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21st February 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough” – Mark Zuckerberg Hope you’re Thriving! It’s been a really good week for me, with some impressive growth on our podcast, an onboarding training session which the client described as a “game-changer for our company” and finally, I’ve been able to work on my new book about onboarding again after a few months of simply being too Read More...

21st February 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough" - Mark Zuckerberg Hope you’re Thriving! It’s been a really good week for me, with some impressive growth on our podcast, an onboarding training session which the...

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14th February 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Q. What words of encouragement would you give an entrepreneur? A. If you need words of encouragement, don’t become an entrepreneur.” Elon Musk answering a question in a Clubhouse chat session last week Hope you’re Thriving! It was great to be out of lockdown this week, and today we’re again able to go out in public without masks, that is at least until the next outbreak. The Dance (after the hammer) can get pretty Read More...

14th February 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Q. What words of encouragement would you give an entrepreneur? A. If you need words of encouragement, don't become an entrepreneur." Elon Musk answering a question in a Clubhouse chat session last week Hope you’re Thriving! It was great to be out of...

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7th February 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “It’s easier to invent the future than to predict it” Alan Kay — appearing on a 1994 Amazon job advert. Hope you’re Thriving! What a week it’s been!So last Sunday we’re at the beach, swimming with friends and discussing how lucky we are that we haven’t had any new COVID-19 cases in our city in the past months, we finish up, head back to the car and then news comes through of a person who’d been all over the city Read More...

7th February 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter "It's easier to invent the future than to predict it" Alan Kay -- appearing on a 1994 Amazon job advert. Hope you’re Thriving! What a week it’s been!So last Sunday we’re at the beach, swimming with friends and discussing how lucky we are...

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31st January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “$81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday. Our minds are not built to handle such absurdities.” Morgan Housel Hope you’re Thriving! I took a few days off last week to celebrate a family members birthday and again travelled to the south-west of my state. During the time down there, I was due to record a podcast, but the place we were staying was a little too noisy, and so I arranged Read More...

31st January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter "$81.5 billion of Warren Buffet's $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday. Our minds are not built to handle such absurdities." Morgan Housel Hope you’re Thriving! I took a few days off last week to celebrate a family members birthday and...

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24th January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Don’t mistake activity for achievement” – John Wooden Hope you’re Thriving! It’s great to be back, a whole 4 weeks for me without an update!For the first time since I can remember, I didn’t travel on a plane to go on holiday at this time of year and instead spent time in the South West of Australia enjoying beaches and barbeque seafood thanks to a trade war. An achievement in relaxing and resetting.Let’s jump Read More...

24th January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Don't mistake activity for achievement" - John Wooden Hope you’re Thriving! It’s great to be back, a whole 4 weeks for me without an update!For the first time since I can remember, I didn’t travel on a plane to go on holiday at...

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17th January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter   ‘The line between order and disorder lies in logistics” Sun Tzu   Hope you’re Thriving! Over the holiday season, I’ve collected some of my favourite articles from the year to share with you. Kind of like a best-of from 2020. Couple this with the reading list and hopefully there is something of real interest and value for you each week.I’m keeping them short and sharp. Enjoy your holidays, stay safe and I hope Read More...

17th January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter   'The line between order and disorder lies in logistics" Sun Tzu   Hope you're Thriving! Over the holiday season, I've collected some of my favourite articles from the year to share with you. Kind of like a best-of from 2020. Couple this...

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10th January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “More and more MBA students come to school thinking that a career in business means buying, selling, and investing in companies. That’s unfortunate. Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.” Clayton Christensen Hope you’re Thriving! Over the holiday season, I’ve collected some of my favourite articles from the year to share with you. Kind of like a best-of from 2020. Couple this with the Read More...

10th January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “More and more MBA students come to school thinking that a career in business means buying, selling, and investing in companies. That’s unfortunate. Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.” Clayton Christensen Hope you're Thriving! Over the...

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3rd January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” – Robert Louis Stevenson Hope you’re Thriving! Over the holiday season, I’ve collected some of my favourite articles from the year to share with you. Kind of like a best-of from 2020. Couple this with the reading list and hopefully there is something of real interest and value for you each week.I’m keeping them short and sharp. Enjoy your Read More...

3rd January 2021 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences." - Robert Louis Stevenson Hope you're Thriving! Over the holiday season, I've collected some of my favourite articles from the year to share with you. Kind of like a best-of from 2020....

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27th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The biggest generator of long term results is learning to do things when you don’t feel like doing them. If you let excuses or emotion drive behavior, you’re cheating yourself. Put aside the excuses and start doing what you need to do.” – Shane Parish Hope you’re Thriving! Over the holiday season, I’ve collected some of my favourite articles from the year to share with you. Kind of like a best-of from Read More...

27th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "The biggest generator of long term results is learning to do things when you don't feel like doing them. If you let excuses or emotion drive behavior, you're cheating yourself. Put aside the excuses and start doing what you need to do." -...

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20th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Your first impulse should always be to find the evidence that disconfirms your most cherished beliefs and those of others. That is true science.” Robert Greene Hope you’re Thriving! Well, we made it.We all know what 2020 was, and I was always taught when I was young that if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, then don’t say anything. On the 5th February, I sent my first email entitled “Coronavirus & the Read More...

20th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Your first impulse should always be to find the evidence that disconfirms your most cherished beliefs and those of others. That is true science." Robert Greene Hope you’re Thriving! Well, we made it.We all know what 2020 was, and I was always taught...

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13th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar Hope you’re Thriving! As you turn left onto Boylston Street there is nothing left. You’re spent. 5 miles ago you conquered Heartbreak hill, and you believed you had nothing in the tank before you got there! Now, nothing. Done. Just put one foot in front of the other with the knowledge that coming out of this Boylston Street turn Read More...

13th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” - Zig Ziglar Hope you’re Thriving! As you turn left onto Boylston Street there is nothing left. You’re spent. 5 miles ago you conquered Heartbreak...

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6th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter The greatest enemy of creativity is common sense – Pablo Picasso Hope you’re Thriving! In the past week, the weather has been strange here!Last week it was a maximum of 19c and next week it’s forecast to be 38c.To be both cold and hot is a little unseasonal, but some people say we talk about the weather when there is nothing else to talk about, yet there’s a lot to talk about this week so let’s get into it!I’ve been very busy of Read More...

6th December 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter The greatest enemy of creativity is common sense - Pablo Picasso Hope you’re Thriving! In the past week, the weather has been strange here!Last week it was a maximum of 19c and next week it’s forecast to be 38c.To be both cold and...

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29th November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “You get knocked down 100 times, you get up 100 times, you learn 100 lessons.” – Mike Tyson Hope you’re Thriving! It’s been a very productive week for me this week which ended in a 2-day retreat in the country, about 3 hours from home. It was a fun, energetic team that I hadn’t worked with before. I’m always wary of 2-day retreats away with teams because I’ve seen teams drink way too much after day one, and then they’re Read More...

29th November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “You get knocked down 100 times, you get up 100 times, you learn 100 lessons.” - Mike Tyson Hope you’re Thriving! It’s been a very productive week for me this week which ended in a 2-day retreat in the country, about 3 hours...

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22nd November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.” – Jim Collins Hope you’re Thriving! Last week I wrote about the absence of COVID-19 cases in Australia, and at the time I felt it was too good to be true. And sure enough, one day later there was an outbreak in Adelaide of around a dozen cases and they locked down the whole city of 1.7m people for 6 days – a hard lockdown, as in shut your Read More...

22nd November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems." - Jim Collins Hope you’re Thriving! Last week I wrote about the absence of COVID-19 cases in Australia, and at the time I felt it was too good to be true. And sure...

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15th November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter ”It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality.”— Harold S. Geneen Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a productive week, catching up where I felt I’ve been getting behind, with several effective meetings. I hope your week has also been effective. The big news here is the slight lifting of the hard border with other Australian states. For the Read More...

15th November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter ”It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality.”— Harold S. Geneen Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a productive week, catching up where I felt I’ve been getting behind, with...

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8th November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “If you think about a pyramid, the right way to think about leadership is you’re not at the top of the pyramid. You should invert the pyramid and envision yourself as the guy at the bottom. You are there to enable all the work being done. That’s my mental image of what I’m here to do at Spotify.” – Daniel Ek – Spotify founder Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a very busy week, typically starting around Read More...

8th November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "If you think about a pyramid, the right way to think about leadership is you're not at the top of the pyramid. You should invert the pyramid and envision yourself as the guy at the bottom. You are there to enable all the...

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1st November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The basic question is, what vision do you aspire to?” Abraham Maslow Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve enjoyed a productive week with a couple of strategic planning workshops and a few days off for a well-earned break in the best town in Australia. There are so many interesting things to discuss this week, let’s get into it! Tigers BHAG In Australia, the most popular sporting code is AFL, with 36% of the population supporting a team, and Read More...

1st November 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The basic question is, what vision do you aspire to?” Abraham Maslow Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve enjoyed a productive week with a couple of strategic planning workshops and a few days off for a well-earned break in the best town in Australia. There are...

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25th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The single factor that separated good from great employees is how they viewed their employment. When asked, good employees said they had a job. Great employees said they had responsibilities.” Jim Collins Hope you’re Thriving! It’s been a pretty busy week for me with two workshops, lots of client meetings as well as having to work late most nights — a busy but really productive week.During strategic planning Read More...

25th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "The single factor that separated good from great employees is how they viewed their employment. When asked, good employees said they had a job. Great employees said they had responsibilities." Jim Collins Hope you’re Thriving! It's been a pretty busy week for me...

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18th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Always think with your stick forward.” (Gotta keep moving, can’t slow down.) – Amelia Earhart Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a fantastic week, with impactful meetings, recorded my podcast as well as another one with a New York family business specialist and I had 3 days at an online conference. The start times were pretty challenging with 6am, 5:30am, 4am, 3am and 5am as the conference was on US time, but the learning was Read More...

18th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Always think with your stick forward.” (Gotta keep moving, can’t slow down.) - Amelia Earhart Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a fantastic week, with impactful meetings, recorded my podcast as well as another one with a New York family business specialist and I...

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11th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” Charlie Munger Hope you’re Thriving! In the gardening world, for many plants, when the soil temperature exceeds 16 degrees Celsius it’s a trigger for plants that spring has arrived and the plants will rapidly start growing – and in Perth spring has certainly arrived, the plants are thriving!This week I watched the new movie from David Attenborough: ‘A Life On Read More...

11th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” Charlie Munger Hope you’re Thriving! In the gardening world, for many plants, when the soil temperature exceeds 16 degrees Celsius it’s a trigger for plants that spring has arrived and the...

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4th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Do the first things first and second things not at all. The alternative is to get nothing done” – Peter Drucker Hope you’re Thriving! We made it. We’re now in the fourth quarter of 2020. A few days ago we passed the first of October and around the world, many Governments have ended or started winding back their stimulus packages. Certainly here in Australia the Government has stopped many of the main programs and started new Read More...

4th October 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Do the first things first and second things not at all. The alternative is to get nothing done” - Peter Drucker Hope you’re Thriving! We made it. We’re now in the fourth quarter of 2020. A few days ago we passed the first...

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27th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The most overlooked and underappreciated growth strategy is patience. (More specifically, consistently producing great work over a long time horizon.)” – James Clear Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a good productive week, I hope you have also.Several interviews for my new book this week as well as a quarterly planning workshop which was really interesting. For this team, the strategy is reasonably sound, but they’ve struggled Read More...

27th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The most overlooked and underappreciated growth strategy is patience. (More specifically, consistently producing great work over a long time horizon.)” - James Clear Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a good productive week, I hope you have also.Several interviews for my new book this...

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20th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “We’re not even thinking about, thinking about, thinking about raising (interest) rates” Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman 30 July 2020 Hope you’re Thriving! It’s been a pretty busy week here with 3 quarterly planning sessions and much of the remaining time either researching or doing interviews for my new book about Onboarding. For most of the teams I work with there is a real sense of cautious confidence at the Read More...

20th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "We're not even thinking about, thinking about, thinking about raising (interest) rates" Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman 30 July 2020 Hope you’re Thriving! It’s been a pretty busy week here with 3 quarterly planning sessions and much of the remaining time either researching...

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13th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Business cannot be defined or explained in terms of profit. The concept of profit maximisation is, in fact, meaningless… the first test of any business, is not the maximisation of profit, but the achievement of sufficient profit to cover the risks of economic activity.” – Peter Drucker Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a productive week, spending time on interviews with leaders for my new book about Onboarding, furthering Read More...

13th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Business cannot be defined or explained in terms of profit. The concept of profit maximisation is, in fact, meaningless... the first test of any business, is not the maximisation of profit, but the achievement of sufficient profit to cover the risks of economic...

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6th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Hope you’re Thriving! This week in Australia Winter turned into Spring, and where I live that means less rain, cooler mornings and more sunshine. Not quite warm enough to go to the beach and swim yet, but there’s definitely a sense of optimism about the upcoming weather here. Let’s jump straight into it… Rise and further rise of Read More...

6th September 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Hope you’re Thriving! This week in Australia Winter turned into Spring, and where I live that means less rain, cooler mornings and more sunshine....

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30th August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Plans are nothing but planning is everything” – Dwight D. Eisenhower (before the D-Day) Hope you’re Thriving! Quite a busy week for me, with a good quarterly planning workshop and one day with 3 rewarding back-to-back meetings where each one really moved a problem forward for a leader. But the highlight was a celebration with a client team for achieving their 10-year BHAG. I’ve been working with The Physio Co for just under Read More...

30th August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Plans are nothing but planning is everything" – Dwight D. Eisenhower (before the D-Day) Hope you’re Thriving! Quite a busy week for me, with a good quarterly planning workshop and one day with 3 rewarding back-to-back meetings where each one really moved a...

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23rd August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” – Albert Einstein Hope you’re Thriving! An anniversary this week as it’s been one year since I re-started the weekly newsletter, having paused for the preceding two years to write Made to Thrive.I hope you’re getting value, each week I contemplate how can I provide the most compelling read and how can I grow subscribers. So if you know Read More...

23rd August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value." - Albert Einstein Hope you’re Thriving! An anniversary this week as it’s been one year since I re-started the weekly newsletter, having paused for the preceding...

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16th August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “Every past market crash looks like an opportunity, but every future market crash looks like a risk” – Morgan Housel Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a productive week with a few Quarterly Planning workshops and on reflection, a common theme over the past month or so has been resetting. Leaders are trying to come away from the anxiety fuelled, relentless focus on executing and resetting back to a normal meeting rhythm. Now Read More...

16th August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "Every past market crash looks like an opportunity, but every future market crash looks like a risk" - Morgan Housel Hope you’re Thriving! I’ve had a productive week with a few Quarterly Planning workshops and on reflection, a common theme over the past month or...

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9th August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter “You don’t become successful and then become disciplined, you become disciplined and then you become successful” – Greg McKeown Hope you’re Thriving! A busy, enjoyable week for me with a 2-day strategic planning workshop as well as a lunch with former EO presidents. In my local EO chapter about ten years ago I helped establish an annual lunch where the new incoming president presents the state of the nation for the Read More...

9th August 2020 Evolution Partners Newsletter "You don’t become successful and then become disciplined, you become disciplined and then you become successful" - Greg McKeown Hope you’re Thriving! A busy, enjoyable week for me with a 2-day strategic planning workshop as well as a lunch with former EO presidents. In...

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