A little story about pigs, business and me...
Welcome to the very first edition of The Oink, a newsletter from the Founder & Director of Pigs Can Fly Too, Mike Read. My plan is to use this newsletter as a source of entertainment, learning, provocation and conversation. I hope I succeed and will always welcome your feedback as to how I’m going!
As a high-performance coach, I consider myself fortunate to work with executives & leaders in businesses across multiple categories. I am constantly intrigued by the human condition - why & how we choose to ‘show up’, the way we do, aka our behaviours. We know from performance science that it is these same behaviours which need to be the focal point of our efforts in sustainably realising individual & collective potential in the achievement of outstanding results. In other words, the attainment of high performance.
Memes like leadership and high performance are incredibly broad and complex ideas. I do not pretend to be an expert with doctorate academia behind me. But I am very good at connecting with people and gaining people’s trust in double quick time. Almost 40 years of professional experience has given me a close-up view regarding these two subjects - what to do, what not to do and everything in between.
I’m confident that what I’ll write about in The Oink will be of some value. I believe that the portfolio of clients I’ve worked with over the years gives me some credibility to share ideas, observations & perspectives with you. I try to take notice of the things that come into my mind and it’ll be these neural pathways and connections that I’ll write about. I’d love to have you join the conversation as we go.
Before I get stuck into what’s going on in my mind, I thought I’d tell you the story of why the business name (Pigs Can Fly Too) and how I got into this line of work.
For the first 18 years of my working life, I had a career in the world of brands - marketing, advertising, media and innovation. My last big corporate gig was as an Executive Team member at a multi-national advertising agency based out of London. I was hired in as part of what turned out to be an incredible change management experiment. I use that word deliberately - surely all change is experimental?!
Beyond working with super talented, commercially astute, strategic and creative minds, I learnt so much about what to do and not to do when it came to culture, leadership, team building, high performance and change. We adopted a mantra of ‘uncommon common sense’, we chose to work with our client partners day in, day out, as if we were pitching to them. And we worked bloody hard, while having, in the main, a really great time.
But I encountered a problem that became a deal-breaker.
There was a part of me that was being inauthentic in my work. I started to put on an act to pretend that I was fully engaged in what I was doing, when I knew that I wasn’t. It had nothing to do with the craft of agency - to this day, I love working in the industry. No, what happened was that I stopped caring if our clients sold another tin of petfood, bars of chocolate, frozen seafood, toothpaste …you get the picture.
And let me tell you - acting is bloody exhausting!
I surrendered. My career in marketing & advertising was over. So, what to do?
Well, I knew from my work in innovation that sometimes the problem is in fact the solution. Authenticity, or an absence of it, was the problem. So, authenticity needed to be the answer.
I found myself speaking with Jamie Oliver’s organisation, I set up a ‘for purpose’ entity called Appetite For Life, I went on a sports journalism course. And I stumbled into coaching, almost literally, on the back of a chance conversation with my next door neighbour, a beautiful soul called Ness.
The next thing, I found myself on a 3-day coaching retreat on the south coast of England. Within the first hour of the first day, I had the aha moment that we all have from time to time, but oftentimes don’t observe or listen to. I noticed it, BIG time.
What I realised was that as I’d become more senior in business, with ever larger teams of people in my charge, I’d become really very good at coaching. I’d just never noticed this, and I certainly had no idea you could get paid to do this as your vocation. Back in 2005, executive professional coaching was in its infancy.
So, under the careful watch of a brilliant mentor, John Boyle , I learnt the craft of workshop facilitation and immersed myself in the practice of executive coaching. At which point, it was also clear to me that I was done with big corporate roles. It was time to set up my own business.
Naming. Hmmm. I wanted a name that reflected the purpose of the work I was going to do, while also being a reflection of my personality. In came pigs from left field!
You see, my family nickname to this day, is Pigshit.
It’s a term of love, born from being overheard by my sisters saying to my Nanna Nathan when I was a young boy ‘Nan, I hate the name Nathan (one of my middle names) - I’d rather be called Pigshit’. Well, be careful what you wish for in front of siblings!
How to get pigs into the business name? And then I thought, hey, wait a minute …we say ‘pigs might fly’ - an adynaton; a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility. So, if we say, ‘pigs can fly’, then we are dealing with possibility. And ‘pigs can fly too’ infers that humans can fly.
Which I believe we can. That anything is possible if we put our heart, mind, body & soul into life with abundant and consistent energy.
Pigs Can Fly Too launched in 2005 and for 19 years now, I have practiced the craft of workshop facilitation and executive coaching. I am blessed to love what I do. Most days at work do not feel like work. I am most certainly being authentic in the why, how and what of my working life.
So, I trust that this story gives you an insight as to where The Oink will be coming from. I’m looking forward to being playful & curious with my posts. If I can do this for myself, I’d like to think this will pay forward. I’ve certainly enjoyed writing this first edition.
To end with, I am going to share some facts about pigs, which you’ll see vindicates my decision to have them with me in my business!
Until edition #2.
Mike - Chief Pig
Pig Facts:
Pigs are one of the smartest animals on the planet. Say no more.
In their natural state, pigs are very clean animals. I shower at least once every day.
When they are trained, piglets can learn their names by two to three weeks of age and respond when called. I will always welcome and reply to your comments & feedback.
Pigs use their grunts to communicate with each other. These grunts vary, depending on the pig's personality and can convey important information about the welfare of this highly social species. I am an open book when it comes to my health & well-being. I make this an everyday priority.
Pigs have very long memories and can remember things even years later. Damn, this is where the similarities end!
They like to get massages, relax while listening to music and are very curious. Three from three.
A pig's sense of smell is about 2,000 times more sensitive than humans. If this is true, there are times when I feel sorry for them!
Pigs are very social animals. They form close bonds with each other and other species. Some like to cuddle up close, especially at low temperatures. So do I.
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