Running is a fickle sport, especially distance running. The fitter you get, the more prone to injury. You know you are fit when the limbs ache and injury looms!

Fitness, like everything, is relative. In our running club these are the benchmarks.

3 days a week – ok

4 days – good

5 days – very good

6 days – excellent

In our world, below 3 is not worth talking about. For the last month or so I have been hovering between a 3 and 4. If it was my end of term report – ok

My good friend Joe Byrne holds no prisoners He is an “excellent”. Bluntly, he questions my weekly performance. His is not to congratulate, more to see the flaws. That’s why good friends are good friends.

My latest ‘update’ over coffee. Joe was not impressed. He paused then spoke.

“Conor, you have to rediscover your passion for running.”

Few words, big impact.

What’s your passion?

What was your passion?

Go rediscover it

How we network and communicate is changing. Think how the internet changed travel. Think how it changed dating. Think how it changed research.

Today, we can access people globally who share our cause They are wonderful and useful resources …used wisely.

My father has a great line in one of his books. It says;

“Perish the thought of a Pirate getting into a position of authority.”

Unfortunately, they do and some will slip the net.

The internet can create great good but some pretenders offering ‘great good’ are not really ‘good’.

Sometimes, an angry man can take a good tool and use it for his own ego. Thing is, you can’t moderate everyone, you can’t police a self appointed Guru and you can’t – in time – fail to see their true cause.

Next time you use the internet, beware of some Guru’s promises And be careful who you engage with. Sometimes, they are not all that they seem. In fact, they are far from it.

Good tools in good hands are great. Good tools in bad hands are dangerous.

Worse still, when they get caught out they become very angry. That’s more than dangerous, that’s bad and dangerous. If only the good guys knew.

Many years ago, Gay Byrne, the world’s most successful broadcaster and chat show host said;

“If you begin to believe your own Bullshit you are dead.”

Those wise words have stayed with me from a young age.

They have guided me too.

Success, whatever that means, can create a heady cocktail mix that destroys and distorts reality.

The detaching from a grounded truth can create a self image that begins to believe its own propaganda.

The deceit is not just to the public but to themselves.

That’s the worrying bit.

Recently, I have witnessed a little fame go a long way.

Unfortunately, the long way is far removed from the right way.

Next time a little exposure, publicity or fame comes your way, remember Gay Byrne.

More importantly, remember that old line?

“Don’t believe what you read in the papers.”

We are all different.

We see things differently.

We act differently.

Our motivation and inspirations differ too.

None right, none wrong, just different.

I was asked to define an entrepreneur.

I’m no expert but I see things through my lens.

Here is what I said. Here is what I know.

Here are some characteristics.

“An entrepreneur is someone who cannot entertain failure or the notion of giving up.

They are pioneers driven by achieving their ever shifting goals and there is no arrival point in their career.

Their journey is a never ending succession of projects and checkpoints with every one raising the bar a little higher.

It’s an intrinsic character thing, it’s a hunger and it’s full of blind spots.

There is no such thing as retirement and the importance of legacy is huge.”

That’s why being an entrepreneur will never suit the majority.

Many years on you get pretty sophisticated at analyzing your business. You get to know your customers too. You also know what works and what does not.

Here’s how we see it;

We work with clients and companies that don’t need to – but – work with us because they want to.

We don’t work with companies that don’t want to – but do need us.

There is a subtle difference but it guides us very effectively.

In the end, both parties need to see it as a benefit, a 50/50 benefit.

My good friend Dave Clarke was asking me how the world of hospitality was coping with its present Tsunami. I replied with a few tales of hope.

Dave sees things with complete clarity. Better still, he knows how to communicate those lessons.

Recently Dave dined in a great value, great food kind of place in Dublin. (It’s called ‘Howards Way …. By the way!)

Dinner was good and the value superb. It was a good deal all round.

Not for Dave the easy expression of “it was a great restaurant with great food”. Too easy for my bright friend. Instead, he summed it up so well and this is what he said;

“I like to cook Conor. If I go out to eat, the food I get must be at least better than I can cook.

When that happens, I’m happy. When it doesn’t, I see no point in going back ever again.”

If you know a struggling restaurant or restaurateur, print off Dave’s advice. It will guide them simply, effectively and customer measurably.

No, not the TV channel, a very good friend. I admire Dave tremendously. He is cheerful, bright, thoughtful and everybody loves Dave.

In the last few years Dave decided to go to University. Two years on and he is approaching a graduation with flying colours. If you knew Dave, it’s not surprising.

You see, Dave drinks in life. He sees the good in everyone and everything. He is a natural Teacher and his vocation is ‘to inspire’. Dave quietly encourages, never talks about himself and asks question after question. Yes he is interested but it goes deeper than that, it’s unselfish.

Dave knows people like to talk about their needs, their day, their life. He is a skillful inquisitor and always offers strikingly incisive advice. Our business has been ‘thought provoked’ on more than one occasion by Dave’s seemingly gentle questions. It’s his gift.

In a turbulent world, make sure you have a ‘Dave’ in your life. He makes you feel proud, important and good about yourself.

Better still, when your Dave makes you feel good, go tell him. Real ‘Dave’s’ are hard to find. When you meet one, cherish it…. And let it be his turn to bask a little.

Have you ever been to that warm fuzzy Pub evening when you were a youthful kid?

You know the sort of evening, the one where everyone triumphantly shouts,

“No matter what, we stay together and stick together”

In comes the dreaded – whatever it is they dread.

Screams and shrieks sound the scattering, scampering escapes.

A robust ‘friend’ – Mr. ‘staytogether’ – roars

“Every man for himself, I’m off”

Good leaders never engage in these kind of debates.

They simply ‘do’ or ‘do not’

Eventually kids grow up and grow out of bad habits.

Then again, some kids never grow up.

In fact, some kids stay as kids … forever.

In Ireland, we just discovered new kids that never grew up.

One is called ‘An Electrician’

The other, ‘A Banker’

Their surname could easily be

‘Everymanforhimself’

You see, as Ireland gasps for survival and struggles to survive, these two fine specimens see it another way.

Their way?

“We want a pay rise”

“We demand a pay rise”

“We will strike if you don’t give it to me – now”

Ah yes, some people never grow up. I guess they still wonder why they will stay small and never become big enough to reach and unlock the door.

The way real grownups do.

Did you ever sit around with your friends and hear them say “I wish….”

Or even, “One day ….”

The nature of dreams is to keep them out of reach.

Now swap the word ‘dream’ for ‘goal’ and see what happens.

As the saying goes;

“Goals are dreams with deadlines”

Life is a journey but it is also a test.

How we react to that unplanned exam shapes and defines who we are.

It will also be how we are remembered, considered and perceived.

“character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking”