A few months ago at the Notion Partner meeting Jos led a discussion on the fact that we are all (he meant the entire world) in publishing now. Crikey I thougt! The whole world might be creating and publishing content but I'm British so I don’t feel very comfortable with that. Since then I’ve thought of my initial reaction and questioned 'Is that normal? Is it a very un-British thing to do? Am I just scared of the unknown? Is it a new discipline and I can’t be arsed?’

Well the truth is that it's a bit of all of those things and so the journey began BUT here we are with my first blog.

So are we all publishers? Am I just being lazy and a little inhibited and are the British still as reserved as my initial reaction suggested? I will try to reconcile these questions and then give my best estimate as too who I am, what sort of blogger I’ll be and whether anyone will really care what I think anyway?

Are we all creators and publishers of content?

Well the answer has to be in one way or another we are. We may not be writing content, we might not be blogging or tweeting, but in some way we are communicating ourselves through the things we do, the things we write, the things we record and capture and the things we say. All these things are easier to do now and have the potential to reach a much wider audience than would have ever been possible even a few years ago.

It makes us think more about the behaviour traits we demonstrate in good times and bad, the way we project ourselves, the clothes we wear, our reactions to other people and the contrast of our private and public conduct. We are living breathing content, we are always on and we are projecting ourselves to a potentially wide audience many of whom we don’t even know. And that audience can form a view or make a judgement on us quickly and easily without us even being aware of it.

Are the British more reserved than everyone else and therefore do I have a get out clause simply because of my nationality?
Well the truth is that like most generalisations there is no smoke without fire but they are usually too broad to be truthful. The British have a history of formality, of class structure, of etiquette, a stiff upper lip and a tendency to settle things behind closed doors and little fuss. But that applies to few institutions today, and fewer people than ever before and in truth as a 42 year old, white, working class, Londoner who has built teams all over the world, I find most people I meet are far more reserved and inhibited than the British I know and certainly more than myself.

My conclusion is that the British being reserved is a pretty lame excuse to avoid blogging and doesn't apply to me anyway. If it does perhaps I should start wearing a dusty wig and start traveling around in a horse and cart.

Well that leaves laziness as the last thing on my list. So am I inherently lazy?

Like most people I am a paradox and neither one thing or another. I have competing behaviours and values which come to the fore in different circumstances. Where does laziness fit in?

My favourite day of the week is Sunday and not because I am religious because I’m not. I like Sunday because the hussle and bussle of life takes  dip. It's the most different day of the week - in the UK it's called 'Super Sunday' referring to the three, yes three, Premier League football matches on the bounce broadcast live on TV. Sunday doesn’t just mean football - it means cooking, friends and family – so although it’s a slower place it's miles from being sleepy for me. Can I lie around doing nothing all day? Occasionally. But I’m much more likely to be online, on my bike, at the gym, in a car, on a call, at a restaurant, on a plane, meeting new opportunities and meeting new people.

My conclusion is that I am not lazy so I have no excuse.

The No.1 reason I don’t do things is because I fundamentally don’t believe in what people or society wants me to do, I don’t get the value and it’s not worth my time which is my most valuable asset. So conversely the reason I do things is I am highly motivated by the journey, the challenge, the people and the value.

And Jos remember the best way to get me to do something is to tell me I can’t!

One last thing I nearly forgot. What and I going to blog about?

I am passionate about the cloud, scale, sales, distribution, propositions, sweet spots, pain, fuck ups (love them) and everything about people. What makes people unique, compelling, great and worth billions vs what makes them uncompelling, useless and lose billions. In my opinion people are losing millions and billions most of the time and its that paradox I am going to talk about.

Enjoy...