Self Leadership Coaching Blog

In my leadership development programs I usually share lots of real life stories but this  story came to me via Alysson at Yahoo! who got the story from her CFO, Tim.  And what a great story it is, maybe it will inspire your creativity, innovation and customer focus.

The Square Watermelon

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than in other countries and therefore don’t have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it. That is how I would assume the vast majority of people would respond. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, “How can we provide one?” It wasn’t long before they invented the square watermelon.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn’t nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn’t assume the problem was impossible to begin with and simply asked how it could be done. It turns out that all you need to do is place them into a square box when they are growing and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their  small refrigerators which meant that the growers could charge a premium price for them.

Creativity, Innovation and Customer Service Lessons

1. Don’t Assume – Most people assumed the task was impossible before even asking the question, “how could it be done?”
2. Question Habits – Just because you have always done something a  certain way doesn’t necessarily make it the best way. Ask yourself regularly, “Can this be improved?”
3. Be Creative – thinking outside the box is a skill that can be built up like a muscle. Creative ideas are often simple like this one, which actually put something inside a box!
4. The Impossible often Isn’t – If you think it’s impossible it is, but possibility thinking allowed a man to run the 4-minute mile and put another man on the moon. Approach your next problem as if the solution was possible.

By using creativity an innovation you too can WOW your customers.

Self Leadership International is a sponsor of the Singapore Human Resources Summit 2009. Continue Reading »

Can you perform your job/role better than someone has been doing it for 10 years longer than you?

Would you be interested in getting to the top of your game in less time and before the competition?

The secret is to get past the plateau. With most simple tasks we reach our highest level of proficiency after about 50 hours of practice and then our performance skills become automated and we stop learning. This explains why a 20-year-veteran brain surgeon is not likely to be more skilled than a 5-year newbie by virtue of time on the job. Continue Reading »

The NEW Self Leadership International website is now LIVE.

It works great in Firefox, and Explorer bugs such as blog feeds are being fixed as I write this post. On the website you will find all the information you need on our Leadership Development, Business Communication, Executive Coaching and Self Development programs. Continue Reading »

Are you Gen Y or do you manage Gen Y?

These are two important questions that you can help me answer.

1. Do we need to manage Gen Y any differently than previous generations (Gen X, Baby Boomers, Traditionals)?

2. Does Gen Y need to learn to manage upwards to update their bosses? Continue Reading »

Do you ever wonder why people behave the way they do? Are you curious about whether someone is a right fit for a job or a team?

All will become clear when you understand the psychological background of personality.

The word personality comes from the Latin persona, which refers to the masks once worn by actors to give clues as to the emotions driving their behaviour. Today the term personality refers to the sets of predictable behaviours by which we profile a person. These sets of behaviours are known as types or traits and profiling tools are known as psychometric tests. Continue Reading »

Many training and change initiatives including coaching are a waste of time and money because they don’t deliver results. Organisations tend to measure people in terms of performance and potential and so any investment in people should show results in either or both of these.

In Singapore,  Self Leadership International transforms people’s performance and potential by impacting how they think and how they feel about what they do and by assisting the organisation to create a culture that will support the behaviours required for success.

There are many approaches to  ‘leadership development.’ but what makes the difference is the methodology. Continue Reading »