Prioritise by pay-off.

So often, we attend to what is urgent, what is loudest, what is easiest, what happens to sit at the top of the list because it was written down first. We tell ourselves we are being productive. Yet too often, we are merely being busy.

Genuine prioritisation has one question at its heart: what will be the pay off?

The discipline is twofold:

Firstly, see the imposters for what they are. The email that pings demands attention; it rarely deserves it. The easy task offers a small dopamine reward; it rarely moves the needle. Urgency and ease feel like priorities. They are not.

Secondly, choose the high-leverage task-and choose it again. The thing which, done well today, will still matter in a month. The thing nobody is asking you to do but which would change everything if you did. That is the priority. It is often uncomfortable. That, too, is part of the signal.

Action: before the list, the question. What, today, will pay off the most? Do that first. The rest can wait, or, more often, can wait forever.

What Went Wrong with The Art of The Presentation?

Presenters should be prepared, doing all they can to help their audience understand the message. This has been true since tribal histories were told around campfires, as battle plans were pitched in draughty halls, and when travelling salespeople arrived in a Cortina to sell their goods.

In addition, new presenters have always feared one thing: forgetting what to say.

Put these two factors together, and you create a temptation for any speaker. A temptation to put your words on a slide as it helps you remember what to say, and it might be rationalised that it helps the audience, too. Old World technology made this laborious and expensive: chalkboards, overhead projectors, and acetates. So, words on them were kept to a minimum.

Then PowerPoint arrived.

Let’s add one more factor: as the rate of business change accelerates, more people must brief more people about more things, more often. PowerPoint makes words on slides cheap and easy. The New World of Work pace transforms presenting from craft into an obligation. The result is PowerPoint Paralysis.

The AI-Proof Portfolio

The deep reward of following The Old School Principles is that you develop an AI-proof career portfolio.

While AI handles the computational work, humans will increasingly be valued for character-driven competencies: leadership, integrity, emotional intelligence, and professionalism.

This is why the Old School Principles are not looking back; they are looking ahead strategically. In a world where technical skills become commoditised, your character becomes your competitive advantage. AI can draft the report, but it cannot look someone in the eye and take responsibility for the results. It can crunch the numbers, but it cannot inspire a demoralised team or navigate a difficult conversation with grace.

The Old School principles are about building a future-proof professional identity that no algorithm can replace.

The book is here.

Instant. Budget. Fast-read. Worldwide. Action orientated.