In partnership with

Looking for unbiased, fact-based news? Join 1440 today.

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Subscribe to 1440 today.

Have you been forwarded the DARE High Performance newsletter? You can sign up here to receive your own copy in the future.

DARE is the mental model for high performance and change.

You write your story through your DECISIONS, ACTIONS and RESULTS and a thorough EVALUATION of how you did.

A new Result requires new Decisions and Actions.

This Week’s DARE at a Glance:

Thought Of The Week: Have you got the guts to leave the table?

Simple is the tool we use to navigate complexity: We can make it simple, even if we can’t make it easy.

F1 The Movie:  Can you pin down ‘what it’s all about’?

Book of the Week: Ken Segall’s “Insanely Simple”.

Your DARE Challenge: What’s your simple (but possibly hard) thing this week?

My Week: A new book is on the horizon.

Thought of the Week:

“If I told you what it takes to reach the highest heights, you’d laugh and say ‘nothing’s that simple.’ ”

But, as The Who’s anthem ‘I’m Free’ continues:  

“No one’s got the guts to leave the table.”

DARE is often described as a collection of ‘simple’ concepts. I take that as a huge compliment. Change is not complicated, it’s merely difficult. 

But I know it isn’t always meant as such. Some people admire complication and want to dismiss simple.

I was carefully schooled at 17 that writing five A4 sides of complicated blather about a Shakespeare play deserved an A+, but the hours spent creating one side of careful insight deserved a D. 

Do you ever see complicated blather being rewarded over insight?

Simple is the tool we use to navigate complexity.

A global change program? It is complex (organic, dynamic, unpredictable, uncontrollable). It’s not easy. But it’s certainly not complicated. Once a 200 slide deck is created to impress people who admire complication: it’s dead. 

Simplicity is the tool to guide the change, the actions required are simple. The request of people should be simple, although probably not easy.

Getting fit and healthy? The Decisions and Actions required of you are simple, but not easy. 

Presenting effectively to a group? The Decisions and Actions required of you are simple, but not easy.

Simple demands the guts to leave the table: to ignore the noise; to decide ‘what it is about’.

FI The Movie

‘What do you care what they say? It’s just noise.’

Says the seasoned driver to the rookie who overcomplicates his Decisions with personal image, social media, reporters, the other drivers, the future, with appeasing his fragile ego.

Simple: but not easy.

Is there overcomplication that you should be stripping out? Are you prioritizing the good opinion of noisy people over the story you wish to write?

Another nice moment is when Brad Pitt’s character Sonny asks a waitress’s advice about an offer he has received. ‘What would you do’

She asks “Well how much are we talking’?”

 “It’s not about the money.”

Her response: “Then what is it about?”

We never hear his answer. We get to imagine OUR answer.

So, what is your answer?  Once you know it’s about DARE! It’s simple.

Book Of The Week.

This week’s book is ‘Insanely Simple’ by Ken Segall, the former creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day, the agency behind Apple’s iconic “Think Different” campaign.

I read this book once every couple of years and it requires me to think carefully about the baggage I have been accumulating.

Segall reveals how Steve Jobs made simplicity Apple’s most potent weapon. Not just a design choice, but a leadership principle.

Jobs wielded what Segall calls the “Simple Stick” to cut through complexity in meetings, decision-making, product design and marketing communication.

One unforgettable example: when launching the original iMac, Jobs refused to let the team complicate the name.

While others debated normal (until this moment) technical-sounding options, he simply insisted it should be intuitive and human. “It connects to the internet. Call it iMac.” One letter.

Simple. That moment didn’t just name a product—it changed how technology would be marketed forever. Simplicity, Jobs understood, is the sharpest edge in a noisy world.

Book Jim To Speak.

YOUR  DARE Challenge This Week:

What is the most simple thing you could do to deliver the Result you most want to achieve?

No – the much simpler one you thought of above when you read the world ‘blather’ and answered the question ‘ What is it about?” !!

What’s the fastest, simplest, least blathery route to your Result?

Let Me Know
What’s your simple, hard thing this week? Hit reply and you’re in my personal inbox  — tell me what Result you’re DARE-ing to create, and what simple Action you’re taking to get there.

My Week.

As summer comes, live events slow and my thinking accelerates involuntarily. Do you find the same? It is time for creativity.

So, finally, I have been able to work on the skeleton for my new book this week. DARE.

What do you want it to contain? What does the world need? What do your people need?

Your ideas are very welcome. It is important this book serves its audience at this critical time in our development.

I had a wonderful visit to the people at The Recruitment Network. A wonderful community of high performing, self-challenging talent specialists. We enjoyed thinking about how to DARE together in order to support clients in the increasing battle for intellect.

How to inspire, retain and get the best from that intellect was the focus for the rest of the week as different versions of my INSPIRE! Program continue to run in various organisations around the world – supporting leaders to create high performing, psychologically safe, agile teams that deliver the strategy.

Thank you for ALWAYS keeping me on my toes and on top of my game!

Write your story 🖋️

Jim