Nobel...

i have been fortunate for the past 2 years to be able to attend the public services summit at nobel week hosted by cisco systems.

the event is nothing short of amazing. it is a fantastic, nay unique, opportunity to meet some amazingly intelligent, senior and powerful people; even more so considering i am a young whippersnapper.

this year i had two major invites, one to take part in a major piece of work by a major corporation in a very interesting field, the other an invitation to speak to a group of senior consultants in washington dc. all very exciting.

my two years at nobel have led me to notice a few things:

merit is very important
a lot of the people that were there over the past few years were there because they had a right to be. their position within their work afforded them enough seniority that they should have been there. i was there because i fitted into the group. if i had clashed with the group or not behaved in a similar way then i would not have been invited again, or would not have integrated as tightly as i felt i did.

people are good
the people that I met over the two years that I was there were, and still are amazing. in spite of the levels which they work at, which are almost universally amazing, they are down to earth, keen and passionate people.

trust is key
it takes a lot of time to build trust and relationships with people. no matter what anyone else may allude to, trust is key to building a productive relationship with people, whether in a business or personal context.