What did you miss?
Colin Wilson – Business Athlete
Top athletes report achieving 90% of their potential, whereas non-athletes report achieving only 40%. Colin’s contention is that business people can improve their performance by using the principles and techniques that top athletes use.
Preparation is the key for a top performance. The steps are plan, prepare, act, record, reflect and conclude in order to improve faster. To sustain peak performance he argues, you need to do the general preparation, then the specific preparation and then recover. Many busy executives never stop to consider that they might benefit from stopping and just smelling the roses in order to allow the mind and body time to regenerate. Recovery enables the body to withstand stress and avoid burnout.
Jon Downing – Untangling the Blockchain
So, from zero understanding of what blockchain and crypto currencies are, to a little dangerous understanding, Jon’s talk was enlightening. It is of course far more complex than he was able to explain in half an hour. Essentially, as I understand it, blockchain is a secure method of transferring value from one person to another with no third party involved. The blockchain functions as a ledger, in real time, to keep the transaction records. It might be bitcoins or some other crypto currency or documents, such as contracts. Each transfer has a unique password which means that if you lose your password, you lose your transaction!
The original concept was published as a White Paper by Satoshi Nakamoto, who may or may not exist! The big benefit of blockchain is that it enables people who might not completely trust each other to do business and there is a visible audit trail which is unchangeable.
Although I had the impression that buying bitcoins was really gambling and would probably turn out to be a South Sea bubble, Jon urged us to just try it in order to understand the system. He suggested Revolute to start a crypto wallet. I’m still sceptical!
Next meeting on 1st October starts with the Annual General Meeting – come and contribute your ideas.
I will be handing over to Calum Byers as the new Chair.
His presentation will be followed by Paul Hunter – Accelerated Disruption: What now for Uber and You?
Our monthly meeting will be held on Monday 1st October starting at 6pm prompt with our AGM and followed with Paul Hunter: ‘Accelerated Disruption: ‘What next for Uber,and You?’
WHERE:
The Lansdowne Club, 9 Fitzmaurice Place, Mayfair, London W1J 5JD
BOOK HERE FOR THE MEETING