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Monthly Archives: January 2011
Personas
I’ve had several prompts recently to think about multiple personas. I’ve got a few different ones, and I was wondering the other morning whether this is good, bad or inevitable. First the prompts – and they are an eclectic bunch … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Work
Tagged Aesthetic Stage, Bankrupt, Essence, Ethical Stage, Father, Heteronyms, Identity, Kierkegaard, Life, Overdraft, Personas, Pessoa, Religious Stage, Work
2 Comments
Truisms iii) Dry stonewalling
Here are seven of Jenny Holzer’s Truisms I increasingly agree with: Fake or real indifference is a powerful personal weapon Expressing anger is necessary Emotional responses are as valuable as intellectual responses Giving free rein to your emotions is an … Continue reading
Posted in Life, Truisms, Work
Tagged Drained, Emotions, Hurt, Jenny Holzer, Laughter, Stonewalling, Truisms, Wellbeing
2 Comments
Today
I heard Simon Armitage read his poem ‘Knowing what we know now’ on the Today Programme on Radio 4 on Wednesday. It features an Elf who makes the offer of turning the clock back to a man who is 44 … Continue reading
Truisms ii) Sad but true
Three of Jenny Holzer’s truisms get under my skin. I was talking to another father on Friday, who’s just become a grandfather, and they positively annoyed him. They are: Fathers often use too much force A man can’t know what … Continue reading
Posted in Aristotle, Ethics, Life
Tagged Aristotle, Bayesian Brain, Children, Cruelty, Ethics, Fatherhood, Jenny Holzer, Motherhood, Sad, Truisms
4 Comments
Olympic Ideals
It’s easy to knock sport. Huff and puff, crass commercialism even corruption. But sport can also be pure human expression, ballet, drama and gladiatorial combat – sometimes all rolled into one. The Greeks knew this. This morning I had a … Continue reading
Posted in Achilles, Ethics, Life
Tagged Excellence, Fair Play, Friendship, Olympian, Olympics, Respect, Sport
2 Comments
Truisms i) A little knowledge can go a long way?
Friends of ours have Jenny Holzer’s ‘Truisms’ on the wall in their loo. Every time I read it I find myself agreeing easily with the first few I alight on – and then violently disagreeing with the next one I … Continue reading
Corporate Punishment v) Bad Behaviour
All organisations struggle with performance management. But in my experience, none more so than long-service public bodies. I found this particularly acute as a Senior Civil Servant in UK Government. The main issue is often not capability, or even performance … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, Work
Tagged Behaviours, Government, Management, Performance Management, Work
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