Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It’s inevitable, if you’re honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you’ll avoid the tough decisions, you’ll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you’ll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset.

Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally “nicely” regardless of their contributions, you’ll simply ensure that the only people you’ll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.

I think it’s one of the best things I’ve read in a long time, and something anyone who’s managing projects and people should read and really understand.

I’ve not been to a car show in quite a long time now, but the weather was lovely last weekend and I decided to head over to Peterborough Showground to the Modified Nationals show. The cars there were utterly garbage but I did have a chance to practice a bit of glamour photography (if you can call it that).

I’ve upgraded a lot of my camera gear recently and am now using a Canon 50D with a 24-70 ƒ2.8L and a 70-200 ƒ4L. Both brilliant lenses and I loved taking photos with them.

Check out the rest of my shots on my flickr!

Started a mini 7 day project – A Week in B&W

I’ve uploaded the first 5 photos so check them out on my flickr! 2 more to go

Had a really nice day out today at Twycross Zoo

Even though it was about 3c all day – I got a few shots I’m really happy with

Check my flickr for the rest

Most of you that know me will know I have owned a Peugeot 106 (either my quiksilver or my current GTi) for nearly 9 years now! I also run the Peugeot 106 Owners Club.

Recently I’ve not been feeling the passion for it all that I used to (it’s tricky to stay in love with anything for 9 years!) so I’ve sold my car!

I’ve been working most of the winter in -6c stripping it down and putting it back to standard. All the modified parts have been sold and the car is being picked up on Monday night and driven away.

Mixed emotions about it all – I’m excited about having something different, but I’m definatly going to miss 106 ownership – such a fun mix of speed and handling I’ll probably not feel again

On a completely different topic though I started a Project 52 today on my flickr. I’m taking a photo every week during 2010 – aiming to try to make them all sort of sum up my feelings about each week.
This is my first photo – you can see the rest over on my flickr

2009 is officially over and a fresh start with 2010 is upon us

I want to start by listing a few things I’m thankful for from 2009 (bit american ‘thanksgiving’ style but meh)

Leah – having a girlfriend that lets me do what I want when I want and supports me in the things I want to achieve is amazing. Love you babe x
My Mum – she’s had a tough year for various reasons, but as always she’s been there whenever I’ve needed her. I couldn’t ask for a better mum!
My Job – I’ve had a superb year at work. I’ve launched a massive project (DespatchBay) which I am incredibly proud of, and i’ve finally made the leap from web developer to web development team manager. Those of you who know me know that I don’t usually stick at jobs for much more than a year – but I’ll soon be coming up on 2 years at my current company and I’m still loving it!
dSLR / Rick Nunn – My best mate Rick got a dSLR this year and it convinced me to go out and buy one and try a new hobby. As with most things time and a lack of motivation has meant I haven’t done as much with it as I wanted, but I love it as a relaxing hobby and I’ll be doing much much more in 2010 with photography

Now I don’t want to do a new years resolution because I never stick to it, but I do want to list a few things I aim to achieve in 2010.
I’m hoping to revisit this list monthly or bi-monthly and see how I’m getting on with it

Get Fit – I’m heading back to the gym 3 nights a week (workload permitting) and aim to lose 2 stone by next christmas. I also want to strengthen my knees up as recently my old Ice Skating/Hockey injuries to my knees have been causing me a lot of problems
New Car – I’ve owned Peugeot 106′s for 8 years now (and as most of you know I run the 106 Owners Club in the UK), but I feel it’s time to move on. I’m currently stripping my car back to standard for the new owner and eying up Clio 172 Cup’s. I’m excited about learning a new car and getting back into modifying.
New Blog – I bought phil-barker.com a few months back as I’m sort of trying to phase out my old “Fuzzy Orange” persona, but I put wordpress on it and started a skin and completely ran out of time. I’m aiming to get this skinned up in the next month and migrate the posts from here that I want to keep over to my new blog. So ermm watch this space
Scuba Dive – I’m not sure where I’m going on holiday this year but I really want to try scuba diving!
Nurburgring – I’m heading over to Germany in october with some good good mates this year to drive the nurburgring. Looking forward to that immensely!
Launch Another Project – There’s another project on at work which I’m hoping to get my hands on in the next few months. Me and Rick are very excited about its potential and I want to see that get launched this year!
Photography Projects – I want to do a few mini projects (people, self, cars, etc..) to try to push me into learning some new skills with my camera.
Be More Sociable – I want to spend a bit more time with my close family and friends this year, and a bit less time sat behind a keyboard
Save Money – I still rent my house at the moment but I have a 3 year plan to buy myself a nice detached house away from the things that annoy me (mostly other peoples screaming kids). So this year I’m starting to try to save some money for a deposit on a house.

I hope you all had a great christmas, and I hope you all have a fantastic 2010!

Is there anyone who can actually iron? I’m starting to think that people just go out and buy new clothes
2 bloody hours trying to iron a bunch of t-shirts. One of them is now in the bin in 8 pieces and my plasterboard wall has a new hole in it

I hate my house being covered in un-ironed and un-washed clothes, but the for the life of me I CAN’T IRON, all I do is iron a load of creases in until everything needs washing again..

A couple of hundred thousand years of human evolution and we still can’t make clothes that don’t need ironing?? SRSLY!

I’ve started doing a “Project 50″ – which is basically 50 photos over 50 days with a 50mm prime lens

My good friends Jamie and Rick are doing the same thing, and we started our Day 1 with a joint theme – Some Things I Enjoy

Check my picture out on Flickr!
Also follow my photos every day here -> Project 50

A photographer by the name of Rob McDougall was taking pics at this years french car show, during my track session

After seeing a few samples I decided to buy the CD full, and they turned up today

Really impressed with the quality
This pic has to be my favourite taken of my car so far!

Rest of them are on my flickr so check them out here!

It’s taken me a few weeks to finally put the pics up I took at French Car Show this year.

The show was very disappointing from a photography point of view, as a lot of wind on the day meant most cars were covered in orange dust all day long

I managed to take a few pictures, including my favourite of the day of this clio V6. Check the rest out on my flickr