As we are in the middle of the RBS Six Nations Championship, this week’s book is Critical Non-Essentials by Paddi Lund.
This is the second Paddi Lund book to feature in the Mustard Book of the week – see building-the-happiness-centred-business. Paddi poses the question, how can can you tell if one dentist is technically better than another? The answer is with difficulty. If you change dentist you might receive a comment such as “you’ve had some good dental work” or, more likely, something more derogatory. This doesn’t only apply to dentists, it can apply to accountants or solicitors, or indeed any professional or any tradesperson. So how do we make this judgment?
I remember a conversation I had at one accountant’s office. I asked him what was his differentiator to other accountants. He proudly stated that he was a very efficient accountant. I almost laughed out load and told him that he could have fooled me. His own office was piled high with files in every available space. Not only his office, but stacks of files surrounded his staff; so high that it was difficult to see them. He gave me the impression that he was a very busy accountant, but also a very inefficient accountant.
Paddi Lund would refer to this as a Critical Non-Essential for the accountant’s business. It might not have affected the efficiency of the practice, but it certainly created a bad impression. In this book Paddi Lund demonstrates how powerful Critical Non-Essentials are.
So what has this to do with the Six Nations? Well Clive Woodward describes “How a crazy Australian dentist helped England win 11 test matches in a row” in Winning With Paddi. The England v Wales game is rapidly approaching. All I can say is that I hope that Eddie Jones hasn’t read this book, and that Warren Gatland most definitely has!
