Rowan Spazzoli

Strategist. Lecturer. Consultant

Engage or coast, the choice is yours

The course I teach on, Strategic Thinking, is designed in such a way that students have a choice. They can choose to coast through the course, and their general knowledge and intellect is likely to get them through.

But they can also choose to engage.

Engage with the lecturers, who have been in academia and in industry.

Engage with the guest lecturers, who include distinguished business people, entrepreneurs, politicians and academics.

Engage with the mentors and tutors, who have completed the course year before and are best equipped to help guide them.

There are also opportunities to start your own business, get venture capital, meet with consultants from a local professional services firm, and various assignments to engage you with the real world.

But do they engage?

The majority of the class will coast. They’re either not interested or are too worried about other courses in their degrees.

But there are some students who engage fully. And these students make it all worth it. For the teaching staff as well as for themselves

They come for consultations with the teaching team, and learn far more than the rest of the class. They’ll start business and gain significant experience while at university. Or they’ll make a connection that helps them find a career path or funding for their degree.

The ones who engage then often become part of the course ecosystem. They become tutors, mentors and lecturers. They continue learning about strategy, even when the course is done.

And to me, these people are the ones with the spark. 

They’re the ones that are going to succeed beyond their wildest dreams. And they’re the ones that are going to change the world.

So, whether you’re a student in my course or not, you need to decide:

Will you coast or will you engage?

Image is from our tutor dinner this evening 🙂

Blog: 302/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey

Song of the day: Black Coffee & David Guetta - Drive

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Give, give and give some more

Most of the vibrant friendships and experiences I’ve had in my life have started with giving unconditionally. Either by someone giving to me or vice versa.

For example, last year I was hosted in Switzerland for a few nights during the St Gallen Symposium. My hosts were warm and generous. They let me come a few days early. They took me around the city, showed me some of the best foods and spent a significant amount of time with me. The experience was phenomenal.

Next week, the same person arrives in Cape Town. And I can’t wait to give in return. She’ll be staying at our place and I plan on taking her all around the city. She’ll also be staying with my mom in Joburg.

We’ve spent less than 5 days together in total, but we’re really close. And it’s due to her being so generous

Giving makes you happy

Apart from the bonds that are formed and the chance to receive as well, giving actually makes you happier. A famous psychological study in Switzerland showed that people that gave away money rather than keep it were happier. Significantly so.

We might be predisposed to selfishness, either inherently or due to society. But it’s in giving that we find the most happiness

Image is from a little drive we went on this afternoon 🙂

Blog: 301/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey

Song of the day: Gryffin Elley Duhe- Tie me down

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Where do I start?

The question I get asked most often by students wanting to build a business, create a blog or embark on a new career path is:

Where do I start?

Any one of these things are daunting because of their enormity. A business can take a years to build. A blog involves putting your thoughts out into the world. And a new career path can be terrifying because you’ll be influenced by your choices for the rest of your life.

Looking at this, it’s easy to freeze up. There is no definitive starting point (or end point). There are no orientation classes. There is no one to really guide you.

I see two ways to break this deadlock. And they might come as a surprise:

  1. Don’t think too much about it. Don’t plan. This sounds counter intuitive, but trying to plan every move keeps you in a paralyzed state. Plus, because of the uncertainty your planning is likely to be wrong anyway. With my first business, we spent 8 months planning, and when we eventually launched we realized that our planning had been futile
  2. Do it right now. Thinking of a new career? Apply for a job in that career right now. Thinking of starting a logistics business? Go find a customer. Thinking of blogging? Write a post now and share it somewhere. You don’t need a website or to register your company. Do it now

As you do these two things you will begin to discover the areas you need to work on, the things you need to do. You’ll begin doing them. You’ll improve. You’ll build your dream.

And then you won’t even be thinking about the start anymore, because you’ll be right in it. 

What are you waiting for?

Image is from the day I decided to start the blog, my birthday last year 🙂

Blog: 300/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey

Song of the day: Seven Lions ft Fiora - Start again

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Allocating and prioritising

As we get older we have less time to do all the things we’d like to do. A significant portion of our life is allocated to working or sustaining ourselves.

And so, with the remaining portion of time we need to prioritize what we’d like to be doing. We do this by trying to allocate the time to what is most important to us.

Is your hobby your most important thing? Or your friends? Or your partner? Or even more work?

It’s okay to choose where you’d like to spend your time. If everything is equally important to you, you can split your time evenly and try and maintain a balance.

But if you decide to neglect some aspects of your life, they will fade.

If you focus exclusively on your work and partner, your friendships will die. And if you dedicate yourself to your hobbies and interests, there may be less room for a career.

You can choose any allocation you want. Just understand what the impact of this choice is.

Image is from Newlands forest

Blog: 299/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey

Song of the day: Illenium - Where'd you go



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Sprinting (and how to validate ideas)

When we come up with an idea, be it for a project, a business or research, we often will dwell on it for weeks or months.

We’ll spent time trying to think or plan every detail of it. And then, when we try and see if our idea works, it often fails leaving us with months of time spent on a single learning.

But there’s a great technique for testing ideas called “design sprints”, with my favourite being the one from Google Ventures. 

The idea is to spent 5 days on the idea. Monday to Friday. And at the end of the week, you pursue it further or you kill it.

If you want to read up on how the design sprint works, visit the site here

Don’t waste time thinking about your ideas. Work them out, test them, and bring them to life or set them free

Image is from the prom last week 🙂

Blog: 298/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey

Song of the day: Ding Dong Thing - Felix Laband
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The bluff

Bluffing is one of the most interesting strategic moves available in any game. And definitely one of the most risky and rewarding moves in poker.

It involves going on the attack, even when you are quite aware you have a weak hand. 

You are no longer betting on the cards you have in your hand. You’re betting on the fact that the other person will fold. That they don’t have the nerve to match you. To call your bluff.

If they call you out, you lose. 

But if they don’t, you win. Without having had the cards to win.

Bluffing takes guts. And can sometimes backfire. But sometimes, the payoff is great.

Image is from our poker game this evening 🙂

Blog: 297/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey

Song of the day: Poker face - Lady Gaga
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Vision as inspiration

Yesterday, my senior on a project paused for a moment to talk about the vision for the project. The potential impact it could have, the policy it could inform.

By taking a moment to remind me of the vision, I was re-energized to get to the end of the project.

Now I know I’m speaking in abstract terms here, because the vision for the project is confidential.

But I was inspired again. Ready to wade through the work

So when you’re lacking inspiration, don’t forget to look to the future impact of you’re doing.

Image is from my work spot at Truth coffee yesterday 🙂

Blog: 294/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey

Song of the day: I like me better - Lauv
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