There is a lot to be said for knowledge and experience in all areas of life.  It is only when you are faced with a consequence that knowledge and experience will be of benefit.  How much knowledge and experience does someone need to know the potential of a consequence? 

Last weekend I heard a story regarding a new match official who was in a position of having to use knowledge and experience against a backdrop of potential consequences.  This was the situation.  It was this match official’s second game that he had refereed; it was the second half with approximately 20 minutes to go and the score was 12/10.  A scrum was packed and a player was left injured on the ground with an unknown but significant enough injury to stop the game on the basis that it could have been a serious neck or back injury. On to the field come well-meaning managers, who want to pick him up and take him out of play so the game can continue. The match official, who had recently attended a duty of care seminar, said that they were not to move him and that he would phone for an ambulance,  which he did, but the ambulance would be at least 20 minutes.  Do you move the player knowing the risk?  If there were no other players around you wouldn’t move him but there were cries of “let’s continue the game.”   The game was more important to the players than the player was. The managers started to move the player; the match official told them that if they physically moved the player that he would leave the ground.  Consequently he called off the game and left the ground.  The ambulance arrived; the player was taken to hospital for observation and it was discovered that he had sustained a back injury.  

We all have a duty of care to not only know the circumstances but also the consequences.  When you make decisions based on a duty of care then the consequences will have far less exposure to risk. 

The match official did the right thing, as he was the only one who showed a duty of care.  It is not only paramount in business but in all walks of life. The consequences of not respecting duty of care could have been quite dire for this particular player.

Money is unlimited but time is not.  So when you have a decision to make in regards to money and time which one is more important?

I watch people negotiate on a number of different paths of their wants to save money and to get a good deal.  That is not only because they value their money, but they also realise that to get money takes time.  You hear people say “I have worked hard to achieve this, it has taken me a long time”.  That is a statement in reflection of the time it has taken to create wealth, to purchase something that means a lot to an individual.

Sometimes however people get that concerned about money that they lose the capacity to judge its value.  In essence they lose the meaning of time.  There is one clear message to realise is that money can be re-earned, time cannot.  How much time people spend on negotiating and dealing in direct proportion to the result that they have achieved in time can sometimes be wasted money 

How valuable your time is when you are using it to build wealth will only be determined by whether you believe you are better at creating wealth than you are at defending the wealth that you have got. 

Time is a much greater asset than money.  The only thing I know is that money can’t buy time.

I recently spent time in New Delhi, India and I was fortunate to be hosted for a lunch at a traditional Indian restaurant. 

When you are in someone else’s country you are effectively in someone else’s culture.  We got to talking about languages and the traditions that surround the use of language.  Over the past 10 years English has become a preferred teaching language in India, to the stage where many parents who can afford it send their children to international schools to ensure their children have exposure to English. 

The interesting point about this is that when a generation is being taught a new language then the gap between the generations becomes wider.  But from talking with my hosts, there is an upside and that is the desire to understand culture has never been greater.  His children want to know and ask a lot of questions about Hindu traditions and they want to learn more about what their parents and grandparents have done in the past.  Is the past considered important enough to the future? 

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As 2009 draws to a close I start to think about the year that I have had and the year that lye’s ahead. It is my time to take responsibility. What sort of year have I had and how will I take ownership of it? My book deliver is inspired through a letter that I write to myself each year. In 2007 one commitment I made to myself was to complete a book – a collection of writings for me. Little did I know that Deliver my book would be the outcome in April 2009.

I can attribute many achievements and positives from writing my own letter. It is my self ownership. It is my transparent life on paper for me.

I begin to think about my letter now and I will write it prior to the end of the year.

My letter is headed up ‘Dear Carey’. It now has 5 headings I included an additional heading ‘MyPromises’ in 2008

1. 2009 My Year
2. 2010 Family 
3. 2010 Health 
4. 2010 Work
5. 2010 My Promises                     

Then I will open up my letter from last year. I know what it is in that letter but it has remained sealed from the day I signed it. Anything that I do not remember has not been important. I have much to be thankful for in 2009.

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As we come towards the end of the year key people more so this year will make decisions regarding their career path than they probably have over the past number of years.  As the employment market loosens up good employees are going to be given the opportunity to begin to review their current positions with more confidence.  This brings some direct benefits for both employers and employees but get ready 2010 could be the year of seat-switching.  In a recent survey conducted by the Adler Group showed that of the 59% of people would talk if they were approached but of that 59% only 19% would be actively looking for a new position because of the perception that it is still a risk to move in the current environment.

There are four key areas for employers who are looking to get the best people on their team in 2010: 

1.  The need for a direct approach at a targeted candidate list whether you do this directly as the employer or whether you outsource this, making that first contact will give a much better result than potentially a response from an advertisement.

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