It is April.

Spring is really here now because the clocks have gone forward. Today is Good Friday, the saddest day of the year for Christians but leading to Easter Day and the joys of rebirth and renewal. There will be Easter eggs on Sunday. Religious or not the season heralds a new feeling. The chocolate is wonderful but the hunt around the house or the garden for the eggs is the bit I like. We are searching for that new beginning that takes us firmly out of winter. And we are all so pleased.

So what am I thinking about?

I have been thinking a lot about World Book Day. I love seeing children going to school dressed as their favourite characters. I would love to do it.

However I do have a little nagging doubt. My mum was very creative but not handy with a needle so whenever I had to dress up it had to be a simple costume. My favorite was when I went to a competition as a Belisha beacon. She sewed two black and white striped towels together to make a tunic which was the crossing and then made me a big round helmet of cardboard covered in yellow dusters to be the light on top of the pole. It might not sound much but it won me first prize! I wonder are children portraying their favourite characters or just wearing a costume of something their parents can make or even one they can buy? Do they embrace a character they really care about or just someone convenient? And does it matter anyway as long as you having fun?

Despite this it made me wonder which character I would want to be.

I read lots of fiction but intermix the more serious stuff with rattling good yarns so I put before you my top heroes:

Horatio Hornblower (author C.S.Forester). We meet Horatio as an apprehensive midshipman in 1793. He learns and grows as he makes his way in the navy and eventually becomes a wise admiral. I love his introspection. As a teenager he taught me the difference between reacting, often too fast, and responding, having taken a beat to think. His sailors follow him because he is brave, courageous and bold. Gregory Peck was devastating in the part. Then in the same tradition along came Jack Aubrey (author Patrick O’Brian) and I realised I just love ships and sailors!
Kate Shugak (author Dana Stabenow). Kate Shugak is a fearless Alaskan living off grid, getting over a shocking attack, when she is tempted back into law enforcement. She has this amazing dog, Mutt, who is half wolf and half husky and an amazing partner in adventures. Between them they can tackle any situation however difficult. She is five foot one tall and can take on any man and win.
Lady Augusta Colebrook (author Alison Goodman) Gus is a middle aged woman in 19^th century England who is written off by society because she did not marry. She and her sister are huge feminists. Gus is the hasty one and her sister much more considered but they rush into all sorts of hideous abuses of women to rescue them. She is fearless, tenacious and obstinate.

Thinking about World Book Day has made me think about my many fictional favourites. I guess I like fast paced stories, people who make a plan to succeed, people who are courageous, people who believe in justice and people who use their skills.

So who are your heroes? Perhaps more importantly why?

Sometimes I do the mentor thing and ask people to describe their businesses – which animal is it, which car, which character. Then of course we talk about why. If this is starting to work I often ask about which characters your business would invite to dinner and what you would ask them. So go on, think who would your five dinner guests be and let me know?

Mine would be:

Dolly Parton because I want to learn about her fearlessness in doing new things and her ability to send herself up.
Steve Backshall because I want to learn about his sense of adventure and absorb some of his energy.
Hilde Abbess of Whitby because I want to understand her focus on innovation in bringing men and women together in a double religious community in the seventh century and that exceptionality which made the English church choose her monastery to host the Synod of Whitby in 664.
Elizabeth Fry because of her amazing focus on improving the conditions of prisoners. She wrote reports and even two hundred years ago her some of her ideas were adopted in England and in Europe.
King Alfred the Great because of his vision of a united England and the amazing things he did to make it happen.

So my business obviously wants to hang out with visionary, focused people but who enjoy adventures along the way.

This can tell you lots about your business, the gaps in mindset you/it might have and ideas about how to make things happen. You are your USP. Do everything you can to broaden and deepen what you are.

If you like this holistic approach to business development and you want to grow your business then let’s talk. We can find ways for you to move forward with the minimum of hiccups and maximum success. I love speaking with people so why don’t we have an off the meter conversation? We might want to work together in this exciting business world we both inhabit or we might not. Just to meet each other would be good and if I can help you explore possibilities for making your aspirations a reality that would be great.

Now I must plan what I would feed this mixed bunch of people.

I think we will give Alfred’s burnt cakes a miss!