'Life is not a practice round.' So said Australian Sir Frank Packer...and congratulations to Adam Scott who became the first Australian to win the US Masters, showing not only the skill honed over many years of practice but good sportsmanship. What lessons from golf for business?

If you’re not a golfer, never have been or never wish to be, read no further! Unless you’re struggling to understand why otherwise rational friends, colleagues or customers might be avid fans or fanatics, as the case might be. With the growth of golf for networking, even cynics may be surprised at links between the golf and the business game-a curious connection that I reflected on, while driving home from a corporate charity golf day with one of my clients. And below is a photo of Adam Scott at my NSW Golf club where he won the 2009 Australian Masters (where I play) and one with his mentor Greg Norman at the same place last month. Sadly, none of their talent has rubbed off.

How do I know? Because I've trekked to Timbuktu…walked the Sahara, drifted in a dugout canoe down the Niger River precariously close to hippos and sat atop a spitting camel in 35 degree heat; all in the quest for adventure and new insights to our modern world on the ancient, fabled road to Timbuktu...  

Let’s face it… Customer service isn’t the sexiest topic in the world and I admit this title is a cheeky play on words of the mega-selling erotica novel Fifty Shades of Grey. I also confess being a tad envious of the author who sold millions of books; whereas my #1 best-seller, titled Good Service is Good Business, has only been translated into a handful of languages. Still, I’m grateful for the opportunity it has provided for me to speak to a wide variety of audiences on five continents since it was first published by Prentice Hall/Pearson.

Change is inevitable. Learning from change is optional-Twitter on the Moon?

‘To ride the leading edge and not fall off is the thrill of a lifetime. To be the leading edge, that is life itself.’ Neil Armstrong 

The first man to land on the moon spoke at an IBM conference in 1989 and that quote, along with his autographed photo, remains in my office today. Neil Armstrong  passed away this month after an amazing aeronautical career; and I doubt that any of the team at NASA could have envisaged that today we have technology in our phones which is more sophisticated than that lunar landing module.

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How’s this for technology....was in Helsinki airport awaiting a flight to Amsterdam-when I received an email about speaking in Istanbul as a result of a guy from London that I met in Singapore the day before! Yes, it really is the world wide web.

In amazing Singapore wondering... Are you living your dream-or just dreaming about it? Time to wake up to your true potential...

If you’ve ever lost all data on your phone or computer, spare a thought for the common spider. I’m wary about cobwebs-and our increasing reliance on the World Wide Web. It is indeed a marvelous tool but what a tangled web we’ve weaved…

'The opportunity of a lifetime must be grasped within the lifetime of that opportunity' 

It’s Alexander Graham Bell’s birthday tomorrow. With over 10 billion mobile phone users predicted by 2020, he could never have imagined that his invention of the humble phone, would result in the sort of global telecommunications we take for granted today.

Last weekend, Manly hosted the Australian Open Surfing and Skateboard championships...a cool youth vibe, with amazing defiance of gravity, but I suspect the real winners were the sponsors.

 'We can no protect the value of the dollar by passing the buck'

Valentine’s Day

Computer conundrum...

Are you are more ‘choreful’ than cheerful this festive season? Ho, ho , ho seems more like go, go, go-with everyone rushing around to get everything done pre-Christmas..

Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Australia but I’m celebrating anyway because there is so much to be thankful for! How wonderful to live in a society where we have an amazing array of choices available each day; more than our ancestors ever dreamed possible. And, it’s likely that anyone reading this, no matter how they may perceive their own life at present, still has a lifestyle that millions in the world would envy. It’s easy to forget that some others don’t even have a choice of what they read. It’s also easy to take choice for granted when life doesn’t work out quite the way we’d planned....

Australia stops for Melbourne Cup race in 4 hours. Dad used to say that horsesense is something animals have to stop them betting on people!

Many people only place a bet once a year and it's a bit of fun getting dressed up in the fashion stakes. But I feel for chronic problem gamblers who can't afford to lose money.

Local cafe sign reads: Short blacks-long blacks-All Blacks! Gotta love it and here's to a New Zealand win in World Cup Rugby. It's a nation passionate about the sport, had to juggle venues after the tragic Christchurch earthquake and a boost to morale would be welcomed by all...

Will we ever forget where we were 9/11? I was at the World Airline Entertainment Conference in Brisbane, addressing 1600 delegates. Topic: We Can’t Always Control Change-only our attitude towards it.

We may have been working on a project or working out in the gym; taking stock or taking the children to school; hanging out the laundry or hanging out with friends. And, we wondered while doing these once normal things-if our lives would ever be normal again-at least the ‘normal’ we thought we knew? Whatever we were doing and wherever we were doing it, most of the world’s population came to a stunned, disbelieving standstill when passenger jets became terrorist weapons and two towering New York skyscrapers crumbled before our eyes. I’d been to the top of those towers and could barely comprehend that thousands of people, going about their daily lives, died- as millions of us watched helplessly.

Congratulations to Cadel Evans, the first Australian to win the Tour de France. I was there for part of the tour three years ago but confess it was more a Tour de Patisseries for me. But, with bicycles now outselling cars in Australia, it seemed timely to share a few thoughts on cycling that can be applied to the world of work, even if you haven’t been on a bike since you were a child:

I'm safely back from beyond Everest Base Camp. All senses are heightened at an altitude exceeding 5500 metres so maybe I’ll come to mine and never go camping again; as it seems I forgot that my idea of sleeping under the stars-is the 5 stars! The things one does for new material and a few fab photos-but there was no other accommodation to view this amazing landscape.

Haven't posted for a while as was extremely busy with speaking engagements and the new book-and also packing my backpack & getting fit to climb to Everest Base Camp for my birthday next week-so it's been more like Never Rest than Everest! Currently at Bangkok airport awaiting flight to Kathmandu in 20 minutes so will be 'off the air' while 'Into Thin Air.' It seems strange not to have any phone or emails for nearly 3 weeks but it's business as usual in Sydney as my phone, diary & emails are all being handled by good friends who understand the nature of the speaking business. Am sure I'll get lots of new material but in the meantime, may all your metaphorical mountains become molehills-as you tackle every challenge the same way I'll be trekking-one step at a time...

Just back from the airport where I was excited to see my new book in the stores-PaperClips Don't Grow on Trees-endorsed by Dr Edward DeBono-will tell you more later but here's a sneak preview of a few sample chapters...  

I'm not one to offer political comment but only hope that politicians of all persuasions stop spouting popular platitudes about climate change-and realise the importance of getting the balance right between our natural and economic environments…

Happy New Financial Year ...I've just returned from speaking in the UK & learned I wasn’t receiving some emails-which isn’t a good thing for a speaker on customer service-but all fixed now.

We know that it costs 5 times more to obtain a new customer than to retain an existing one and that a 5% increase in customer loyalty can mean up to an 85% increase in profits.