Worth a Second Look

On a break the other morning in Perth, I took a brisk walk down the big hill beside the Aviva offices to get some exercise and fresh air.

As I rounded the corner at the traffic lights, I noticed a 10p coin on the ground.

I walked past it – it was just 10p after all.

Then curiosity got the better of me, so I went back and picked it up.

It turned out to be a 2019 James Bond 10p.

I had never seen one before and thought was it even real?

A quick check online confirmed that it was, and because it is one of the rarer ones still found in circulation, it could be worth around £10.

Not exactly a fortune, but definitely much more interesting than I expected!

I think I’ll hold on to it, simply as a curiosity.

It also left me with a simple leadership thought.

In leadership (and in life), we are often moving quickly, oftentimes far too quickly.

There are conversations to have, decisions to make and plenty competing for our attention. In the middle of all that, it can be easy to move past something before we’ve really noticed what it might hold.

A second look might mean asking one more question, listening a little longer, inviting the quieter voice in, or revisiting an idea we had not fully explored.

Slowing down is so important.

Not everything valuable announces itself immediately.

Sometimes good leadership is simply having enough curiosity to slow a little and look again.

And perhaps that is what I liked most about finding the coin: I nearly walked past it because I thought I already knew what it was worth.

What might be worth a second look for you today?