Tag Archives: Work

Bees

Posted on June 23, 2011 by

I was talking to a very good friend yesterday about bees. It came up in a digression about the very different ways some people find to live a life. He described the case of a foal, born prematurely, who had … Continue reading →

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Obituary

Posted on February 19, 2011 by

We had another big leaving do at work this week. Hard to do justice to over 30 years (by my rough estimate 8,000 or so working days) of a person’s working life in 15 minutes of speeches, but it felt … Continue reading →

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Personas

Posted on January 30, 2011 by

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 →

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Today

Posted on January 23, 2011 by

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 →

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Corporate Punishment v) Bad Behaviour

Posted on January 7, 2011 by

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 →

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Adjacent Possible

Posted on December 27, 2010 by

I read recently that all successful innovation expands into the ‘adjacent possible’. Whether it’s spines becoming feathers, swords becoming ploughshares or mobiles becoming smartphones, successful innovation depends on adapting technology to expand into an adjacent – and sometimes very different … Continue reading →

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Corporate Punishment iv) Too much to say

Posted on December 18, 2010 by

It is a truism that no-one is more interested in what we have to say than ourselves. On the contrary, it is a common misapprehension that the more you say the more influential you are being. It ain’t necessarily so. … Continue reading →

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Smiling

Posted on December 16, 2010 by

Against the grain today I put on a smiling face. In so doing I added measurably to the sum of human happiness. So simple, yet sometimes so hard. Why don’t we all do it more? I can’t take all the … Continue reading →

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Corporate Punishment iii) Ducking and diving

Posted on December 2, 2010 by

I used to work in UK Government. Quite rightly it is the lot of government in democratic societies to be scrutinised and held to account. The negative side effect is it tends to create a climate of fear of saying … Continue reading →

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Corporate Punishment ii) Absolute Clarity

Posted on November 26, 2010 by

Absolute clarity is as rare in the workplace as diamonds are in nature. Like diamonds it usually takes too long and requires too much heat and pressure. When difficult choices are in the air the clarion call for ‘absolute clarity’ … Continue reading →

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