Lego

Welcome back! As we kick off 2025 I want us all to take those first steps in the right direction this year. My way of doing that is to think of a word to drive my direction for the year and to then pop an artefact in my office to remind me.

Today’s Home Truth is a strong suggestion you put thirty minutes of thinking time aside to do the same before the emails, meetings and routine decides how you’ll work on your behalf.

I try to avoid corporate nonsense when I choose my word. Wank words like wellbeing, delegation, pivot, purpose and respect are out.

My previous year’s words have been:

• Blob: A reminder to move slowly and consume opportunities as they present – represented by a pink blobby toy on my desk.
• Useful: A reminder to park the ego during a Covid year and just help out where I can – represented by a can opener.
• Footsteps: A nudge to focus on covering distance rather than worrying about the destination – a hiking boot in the corner of my office.
• Roar was my 2024 word. It was about shouting a little more loudly in my advocacy for schools and I popped a footy scarf on display to prompt me.

This year, my word is ‘Connect’.

And yes, I know – there’s a corporate hint to this one that I’m slowly reconciling. But I also know that my challenges come at Real Schools when I lose some of that important connection with my growing team. I want to avoid being so clever with my word that I forget what it means. So… Connect it is.

The reminder for this is the two pieces of Lego you see in the below pic. They’re on my desk now and the two pieces are never to be separated.