All in Personal Codes

Experience And Perspective

Experience And Perspective

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Travel

Perspective is the ability to sit back and (more objectively) assess what a particular situation really means for your relationships, your work and your life. And it’s usually a very difficult thing to have when you’re right in the heat of the moment. 

When you’re in the midst of it, things can seem like they’re do or die. Sometimes that may be the case but, more often than not, what’s happening is that we’re not actually processing all inputs effectively (or at all) so as to make an appropriate judgement, just the ones that are the most prominent to us at the time.

From Ally To Accomplice

From Ally To Accomplice

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Communications, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Strategy

When you’re growing a business, it’s no surprise that you need friends who will advocate for you. I’ve relied on more than my fair share over the last 15 years as I’ve built the business - friends both outside the firm as well as within it - and they’ve been essential to the success that we’ve achieved. 

A subset of these friends have gone above and beyond - they’ve truly put themselves out there for us. These are individuals who’ve (certainly in our early days) put their reputations on the line, or gone out of their way to help the firm, or given materially of their precious time to further our goals. 

Is That What You Really Think?

Is That What You Really Think?

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Communications, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Sales, Teams

Presentations and pitches are tricky things.

By definition, the goal is to sell something to someone. It could be to get a business idea funded, to get approval to move forward on a project or, to make a sale. In all cases, we’re trying to convince someone to part with something valuable (usually, but not always, money) in return for whatever it is we have to offer.

The Home Office

The Home Office

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes

A few weeks ago, I set up my home office, a small room in the basement where I can focus and get my work done. I’ve set it up with everything I need so that I can be productive and not get distracted by whatever else might be going on at home. 

In the span of these last few weeks, it’s already become my ‘haven’, a place where I can tackle my most important projects, where I can do all of the things I’ve got planned. It’s something I’ve wanted even before we moved into this house. 

It’s About Healing, Not Fixing

It’s About Healing, Not Fixing

Omer Abdullah
Life, Personal Codes

I’m generally wary of celebrities offering advice on the complexities of life, but Meghan Markle recently made an observation that I thought was particularly insightful.
She was visiting a workshop at the Luminary Bakery in East London, which helps disadvantaged women and, in conversation, decried the culture of instant gratification that is so pervasive today. She observed that:

"If Some Regard You As Important, Distrust Yourself"

"If Some Regard You As Important, Distrust Yourself"

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Entrepreneurship, Communications, Careers, Leadership, Life, Management Consulting, Personal Codes, Sales, Teams

Epictetus’ words are easy to understand, but difficult to practice. Not surprising, given that it’s in our nature to be liked, to gain approval, to be considered valuable.

The problem is that when we accept these opinions, when we consider ourselves to be “important”, we think we’ve “arrived” and achieved some special end-state or level of wisdom.

Getting Things (And Ourselves) To Change

Getting Things (And Ourselves) To Change

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Entrepreneurship, Life, Personal Codes, Strategy

We all have ideas about where things should ideally be in our lives. Our work should look like this, or our political situation should operate like that. Our relationships should function in this particular way or our personal friendships should manifest themselves differently.

We tend to pore over what these idealized end-states ought to look like - often in excruciating and emotional detail. But getting “there” can be extremely difficult, a journey where the path is entirely uncertain or, worse, impossible to traverse.

Experience In Retrospect

Experience In Retrospect

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Entrepreneurship, Life, Personal Codes, Strategy

There’s a finality to endings that’s bittersweet. 

The completion of the thing - especially something that’s absorbed us wholeheartedly and then come to some natural conclusion - almost always results in a mixture of emotions. 

There’s the joy that comes from the experience (the good times, the contributions, the confirmations) which can be considerable and, at times, overwhelming. This joy is experienced both during but also in retrospect, once we’ve gained an appreciation of those aspects we may have taken for granted. 

Why We Don’t “Do”

Why We Don’t “Do”

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Strategy

What it boils down to is this: there’s a legitimate fear that if we actually make something, we’ll have to face the true state of our skills and accept how much improvement we still have ahead of us” Chase Jarvis - Creative Calling

This is the hard part about creating - particularly for the very first time, when we’re trying something brand new.

Travel Is A Hygiene Factor

Travel Is A Hygiene Factor

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Management Consulting, Personal Codes, Sales, Travel

A common question when I’m discussing what I do for a living is whether there’s much travel involved. My answer is always that, yes, there’s a moderate amount of travel involved. 

Of course, the term “moderate” means different things to different people. There are those who feel being on the road once a month for a couple of days is a lot. And then there are folks( in consulting, for example) who get on a plane week in, week out, flying out on Monday AM and flying home Thursday or Friday PM. 

Lost In Translation

Lost In Translation

Omer Abdullah
Communications, Life, Personal Codes

The movie, Lost In Translation, is a cinematic masterpiece. Perfectly paced, thoughtfully crafted and backed by the perfect soundtrack, it explores the idea of human connection, isolation and meaning in a way that is real and emotive without being cliched or preachy.

So much of how we experience in the movie - specifically how we interpret those scenes - is up to us. The karaoke scene with Bob (Bill Murray) singing More Than This.

The Idealism Of Youth...

The Idealism Of Youth...

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Communications, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Teams

…Is not a phrase I’m entirely comfortable with.

Sure, there’s a maturity that comes with age - what we can refer to as wisdom. This experience also has a way of tempering our roughest, ‘least-rounded’ impulses which. in so many ways, is not at all a bad thing.

But the idealism of youth brings with it a daring, an audacity that has (more often than not) broadened our way of thinking, pushing our boundaries and forcing us to confront those things that hold us back yet we’ve taken for granted.

“The Bit I Didn't Want To Show...Was The Bit That Mattered"

“The Bit I Didn't Want To Show...Was The Bit That Mattered"

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Communications, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Marketing, Personal Codes, Teams

“How people may emotionally connect with music I’ve been involved in is something that part of me is completely mystified by...Human beings are really different, so why would it be that what I do connects in that way? I discovered maybe around (Radiohead’s album) The Bends that the bit I didn’t want to show, the vulnerable bit...that bit was the bit that mattered.” Thom Yorke

The 1,000 true fans of what you do, the ones who will follow you through hell and high water, aren’t there because they expect you to sell them something. They aren’t interested in you because you’re thoroughly researched, or because you’re crafted to the nth degree.

When You're On The Verge of Getting Through

When You're On The Verge of Getting Through

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes

It’s a really weird thing.

In the process of learning something on guitar, specifically when I’m dealing with particularly tricky fingerwork, I’ll hit a point when I just can’t get my fingers moving fast enough, or to the right notes, or with the fluidity and rhythm needed for the song. 

It’s that situation when the mind knows what to do, but the body can’t translate. Time after time, I’ll try but I’ll miss this note or I’ll flub that one.

Sometimes The Method Doesn't Matter (AKA This Is Not A Parenting Post)

Sometimes The Method Doesn't Matter (AKA This Is Not A Parenting Post)

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Creativity, Life, Personal Codes

When my kids were very young and they wouldn’t sleep at night by themselves (which was a lot), my wife and I would worry about what we needed to do to get them to sleep a) in their cribs and b) through the night.

As is our way, we’d read articles and we’d read books on the different methods that are out there to ensure your child gets a sound night’s sleep. There was the Weissbluth Method (or leave your child in the room and let them cry themselves to sleep) versus the Ferber Method (same thing but you come back in the room periodically to console the crying child).

It’s Available To You

It’s Available To You

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Careers, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Strategy

One of the most common refrains I hear from business professionals - both young and old - is that the achievements of ‘celebrities’, in any walk of life, are the result of luck, or great timing, or some other reason that’s preordained.

In others words, their smarts and hard work were contributors but not drivers of their success. They rationalize that what drove that person’s success isn’t accessible to them, that they’re disproportionately benefitting from forces outside of their control.

Fighting False Precision (or A.I. Isn't Everything)

Fighting False Precision (or A.I. Isn't Everything)

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Communications, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes

There’s a lot of talk these days about Artificial Intelligence. Much of the buzz behind AI and many of the “digital disruptors” that leverage it (think digital twins, IoT, blockchain applications and more) is well founded. Taken together, these capabilities and technologies will change almost every facet of our lives, from how we live to what we buy to how we work.

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