Author: Bal Bansal

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Sport

England Lose (again), New Leadership required?

England lost to Spain in the Euro’s 2024 Final.

It was a great competition. Spain did really well, they beat the like of Germany, France and others on their way to the finals.

England, who made the final last time (but lost to Italy) had a slightly easier route – but then, is there such a thing as ‘easy’ when it comes to a football competition?

So England have lost 2 consectuive Euro’s finals. What should happen next?

Here’s my thoughts…

  1. Southgate has been really good! Since he’s taken over, his man-management skills have been great. He’s really brought a sense of togetherness and the ability to grind out results. He has to be, one of the most successful managers England has had, especially with his track record of the Euro Finals, World Cup QF, etc… but is it time for a fresh perspective? He’s been at the helm since 2016. He can keep doing the same thing, but then he’ll get the same result…

2. The players, Hey Jude… Kane, and others – they didn’t perform as well as they could have for their country as they do for their club. Did we pin too many ‘hopes’ on them? or was it a matter of them not rising to the occasion? We saw was the likes of Cole Palmer and Watkins can do. Would have loved to see Gordon get some game time. How great was Luke Shaw. Whilst we talk about the process in point 1… point 2, is all about the people.

3. Let’s be honest. It’s a results based business. We’ve seen great progress sine 2016. But now, it’s time we started winning some of these competitions. Do we bring in a new manager? Does the manager stay and we bring in some additional support staff? New assistants? I think we’re primed, with the players coming through, to really win a trophy. Soon. But we have to get the process and the people right.

Taking nothing away from Spain, their manager knows what he’s doing.

The 63-year-old De La Fuente, a native Spaniard, has spent his entire playing and coaching career in his home country.

With the Spain u19’s, he won the 2015 UEFA European Championship.

He’s managed and won with the u21’s and the u23’s.

De la Fuente was also in charge of the Spanish Olympic team at the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. His side won the silver medal, losing 2–1 to Brazil in the final

And now with the national team – he wins again.

For those who have read the book, Good to Great – he really does show the value of the ‘hedgehog concept’.

And if you don’t know it, I’d suggest you read the book, or watch the video on this particular concept.

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

Many folks, really read into what other people think and say about them.

Whilst your reputation is critically important for success, there is an element of what they know about you. Do you advertise certain fact? Do you correct people immediately?

It’s not a matter of you correcting people – but it’s a matter of you knowing how much you want to disclose. How much it matters. It’s not for someone to say, ignore them all – that’s not entirely practical. But it is up to you, how much content you want to share…

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New Government… New Leadership

Firstly, congratulations to the Labour part for winning the recent UK election. They won a majority and have formed a new government.

It looks like they have not wasted any time in starting some of the work they said they would do. And this is great. Sometimes, change is good. Many of the new MP’s seem eager to get going and make the changes needed for the country.

I’ve blogged previously about leadership – and how change can be necessary, or knowing when to step down. Remember Julius Caeser?

New leaders will have a point to prove.

New leaders will want to show what they can actually do.

New leaders will have the opportunity to showcase their talents.

I’m not just referring to the new Prime Minister. But the leaders of the various departments across the government.

So as the new leaders start actioning on their plans and what they’re going to do, I’m reading this morning stories how one minister, spent the weekend preparing a speech to cut red-tape and encourage more homes to be built. This has sent the share price of house builders up. All of a sudden, the energy is increased – the hope for a better future starts to be built. And will be soon, literally.

As you know, I’ve studied and looked at many leaders… from political background to sports, to many other types. And there’s a few principles which really matter. I won’t share them all here – but one key one, is having the attribute of believe.

Not going all Ted Lasso, but honestly – if you look at leaders, the good ones, the best ones, they have a believe they can improve the situation. Build for success and really enjoy the gains. It might not be all smooth sailing but the returns will come.

If you’re a leader, would love to hear what makes you so good?

Is it your skills to manage to manage a team?

Is it more numbers related?

Are you someone who always has positive energy?

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Bal’s Friday Thought…

Whatever comes easy, goes easy.

You need to work hard to make life sustainable.

Whichever path you are on, keep going beacuse once you stop, you give up. And that is failure. If the path is difficult now, that means your purpose is big. Bigger than you thought.

From my last friday thought, have some Grit and keep going…

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Bal’s Friday Thought…

Recently, I finished reading a book that was recommended to me, called Grit.

Really good book! For obvious reasons I won’t go into much detail – as I recommend you should read it, but it really dives into what makes some characters that excel have that grit to succeed.

There’s alot you can take away from it – but one thing, which I will share, that the book talks about is passion.

I’ve spoken about this before. Asking you, what is your passion?

My passion? I have a few – football, cars… both which I’ve loved since a very young age. Passion on both kind of dwindled but then came back. But could I choose one out of the two? Probably. Am I really passionate about which one I choose? – wouldn’t use the word ‘really’ but have a strong interest. I also like cooking. I also like volunteering. I also like helping others and mentoring.

How do you focus in on your passion?

Well, I try different things. And if there is something I enjoy, I continue. If there isn’t something that I enjoy, I’ll see it out – or do it for a particular duration, then halt it. Which is ok. Because what’s the reason in continuing with something you don’t enjoy?

You’re probably thinking, Bal… why haven’t you mentioned technology and blogging.

Great question! I love all things tech related. And blogging… well, I’ve been doing it on and off (sorry for the off parts) for a while. Must be three, four years… and it’s brought me some success in the form of, me being invited to BBC Radio to talk about the latest tech. Whilst I’ll continue with my blog and talk about technology, leadership and motivation… can my passions be combined? Football and technology – for example? (Let’s not talk about VAR). I’ve already talked about cars and technology – and how advanced our main. mode of transportation has become more tech than anything else.

Whilst I combine, look and continue with some of passions, what are you doing with your passion?

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Apple

Apple Intelligence

This blog post is for those out there that use Apple products (iPhones, iPads, etc…) and those interested to see what Apple are doing.

Last night… was Apple WWDC 2024. (WWDC = Worldwide Developers Conference). And alot was announced!

Here’s my Top 5…

  1. iPhone and Mac will now come equipped with ChatGPT for free. This is huge. Before you would’ve had to go into ChatGPT to do your tasks, now… access it from Siri for questions, share photos with it for suggestions and create images and texts within documents with ChatGPT.
  2. AI powered Siri. There’ll be a new glowing light that when you speak to Siri, lights up and you can talk naturally to it and it’ll understand everything. If you’re like me – I have on occasions been frustrated with Siri in the past but this looks alot promising. It will understand deeper meanings like you, your, your son, your office location, etc..
  3. Auto-fill Forms. We’re just getting lazy now, right? Yes we are. There’ll be a feature that, if a form needs filling out, you can just ask siri to find a personal document of yours, like a passport and auto fill the details for you directly into the form.
  4. AI editing on the Mac. If you’re a mac user, you can generate new text, proof read and edit, but most importantly (I think, which will be brilliant) change the tone (toneGen). This is all done in any text you type – email, doc, etc…
  5. AI powered call transcripts. Let’s be honest, there’s been times I’d wish, whilst on a call I had a pen and paper handy or something to quickly take notes. Not any more… transcribe your calls, turn them into summaries and share them across apps and emails.
AI Powered call transcripts

There were some other announcements which, frankly, didn’t really impress me – such as, you can now have a calculator on the iPad. What really impressed me is the way Apple have shared how they’re going to use AI… but more importantly, how we can use AI.

You can watch a summary video of it below, from our friends at Verge.

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Show me the numbers

Not sure if you knew, but I help out at a local charity where we cook food on a weekly basis and serve it to vulnerable folk who need it. There was a company that got in touch, and said – if we could provide some information, about what we do, they’d like to donate some money. So one of the volunteers wrote a few paragraphs.

When asked to review it, I wanted to ensure we tell the right story but with numbers.

You see, numbers can add alot of context to a story.

Once upon a time, there was a king.

This is how most stories start… and you may notice, there was ‘a’ in there to clearly identify, one…. king. Not several kings. Not some kings. Just one king.

Once upon a time, there was a king. His kingdom had alot of people.

‘Alot of people’… Doesn’t really say much. You can’t put it into context. Was it a big place. Was it a small place. How can we compare it to other regions and kingdoms?

Once upon a time, there was a king. His kingdom encopassed over 10,000 residents and was one of the largest kingdoms in the land.

Now we’re talking! We got a number… 10,000…. and then we got some context, because we found out it’s one of the largest in the land!

Numbers can do so much. Yet, when telling a story or update, we tend to omit them for feelings. Why can’t we do both? use numbers and have feelings? Build the story to the context.

Now the whole ‘once upon a time’ was an example. But think of something you’ve done recently that you’d talked about – how many numbers did you include?

I look at advertisements, I look at talks, I listen to podcasts… there are so many people out there vying for our attention… how can they get our attention?

Oh, you’re probably wondering more about the charity I volunteer at? Well, we cook over 60 hot portions of food every Monday and Thursday which is then served to the homeless and vulnerable – no questions asked.

Recently, a brilliant advert was shared with me to highlight how awesome it was in telling a story with numbers. And I wanted to share it with you…

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought

What do you enjoy doing?

Watching football?

Playing games?

Eating food?

Whatever you enjoy doing… do it! (And there can be monetisable opportunities). But do it with some passion also. I’ll explore in another blog post of mine about a book I recently finished called, Tuesday’s with Morrie. Great book.

But for today’s Friday Thought… it’s from Gary V, and he puts it quite simply…

Screenshot
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Bal’s Friday Thought…

When embarking on a new task, there’s always some doubt… because it’s new, because we haven’t done it before, because there is a sense of nervousness…

However, the best thing to do in this situation… is just to do it.

Like Nike, Just Do It.

Remove the doubt. Give it a go. Does not matter if you make mistakes. That’s how you learn.

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Bal's Friday Thought

Bal’s Friday Thought…

My Friday Thought is based around value.

Do you know your worth and value?