as well old music that is new to me
- Planet Earth III
- 17 Life-Learnings from 17 Years of The Marginalian, by Maria Popova, including:
“Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time.”
“Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity.”
14. What are you looking forward to in November?
- Seeing friends
- Seeing my dad
- A new theatre production of Agatha Cristie’s novel And then there were none
