Last night we were lucky enough to hear Ray Mears talk.  We turned up to a packed auditorium and there was literally nowhere to sit that wasn’t ‘Reserved’.  Then the nice lady whisked us down to the very front row and sat us down 5′ from the man.  He was exactly the same in person as he is on TV.

Apparently he is a Surrey lad and was brought up a few miles from here.  One of the things that he recommended was to just get out into the countryside, especially with your family, and experience it and see the change in the seasons.  Of course he is right; there is no substitute for being out there and feeling it yourself, seeing it, smelling it.  We have all grown up listening to owls on sound tracks, but they in now way prepare you for the wonder and magic of hearing one in your own garden.

The thing is that in management, as in the rest of Life, there is no substitute for being out there and ‘feeling it’ for yourself.  You can’t always manage remotely or really communicate effectively by email.  Of course I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use these tools and approaches, but never make the mistake of thinking that it is the same as ‘the real thing’.  There is an extra dimension that we experience when we are there and present.

This weekend, with the sun peeping through and the leaves turning… get out there and in the words of Mr Mears “kick a few leaves”

“Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.”   Oscar Wilde