Think Differently! 2007 World Tour

To get and stay ahead of the pack in any industry or walk of life you have got to think differently. To simply think along the same lines as your competitors just means becoming stuck in a rut, and soon enough the daily grind becomes just that a "grind". I set out in 2007 to change all that! I had the desire to travel as much as possible working with as many people as possible, with the aim of helping them to think differently.

Whilst my main thrust has obviously been in the direction of BPM, Business Transformation and Process Modeling, I have noted that people are increasingly interested in gaining a better understanding of group/team dynamics and are more ready to accept that well motivated smart people can achieve more with a poor process than can smart processes employed by unmotivated people. It is this interest in helping people to think differently and to see things from an alternative point of view that seems to be driving me this year, and I get no bigger compliment than hearing someone say those immortal words "when you look at it like that!" – For that is when I know that they are hooked. Of course there is also that other great fact "mans mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions" – So they can't go back even if they want to

So far in 2007 I have already had fun in Canada, Belgium, USA and Sudan and as those who have been with me will attest, it is possible to have a lot of fun while learning and to gain skills that not only work in business but actually help to enrich your life as well. In fact the more fun you have then the more you understand and the more you learn! A true win win situation.

The next legs of my journey will take in Bangalore (June), Chennai (July), Mumbai (August), Vienna (September), London (September) and Las Vegas (October) – with hopefully others that I do not even know yet. For the ones I do know you can follow the links below to find out more (if you are there then make sure you come by and say "hello")

Bangalore: iCMG Architecture World 07

Mumbai: Instipet - Process 07 India

Vienna: 2^nd Annual Telecoms Quality and Business Process Excellence Conference

London: Program, Project and Process Challenge

Las Vegas: T.B.A

This will be my second trip to India and I am sure will prove even more exciting than the first time, you see this time I will be making something of a spiritual pilgrimage while I am there. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but I fervently believe that we have to look in all directions in order to truly succeed. There is much to learn about life and the way we think and act as individuals and much of that learning can be done by understanding more of the more ancient civilizations and sciences from India and China. But, more about that and the very kind people who are sponsoring me on my journey in later posts.

I do not believe that it is an accident that we are seeing a rise in the economic status of these peoples. I do believe that hidden in the depths of their cultures lie answers to problems we do not even know yet. Answers that if we listen and learn we can adapt and employ in our own and our business lives.

Now, you may not choose to follow the same path of enlightenment as me, but ask yourself – where are you looking? Have you set yourself the task of looking in different or unusual places, do you recognize that all the answers will not be found in regular business books or trainings?

I think that delegates to seminars and trainings over the past 2 years will agree that the lessons I bring from looking in these different places has helped them to both help themselves and in turn their employers – assuming that is that employers are still looking for happy, motivated staff (sometimes I wonder). Together we have found that nature has a pretty good handle on processes and that generations before us have already dealt with many of the issues that we have today. Together we have discovered that by making use of some of these ideas and learning's we can actually be seen to be ahead of the pack.

So if I am not yet visiting your country or city, then why not get in touch, who knows maybe I can try and spread a little happiness in your direction too (or maybe you just want the plain vanilla BPM, in which case that is OK too) – It might cost less than you think!