This week I was at the annual CSA conference, held this year at St George’s Park in Burton, Derbyshire.

An interesting agenda and discussion of course… albeit with a slightly disturbing update on the economic outlook for the UK. It sent me into a bit of a spin over dinner… for which I must apologise to my fellow dinner guests… I am sure it will be fine 🙂 … honestly. These things also come with a bit of political analysis and update too… often, and in contrast, strangely reassuring.

It is not to say you necessarily agree or disagree with any of the policies, however, to have the curtain lifted slightly and be given a sort of peak underneath to see the balancing act of political decision-making is always fascinating. Less ‘dark-arts’ and more ‘fact-based’ calculated decision-making than you would think… for me at least the hard-nosed rationality of it all really is quite comforting (esp in contrast to what is said by everyone else on social media).

[If you are interested in the report back from the conference – read about it here].

However, outside the conference itself… what also really struck me this year was the venue.

Unfamiliar to me prior to this visit, St George’s Park, is not just a conference centre but also a home to English football. Apparently having been built by the FA for $105m in 2012, it is a world-class training facility.

Now I am not particularly a fan of football, however, even I was excited… the whole facility was quite remarkable. Perfect pitches, manicured grounds, first-class facilities and a nice hotel, it really was a very impressive high-quality environment.

Admittedly I got lost trying to find a car park and then the entrance at night (getting my 10,000 steps in)… and even the staff car park (where I ended up) seemed nice too!

This great location for sport, got me thinking about the role of quality and competition in driving performance. Having such excellent facilities, training, teaching and performance data has undoubtedly allowed the teams to stay focused and strive for excellence.

It may not have happened immediately, but over time the culture grows and performance improves until eventually (and in some cases hopefully) they win tournaments.

Looking at all the facilities laid out and the investment made (and no doubt also at the local level), it really helped explain much of the team’s in England (improved) performance since the 2010s.

Clearly, it was not just luck, but also a good deal due to the investment, skill and focus that has been made to strive for excellence. The hard work pays off.

And, all of this is applicable in business too… an environment of excellence and indeed competition, makes a difference. Trade conferences and award evenings, just like this one, are a good example. These meetings are always an opportunity for people in the same industry to get together.

Just like the teams and players, they are also often competitors, looking to win, going after the same business and even making pitches to the same clients. On a day-to-day level this competition can be tough, with hard-fought wins or indeed hard-to-take losses.

Yet, like in football, this competition also drives the whole industry to higher standards, greater excellence in the delivery and design of products… and investment in excellence amplifies this further delivering even more gains over the longer term.

Looking around the world you see this effect elsewhere too… the development of Singapore or Dubai, the food culture in Italy or Japan, excellence in education/research in Oxford or Cambridge… it is about focus and investment, which then leads to a virtuous cycle… tending to even more excellence.

Yet, to take the warning from the economist, sadly the opposite is also true. A lack of investment or competition can lead to high prices or poorer service… look no further than my local bus service as an example, or even the rise in 1st class postage rates rising again this week. It is something to be careful of.

Yet rather than risk me getting sucked into another doom loop (again!), there was a lesson from this location.

Keeping our eyes on the prize and making sure we continue to invest in excellence is clearly critical and it demonstrably works.

We need to remember it is not only about just bettering ourselves but also creating an environment where we are all encouraged and strive to improve… to generate better outcomes. These conferences and locations are always refreshing and a great start…

We need to continue to create spaces and systems around us to inspire and perform at our best… something to remember no matter how tough the environment in the future gets.

Have a great weekend everyone.

There is always a day when you notice it, usually mid-August. There is a slight cool breeze in the air, more amber hue to the sunlight, or a chill when you open the window in the morning. You suddenly realise peak summer has gone, and we are on the run down to Autumn.

In the UK, where we have been waiting for summer to actually start, this somewhat inevitable event is just not great news… and this weekend Twitter or X did not exactly help my mood by cheerily pointing out that this is the last time the sun sets after 8pm (in London) until next April. Great!

For some, those that can, this is a signal to get away to warmer climes.

However, for the rest of us, it is a sign, this bank holiday weekend, to have one last hurrah, pretending it is still summer, before the back to school, and back-to-work, start in earnest next week.

Summer this year has undoubtedly been a bit of an excuse to suspend many of the worries in the world, where I have desperately tried to ignore the news and pretend everything is just fine… (it has been hard I admit)

Yet now having to face the full reality of heading back next week, I am a little worried. I expect most of these uncertainties to still be there, having not gone away… and judging by the toxic soup that seems to infest many comment pages these days, actually getting worse.

So the question at this point is what is to be done about it? (without just booking another holiday!).

Certainly, bad news can have negative effects.

It impacts our mood, our well-being, and importantly can also result in hesitation. Hesitation to make important decisions.

For example, it is all too easy to wait to make important investments, delay developing new skills, products, or redesigning processes…. all in the secret hope that the world will go back to the comfortable previous version… and all will be okay again… if only we wait long enough.

However unfortunately this current reality is most likely here to stay, and we can easily get caught like a deer in the headlights, unable to move.

Yet if we don’t lay down the groundwork now, we are also cutting off our future growth, constraining our ability to adapt and change. A small hesitation in the long run becomes procrastination and costs us more.

Now I am not saying we should all be Pollyanna or stick our head in the sand and pretend nothing has changed. That can also be expensive too (Kodak and Blockbuster spring to mind). However, as hard as it is, making smart investments now and being optimistic, can pay big dividends.

So if like me you are feeling that end-of-summer urge to extend the holidays and ‘hesitate’ a little, maybe we need to take a leaf from the back-to-school mentality…

In academia, it is the start of a ‘new year’, new subjects, new people, and new things to learn. In many ways, every year is a fresh start and a great time time to plan, and set out your vision for the future… Where can I grow my skills, where can I develop new products and where can I find an edge? At this point, all is still to play for, optimism runs high.

So this is my plan this year… a plan to build new things, develop and grow.

And if, collectively, we can shake the growing malaise there feels around us sometimes, maybe we can all feel more positive and move forward.

Fingers crossed… and welcome back.