Do you feel lucky?

Douglas Adams, in Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, described a man who felt that it always seemed to be raining. A lot of people feel this, but in his case it was in fact true; unbeknown to him the man was a rain-god, and the clouds followed wherever he went to praise him.

Sometimes when I watch DOND I get an early feeling that we are watching impending doom - Geordie, Jim, Barbara; equally there are times when you just know that its going to be good - Marcus, Germaine, Saj. How can this be? All of these people had to go through the same process, and yet I would have put money on Saj doing well, and even more money on Jim doing badly.

There is something about the eyes I think, a positivity that can't be faked, a sincere self-belief that cannot be switched on and off.

My work involves rescuing failing projects (usually IT related), and usually there is a strong hint of failure in the eyes of those I first come across. The first few days of any rescue are spent changing people's attitudes, accentuating positive events, bringing negative aspects back into perspective. I actively seek out the Saj, Marcus and Germaine from any team: they've usually experienced tremendous stress by the time I am called in - identifying and listening to such people is like giving them air to breathe. Bringing positive people together is the start of hope, and makes eventual success possible.