Robin Sieger Blog

How many cookery books do you own? How many business books have you bought at the airport, as they promised you the magic formula to success? A former CEO shares his recipe for high achievement, and all we have to do is read the book, learn the lessons, apply them and bing, we shall overcome.

I do not mean to sound cynical or patronising, but I do mean to challenge us all (myself included) into bridging the gap between theory and action. I enjoy cooking, and over the years have entertained friends with ever more ambitious endeavours of culinary wonder. In truth very few of them ever come from cookery books. Why? Because generally I find many too complicated or they have too many ingredients (many of which I never seem to have to hand no matter how diligent I was in getting the shopping done) and, quite frankly, what I produce bares very little similarity to the photo in the book.

So I stick to ingredients I know, and cook in the style to which I am most comfortable, which is true of my exercise regimes of late and my business practices. We stick to what we know and where we feel most comfortable, which is why in the business world at large, change is always such a big issue and hot topic for the management gurus.

I like the story of the man who is on his hands and knees one night looking for his car keys. A passer by sees him and goes over to help, he asks him “Where did you drop the keys?” The fellow on his knees looks up and says “About 10 yards down the path”. The passer by, now thoroughly confused says “So why are you looking here?” Without missing a beat or pausing to think the man on his knees replies, “Because the light’s much better here”.

Over the years I have run organisational training initiatives, workshops, management retreats, coached many and delivered 100’s of conference keynotes. The one thing above all else I have discovered is that until we apply knowledge – nothing happens. More than ever we live in a knowledge rich world, and it is getting bigger and bigger at a rate that is hard to comprehend. This knowledge gets distilled and appears in airport bookstores at the ‘big new thing’ to jump start your career, and turn your business around. You know something chances are it will too, if you act upon the information. If you actually determine to implement the knowledge into a real world experience, and stick with it, chances are you will see the changes you seek.

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