BOOK REVIEWER BOOK REVIEWER
JOHN APOTSIS NAOMI SPINKS
Ish The Game of Inches
‘Ish’, approximately, somewhat, or kind of.
“‘Ish’ isn’t about half-arsing and not caring, or
over-promising and under-delivering—it’s about
knowing when the time is right to put yourself,
your work, and your ideas ‘out there’, and it’ll
be enough, for now.” In other words: be the best
you can, just don’t sacrifice your personal life to
achieve that best … ish!
Lynne Cazaly explores the cultural, societal,
and social fixation with achievement, success,
and excellence. At the same time, Cazaly
challenges us to trust ourselves. She encourages
us to make the most of our skills and how to be
receptive to feedback, and not let “…any muck-
ups or mistakes get the better of us.” Cazaly
demonstrates how there is more to be gained
when we put something that is less than perfect
out there. Pausing, rectifying and improving it,
then putting it out there again. “You can learn as
much from what doesn’t work as what does”.
Stephen Hawking once said, “One of the
basic rules of the universe is that nothing is
perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist. Without
imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
So, in the sentiments shared by both Cazaly
and Stephen Hawking, we should all become
more comfortable with ‘ish’ instead of setting our
sights on the impossible idea of perfection. It’s about the journey not the destination. A
personal favourite—but how is this relevant to
my day-to-day success given my position and
industry? And what has this got to do with Nigel
Collin’s obscure new title release The Game of
Inches?
It all becomes apparent from the pages of
recounted interviews, anecdotes, learnings and
personal encounters Nigel draws on to reveal
“innovation isn’t the sole domain of business or
the elite few, but that it belongs to everyone.”
Building a successful business isn’t always
about inventing the next big thing, it’s about
consistently finding ways to incrementally
improve on everything you do, the continual
reinvention of your processes, skills, personal
development and mindset—inch by inch. After
all, if you aren’t improving, you’re stagnating.
Nigel’s four step action process and
behavioural guides are clear and simple. A
practical call to action (just one thing) wraps up
each chapter as a reminder that repeated small
bite-size chunks form habits. But most significant
and important to me was the reinforced notion
that ideas (some maybe small but of great
value) come from people close to the action—
so empower your team, acknowledge ideas
and celebrate the successes—give your team
permission to improve their own capacity and
workplace.
by Lynne Cazaly
John Apotsis is an EA at Finity Consulting
by Nigel Collin
Naomi Spinks is an EA at Inland Rail
Issue 3 2019 | Chief of Staff 65