This lunchtime presentation provided a brief introduction to the principles laid out in Rob Parson's best selling book "The Heart of Success". It was delivered by two members of his Letsdolife team, Samantha Callan and John Evans. Letsdolife was founded by Rob Parsons in 2002 as a consultancy and seminar provider to the corporate sector, focusing on the areas of personal and corporate effectiveness.

Dundas & Wilson generously hosted this event in their elegant conference facilities in Saltire Court and OASIS is most grateful to them for their hospitality.

First a comment heard a few days after the presentation

"I don't know how OASIS does it - they find such interesting, helpful and authoratative speakers. I bought the book "The Heart of Success" and read it cover to cover. I'll be using material from it in a talk I have to give soon." - the MD of a financial institution in the area of Lothian Road.

Next a bio of the two speakers

Samantha Callan heads up Letsdolife's research team. She has extensive industrial experience covering the pharmaceuticals, gas and telecoms sectors. Currently conducting doctoral research on work/life issues in a number of UK firms, her main interests are in longer-term social trends, cultural change, and the impact these have on firms' attitudes and practices. Samantha holds Master's degrees in Social Anthropology from King's College, Cambridge and Nottingham University. She has hands-on experience of juggling the demands of a young family with her own job and research commitments.

John Martin Evans is an internationally-known expert on working-time and work-life balance issues. For several years he was senior author of the Organisation for Economic Development's flagship publication on employment affairs, and has worked and published extensively in the areas of strategic HR policy, high performance work arrangements and work/life issues. He has presented papers and led seminars on work/life issues in Britain and the Netherlands, in other European countries and North America. John holds Masters degrees from Oxford in mathematics and in statistics and from the LSE in human resource management.

Now, a report on the presentation

Letsdolife's vision is to help organisations achieve sustainable success and become employers of choice as their people play to their strengths, manage stress positively, live out their values, achieve their dreams and find significance in their work. The presentation was thought-provoking and highlighted the need to reflect on who you are, what you value and how you can live more of the life you believe in. The seven laws of the Heart of Success are:

· Don't Settle for Being Money Rich - Time Poor
· Put Your Family Before Your Career
· Keep the Common Touch - Be Yourself
· Believe that the Job You Do Makes a Difference
· Play to your Strengths
· Believe in the Power of Dreams
· Don't Settle for Success - Make a Difference - Strive for Significance.

The speakers shared many thoughts with us in quick succession. A sample follows:

Would you believe that 40% of people choose lunch on the basis of how fast they can eat it? - that speed dating exists for busy executives? - that many people have no time to cook? - or visit the doctor? - and that there is a burgeoning market for analgesics?

Would you believe that a healthy marriage may be said to be worth £70,000 per annum whereas separation brings unhappiness that could take £132,000 per annum to offset? (Here we were told, and shown, that people are more like sticks of celery than dry twigs, there being no such thing as a clean break in relationships. Try breaking a stick of celery for yourself and see!)

As for keeping the common touch: would you be prepared to lend a hand in any given situation? Or have you climbed so high up the corporate ladder that you have lost the common touch? We were also advised to remember that people who are truly themselves are often the more impressive for it.

Do you believe your job makes a difference? Have you asked yourself, "Why am I here?" Have you looked at the end product of what you do and considered, "Who is this helping?" And have you made the link to your own deep values?…

Does your job allow you to do what you do best every day? Research by Jill Garrett of the Gallup Organisation found that, when employees "strongly agreed" that "at work I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day", their business units were:

· 50% more likely to have lower staff turnover rates
· 38% more likely to have higher productivity
· 44% more likely to show higher customer satisfaction.

Have you considered how to find your life's true dream?

· Tell the story of your life to a trusted friend
· Think about what that story means
· And how it could fit into a larger story
· Imagine what you would do if you had no fear
· Imagine what you would do if you had no financial constraints
· Imagine what you would do if you had no time constraints

Then…. take a step forward - and don't delay

Don't settle for success: make a difference: strive for significance

If you would like to know more about the Letsdolife team and what they offer, see
http://www.letsdolife.com

If you would like a copy of their PowerPoint presentation, please email janicetodd@oasisedinburgh.com, and, finally,

if you would like a copy of Rob Parson's highly thought of book "The Heart of Success"
for £5 (currently selling in High Street shops for £6.99) go to http://www.letsdolife.com and click on the Corporates tab. The Programme code is Oasis, hashcode is 10674801. Then click on Books, videos etc and you will see the book listed - just click on it to get to the order page. Then proceed to checkout or, if you want to browse other products, you will need to go back to the Corporates tab and click "restore normal settings" - clicking on Books, videos etc. will then show the rest of the offering which you can add to your shopping basket if required.

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