Harley Lovegrove is an interim manager, specializing in managing both small and large multi-national companies through periods of change. He is the Chairman and one of the founding partners of the Brussels based group practice, The Bayard Partnership. Harley is also a lecturer and motivational speaker and author of two books: 'Making a Difference' and 'Inspirational Leadership' which are also published in Dutch, under the titles: 'Maak het Verschil' , and 'Inspireer en Leid'.
He formed his first company in 1978 at the age of 21 and has since taken up numerous interim management posts, working for a variety of businesses from high technology and software to petrochemical, transport, mobile telecommunications, apparel and building construction.
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Two more speeding tickets!
In the last two weeks I have been caught speeding twice. People tell me that in Belgium the speed cameras do not work – that’s not true. And this is happening to me at a time when I am telling myself to slow down. In my car I have a Coyote communication system that not only compares my current speed with the speed limit of the road it also warns me (most of the time) of the presence of mobile speed traps. On top of this I have a conventional speedometer the size of a small dinner plate, two clocks and a giant flat screen GPS system and still I drive too fast. When am I going to learn?
I guess the answer to my question is either when I receive even more speeding tickets or when I learn to grow up? Perhaps it’s going to be right here, right now? Perhaps this time on my way home from Germany I will decide to fall into line with all the other vehicles happy to travel at a steady 110Km per hour? Or will I, as usual, hog the left-hand lane with my foot on the floor until an even faster fool from behind flashes me out of the way?
Logic tells me that the problem of driving too fast is that, apart from the increased risk of causing an accident, that the faster I go the narrower my vision becomes. It’s a proven fact. Try driving on an unrestricted highway at a speed of 180-220km and then slow down to 80. I swear you can visibly notice the enormous amount of additional visual information you are able to process left and right.
The same is true in business, leaders that do too much are simply unable to see the complete picture and sooner or later they begin to make poor decisions. There’s another aspect of moving too fast that also needs to be considered. Yesterday, Philip Gould a British member of the House of Lords, strategist and corporate adviser died at the age of 61 after a battle against cancer. His wife is entirely sure that his tough career played a leading role in his untimely demise.
Now I don’t want an early heart attack and I don’t ever want to cause an accident or be accused of having too narrow vision, so I guess there nothing more to it than to simply slow down?
How fast do you drive your life?
Have a good week,
Harley
Comments
Hi Harley,
the story is funny and altough huge amounts of digital ink can be wasted on the "reasonable" speed on a road, as a fellow motorcycle driver you can probably relate to my position that this depends on the conditions of the road, vehicle, driver, weather, etc.
In my daily live that is the same. I have 3 main energy sources that need to be in balace to do the best job at living: my professional live, my personnal live (family, etc) and my health (mental and physical). All 3 have external factors that define the speed at which I can travel and the speed of each of these factors being different, they define the direction in which I go. And I always go as fast as I think I can go while being relatively safe.
Unfortunately it is only in retrospect that an error can be identified, in some cases by the speeding ticket one receives, in other cases by noticing that protective wear (helmet and leather) is not a futile investment.
Koen
Your story is interesting, but I am afraid it misses the point.
Yes, many of us are stressed and are driving ourselves too hard, too fast. Yes, we need to slow down and aim for balance in life.
However, does that mean that we need to drive at 120 km/h on an empty straight motorway that is lit up day and night like a football stadium? Certainly not. The speed limit of 120km/h was introduced in Belgium in the 1970s under the pretext of saving energy. In the meantime, the energy efficiency of modern cars has evolved quite a bit! The speed limit has not changed.
120km/h is simply a ludicrous speed limit for a motorway under normal conditions. A speed limit of 140 km/h would be more reasonable and most reasonable people would be inclined to respect it.
Instead, our "public services", who have only the interest of the citizen at heart, are multiplying the most nonsensical radar controls, despite of the fact that there is no evidence that most (fatal) accidents happen on motorways. Why don't they just force the GPS operators to give away their data and - after a bit of math - send us the bill once a month??
You are getting more stressed from keeping your eye(s) on your speedometer, Coyotte & GPS, while anxiously watching out for possible radars - all at the same time - than from driving at a speed of 140 km/h under normal conditions!
The stress comes from both extremes: the excessive liberties that some of us grab whenever there is no "big stick" around (e.g. driving at 180 km/h) and the repressive, small-minded, nitpicking of our masters (whoever they are) - who care so much for our security and safety!
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