Fabian Trevor Cowan

What I have found most helpful when faced with scepticism is allowing myself some time to reflect on the critique. Time helps soak in the context and helps look at things with renewed vision. Humility in accepting people's point of view, realising that it challenges our own philosophical assumptions and gives us an opportunity to refine our approach is key to further growth. "We can only know that we know nothing.And that is the highest degree of human wisdom" - Said Leo Tolstoy so rightly.

I am drawn by this quote by Haruki Murukami, "If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking". Yes building a strong network and nurturing meaningful relationships is based on the newness of thought and difference in views one brings to the group or the table so to speak. When you are able to add to the groups thinking, their vision and their perception about subjects that they are interested in your value increases substantially.

The seeds of Conflict are unknowingly sown when there is lack of meaningful conversations at work or in relationships. Dialogue is key to understand the genesis of the conflict and helps gauge the individual better. Mark Twain once said, " A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation". Yes as leaders focus on conversing meaningfully rather than just communicating with teams the seeds of Conflict will never find enough fertile soil to germinate.

Good content gets read. Great content gets celebrated and shared. Moving the needle from good to great is like winning a championship not just a few games. To do so it is vital to put a finger on the core strength of each member. There are people who can write and can design just like a footballer may be able to kick with both legs, but knowing which leg has more strength will help position the player either on the left wing or the right. When a team member has a way with words he will understand the critical and minute difference between forming a sentence that says, "Hey, cheer up its the last day of winter" OR , "cheer up, look its the first day of spring" Getting the right person to do the right thing gets you content that travels.

Often ideas and content pieces meet with resistance when the concept is either not presented in a manner that is easily or fully understood or the listener does not have adequate information or knowledge of the context. Therefore probing further to understand WHY and WHAT is causing that resistance more often than not provides answers as to HOW the idea can be re-presented with adequate refinement. History has shown that many great ideas and inventions were downright rejected at first, case in point the telephone, the personal computer and many more. But after carefully understanding the limitations of the listeners or investors the inventors re-presented those inventions and they have changed the world.

We are living in a time where the world has gotten smaller but the audience has become larger because of the accessibility of mediums.The larger the audience the more diverse the interests and backgrounds of the readers. Given this, the best way to reach and engage with a larger percentage of this cohort is to tell your story in the most simplest of languages. The ability to simplify the most complex thoughts and ideas is a sure shot way of appealing to a large audience.