Sketchplanations - The Podcast

This week, we ask ourselves if we've reached our professional peaks and if we now fall foul to the Peter Principle, having tipped into our levels of incompetency.

Amongst many other clever things, Jono applies the principle to Football Management.

Tommy gives his insight to how relevant it is managing at the very top of a business.

And I tell how my capacity to teach stuff is severely limited by exactly the kind of incompetence the Peter Principle is based on.

Where do you feel you or maybe more interestingly, where do those around you sit within the Peter Principle?

Here are some useful links if you want to find out more about some of the bits we discussed:

• The Peter Principle was first proposed by Canadian educator, Laurence J. Peter . In one of his books, he also said that "noblest of all dogs is the hot dog; it feeds the hand that bites it."
• Creator of The Paula Principle is Tom Schuller
• The Dilbert Principle
• The Generalised Peter Principle sketch
• #1 Rule of Indoor Games
• The BBC Peter Principle sitcom with Jim Broadbent on YouTube

Please consider giving us a review or subscribing to our podcast on your podcast player. It really helps.

Please also consider putting in a pre-order for Jono's Sketchplanations book: Big Ideas, Little Pictures. Out very soon.

We'd love to hear your stories of any experience with The Peter Principle.

Ping us an email to: [email protected]

All Music on this podcast series is provided by Franc Cinelli. Find many more tracks at franccinelli.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The three of us are tired of being misunderstood when we've used the words "biweekly", "bimonthly" and "biannually".

It's just no fun.

And so we're starting the campaign to ditch biweekly and use fortnightly instead. See sketch here.

Try it out. You won't regret it.

Our discussion turns to the general ambiguity of language and how in many senses it's quite a good thing.

It allows for creative writing, comedy and ease of communication.

Lots of bits to link to this week from this week's episode - enjoy:

• Ian Hollingshead book - Imagine my surprise...
• William Empson's book - The 7 types of Ambiguity
• TED talk by Lera Boroditsky & here's her Instagram account too.
• Sketch on the Oxford comma
• Sketch on Context is King
• Sketch on Capitonyms
• Sketch on homonyms, homographs, homophones, heteronyms

Please consider giving us a review or subscribing to our podcast on your podcast player. It really helps.

Please also consider putting in a pre-order for Jono's Sketchplanations book: Big Ideas, Little Pictures. Out very soon now.

We'd love to hear your stories of any confusion with the words biweekly, bimonthly or biannually.

Ping us an email to: [email protected]

All Music on this podcast series is provided by Franc Cinelli. Find many more tracks at franccinelli.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello.

Thanks for finding us here on our brand new Podcast Series.

The 3 of us have been friends for over 20 years and have always enjoyed delving into all sorts of conversation topics - usually with some silliness along the way.

In this series we select one of the many sketches at Sketchplanations.com each week and discuss how it applies to our lives and the world around us.

We hope you enjoy listening in on our musings as much as we enjoy having them.

We hope that you learn something new or interesting.

And we hope that you'll come back to see what the full episodes are about.

Take care.

Go well.

Cheers,

Tom, Rob & Jono.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Rob, Tom and Jono discuss a compelling quote from American internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman (who is also the founding host the Masters of Scale podcast), which compares starting a company to jumping off a cliff and assembling a plane on the way down. Tom and Jono share their personal experiences and insights into the chaos and exhilaration of entrepreneurship. We also explore the deeper meanings behind such journeys, offering advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and relating to various iconic metaphors. Highlights include the challenges and rewards of starting a business, the importance of having a supportive team, and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. They also bring up Wallace and Gromit's hilarious train track scene and share insights into psychological and logistical hurdles faced while building a business.

Other links to references made in the podcast include:

+ A video of a lone dancer in a field at a festival who starts a craze - a very uplifting watch demonstrating the different roles of leadership and first follower.

+ The Sketchplanations The Podcast episode on Optimism Bias - referencing a typical character trait of entrepreneurs.

+ The Sketchplanation on The Twin Engines of Altruism and Ambition

+ Big Ideas, Little Pictures: The Sketchplanations book where you can see the Starting a Company sketch with even more detail and on a double page spread.

+ American writer Ray Bradbury and his wonderful quote about missing life if you don't jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down.

02:16 The Chaos of Starting a Company

04:48 The Role of Money and Support in Entrepreneurship

06:50 The Importance of Team and Adaptability

10:05 The Reality of Entrepreneurial Risks and Rewards

18:36 The Power of Early Adopters and Team Dynamics

21:16 Wallace and Gromit: A Metaphor for Entrepreneurship

23:14 Navigating Business Challenges

23:52 Growth and Expansion Strategies

24:18 Facing New Market Requirements

25:34 Building a Supportive Team

26:09 The Reality of Running a Business

29:01 The Role of Optimism in Business

33:53 The Rewards of Entrepreneurship

37:16 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

41:13 Closing Thoughts and Reflections

All music in this series is provided by Franc Cinelli.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you like the thought of heading off on an adventure but don't really have the time to see it through?

Why not try a MicroAdventure?

They're smaller, achievable, won't break the bank and will go a long way to scratching that itch you might never have reached anyway.

In this episode we speak with the charming and inspirational Al Humphreys about adventures in his life, before focussing on the smaller, more achievable things we could all fit into our busy lives to keep our thirst for fun, physical activity and spiritual reward truly quenched. Al is the author of 14 books to date, is an accomplished and entertaining public speaker, podcaster and general all-round good guy. Our conversation is packed full of ideas for things you can do from your own doorstep that will ensure you have some great stories (and maybe photos) to share with friends and family - in fact, why not share your MicroAdventures with them too?

I know for a fact that since this conversation, Tommy climbs a tree near his office once a month during his lunch break!

Amongst many topics, we talk about the character traits of someone who enjoys adventure and adversity, what drives us to seek adventure and the legal & moral wrangling of responsible wild camping.

Get in Touch

How important is adventure in your life?

Do you have examples of your own MicroAdventures?

Let us know:

• email us: [email protected]
• OR leave us a voice note

Reference Links

In this episode we also reference:

• Custom Made Ordnance Survey Maps
• The Fun Scale podcast episode
• Small Little People TRIZ Tool podcast episode
• The book "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning" by Laurie Lee
• Example of a simple Bivvy Bag
• How to find the halfway point between you and others to define the perfect place to meet.

All music on this podcast is provided by the very talented Franc Cinelli.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.