From:
Patrick M. Mayfield MA DipTP
Near Oxford, UK, aka The Shire, Middle Earth
Tuesday, 2:19 pm
Dear Friend,
I have no idea how you landed on this page.
Maybe you read about it in some publication, or on social media. Perhaps a friend sent you a link. I suppose there is still a slim chance that you even stumbled onto it by pure chance in this vast world-wide web: miracles still happen!
However you arrived here, you are at what is, unquestionably, the most valuable page for world-changers on the web.
Here is why: Back in the dark ages of the 1990s, I started blogging. I even beat my son to it, who was even then a leader in digital marketing. (Yes, I’m that proud! And I am that old!) I began dropping in occasional wisdom, some of which you can still find on the other pages of this site. With very little promotion, I soon had readers from all over the world. Some even wrote to me and thanked me for the encouragement and impact I had made upon their lives, either through my newsletters, resources, or coaching.
Then I ran a small business consultancy in project-based change. We were early adopters of some pretty innovative approaches coming out of the British government in programme and project management. In my consultancy, we led some research into the high performers, the top 2%. We discovered patterns that were not only consistent among this small subgroup, but also were astonishingly easy for the rest of us to begin practising as well!
Then, in 2013, I wrote a book that I self-published about how to stop doing change to people; how to stop making people mere cogs in the machine, and how to learn from people who had emerged in our research as these high performers. Just before I was about to go to publication, I was approached by an international qualifications body, asking it I would mind if they used my book as the core curriculum for a qualification in what they call ‘Stakeholder Engagement.’ I had to think about that for a nanosecond. That book is now read by change leaders all over the world, eager to become qualified in this vital business skill.
So, I have begun to write for my community regular newsletters, where I explore aspects of how we can all become high-performers. I call such high performers, the positive outliers. The fact is that most of us can become positive outliers, and it a road to personal freedom, excellence, and achievement. People have sent me stories from industry, government, healthcare, the charity sector as well as the church. I love it! My life is meaningful.
My newsletters are not abstract nor sterile, but personal and authentic. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, I stopped writing publicly… I felt that media of all kinds and our inboxes were getting too noisy and strident, hysterical, even. I would rather not add to that noise for my subscribers.
Yet, after a while, I realise that I had made a big mistake! My subscribers started telling me that they missed my regular newsletters. Moreover, my tribe needed some way to meet like-minded souls.
So, I jumped back into the flow of writing. And I rediscovered how I loved writing, particularly for people who wanted to become the best version of themselves, the positive outliers, those in the minority of excellence in influencing and leading the world to become a better place. And I have grown in my understanding and learning of these outliers, applying the lessons to my life.
I address personal internal issues that can limit us, as well as matters of faith as a Christian. For me, a life without meaning is not a life. If such matters are too personal for you, and you would rather deal solely with the external matters of this chaotic world, then I am not for you. Do not waste any more time reading this. Thank for reading thus far.
I am not one of those internet marketing gurus who present themselves as having it all worked out. That annoys me. We humans are all flawed in some way.
Rather, I am a lifelong learner. I’m still learning and still growing. I’m not ashamed to say I have got it wrong at times–I still do. I’m also ready to admit that my mistakes and failures have been some of my best learnings. Whilst I do not look for failure, I learn when it happens. Clint Eastwood played a cowboy in an old film, and there was a line that has resonated with me down through the years:
“Everyone has the right to be a sucker once.”
Two Mules for Sister Sarah
So, if you complete the form below, I will share my mistakes, my failures, and my growing understanding as well as all the wisdom and positive insights that I have.
I will not share your email with anyone else. I hate spam and any other form of unsolicited email.
Finally, I hope you find as much value in these newsletters as hundreds of others have.
Yours still learning…still growing,
Patrick