Five awkward questions before you wake up in 2017

1. Five months on, can you think of a single advantage in Brexit?
2. Do you have any warm feelings towards Teresa May’s Government? Or for that matter towards any grouping in the House of Commons?
3. How could America have elected Trump?
4. Have any of the big Christmas ads knocked your socks off?
5. Are you going to put up with yet another year of spending half your working life in conference rooms?

Sadly it is beyond the power of the British and American people to reverse the Brexit and Trump votes. That’s democracy for you. All that foreplay. All that climactic excitement. And the next morning it’s all sadness and regret. The people who voted ‘out’ and for the Donald have to live with the consequences of what they have done. Unfortunately, so has everyone else

Is it really surprising that we have all fallen out of love with politics and politicians? At least with brands and football teams you have some idea of what to expect. But what are we to make of a Conservative Party that suddenly seems to be against all the things it used to be in favour of? A Labour Party that is deliberately making itself unelectable? Lib Dems who have collapsed from Coalition to the fringes? UKIP winning one seat with nearly 4m votes, while the SNP got 56 with less than 1.5m?   

I’ll also be honest and admit that I am allergic to the synthetic association between celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and the giants of the High Street and Shopping Malls. Who knows? You may sympathise with my views.

But if it’s meeting madness and ennui that bugs you, I am your man – and there is something we can all do about it. For a couple of years I have been banging on about MOTE: The Super Meeting. Conventional business meetings are a waste of time and money. People know it and want something better.

Either persuade your company to try out Mote, and enjoy fewer, leaner, better prepared, more productive meetings. You and your colleagues will have a far better life/work balance, get your real work done in the working day, and amaze partners and family.
Or become a Motivator – a one person ambassador for the Spirit of Mote.

1. Remind everyone that unproductive meetings cost a fortune
2. And eat into both work and leisure time
3. Decline any meetings that won’t achieve anything
4. Refuse to participate in back to backs
5. Encourage meeting organisers to strictly ration the number of people attending. You only want contributors
6. Prepare incredibly thoroughly for any meetings you accept
7. Be a star and a delight at every meeting
8. Think ‘team’
9. Motivate everyone ‎to do the same
10. Towards the end of the meeting insist that everyone agrees ‎what has been achieved, and what needs to be done next time.