David Alison's Blog

Source: DALL-E In a world dominated by technology, where digital tools are often the go-to for note-taking, I’ve found immense value in maintaining the practice of keeping handwritten notes during meetings. This technique is not just about documenting discussions; it’s an integral part of my active listening strategy — a critical skill for effective leadership and coaching. Active listening involves more than just hearing words. It’s about fully engaging with the speaker, maintaining eye contact, processing their words, and often, reflecting their sentiments or phrases back to them. This ensures not only that you’ve understood their message, but also that they feel heard and valued. In my years of experience in leadership and executive coaching, active listening has proven to be a cornerstone of successful communication. Interestingly, handwritten notes play a pivotal role in this process. Research has shown that the act of writing notes by hand can significantly improve focus and info...

Source: DALL-E Embarking on each day, none of us plan to fail. Whether it’s our personal endeavors, professional projects, or simple daily tasks, the aim is always success. However, life is unpredictable, and at times, despite our best efforts and intentions, we encounter failure. My own journey, marked by both professional challenges in the tech industry and deeply personal experiences, has taught me to perceive failure not as a setback, but as a precious gift. This perspective has deeply influenced not just my approach to challenges but also my understanding of growth and resilience. Failure, in its essence, tests our limitations. It nudges us out of our comfort zones, challenging us to confront and embrace our vulnerabilities. In the tech world, a project that doesn’t pan out as expected or a glitch that goes unnoticed isn’t merely a mishap; it’s a crucial learning moment. It highlights areas needing growth and skills demanding refinement. This principle extends beyond professional ...

Dear Friends, I am writing my first blog post in years to share some exciting news and a significant shift in my professional journey. I have decided to follow a longstanding passion of mine: executive coaching. A few years ago, I received my certification as an executive coach, and I believe now is the perfect time to put that to good use. The name of my new venture is PotensMentor . This executive coaching practice is designed specifically to nurture and empower leaders in the technology sector, a domain I have been intimately involved with throughout my four-decade-long career. PotensMentor is committed to unlocking the potential of tech leaders, fostering personal growth, and building resiliency in a rapidly evolving industry landscape. Our mission at PotensMentor is simple, yet profound. We aim to ignite transformative growth in technology leaders, helping them evolve into the best versions of themselves. Through committed partnership and immersive coaching, we strive to empower t...

Note: On August 17, 2018 I released my book: Finding Davey: A Father's Search for His Son in the Afterlife . It is available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats . When I started writing Finding Davey it wasn't because I wanted to write a book. It was because I wanted to keep a journal of what was happening to me as I navigated my way out of the profound grief I found myself in. Initially it was a struggle just to get through each day; so much of my life had been turned upside down by the death of my son that I found myself in free-fall, grasping for anything stable. Most days I would write down how I felt and record my thoughts. This was not intended to be a cathartic exercise; the writing was often very difficult and required that I re-experience the emotions as I wrote down how I had been feeling. Many tears were shed on my keyboard in the early stages. I did it because I wanted to see if I was in fact getting better. When you've fallen down a hole so ...

When you lose a child the number of challenges you face is profound. One of the reasons many grief stricken people disconnect from their prior lives is that the reminders of their loss are everywhere. I experienced this first hand after I lost my son in a car accident in July of 2016. As a purveyor and advocate of technology for over 30 years, I had always been a fan of the sharing nature of the modern internet. Easy access to information opened completely new and innovative ways of solving problems for me, and I embraced it fully. Over the last few years social media has evolved, pushing more and more automated engagement on it's users. Social media is both a blessing and a curse to the newly bereaved; it can be a primary conduit for connecting with friends and family. In our case it allowed us to see all the wonderful acts of kindness people were doing in our son’s name , receive links for inspirational videos and articles, and do research on how consciousness could survive p...

Losing a child is arguably the most difficult challenge a person can face in life. When I lost my son Davey in July of 2016 I was plunged into the most profound grief and sadness I had ever experienced. In my 55 years on this planet I have been through a lot, however this made every other challenge I encountered seem trivial by comparison. It wasn't just my son that died in a car accident on that hot muggy day in July. I died too. I instantly became a completely different person, changed to my core by an event that brought up all of those deep existential questions that I had previously just brushed aside. In the initial days I was in free-fall and found myself surrounded by hundreds of people that wanted to express their sympathies, doing everything they could to support me and my family. The vast majority of my friends and family handled it with grace and compassion. A few were so overcome with emotion they blurted out things that only made my sadness more profound but as t...