As human beings we tend to be drawn to, and favour, people like us – who share the same values, beliefs, outlook on life. Who think like we do. It’s comfortable and comforting. Yet we also know that embracing difference – extending our learning and understanding of the world – whilst confronting, may be helpful....
When things go wrong we can often get caught up in ‘panic mode’ For example, losing a credit card. Clearly a big issue if indeed it has been lost because of all the subsequent implications and risks. The question though is how does panicking help the situation. It clouds clear thinking. It creates stress which,...
The idea that there is a price to pay for everything can feel a little harsh and yet if we think about it, it’s true. Not necessarily in the sense of money but in the sense of consequences. Every choice we make, every plan we set in motion, every relationship we invest in sets off...
Curiosity doesn’t tend to be top of the competence pile when it comes to leaders or employees but perhaps it should be for it is a quality that drives the best possible outcomes and fuels progress. Of course, curiosity is a mind-set and it often gets parked in the interests of speed, efficiency and meeting...
A recent blog from Seth Godin spoke of working to make things better being achieved in small steps rather than big bang, improvement coming incrementally and by repeating and repeating the steps. Of course, we can give impetus to those steps in the objectives or intentions we set…a process that’s a regular feature of organisational...
Wherever we look we’re surrounded by examples of service – the purely transactional of a service provided for which we pay (smile optional) through to the more noble and life impacting work of health and emergency services and the armed forces. In our own lives, when we really think about it, everything we do is...
Tenacity, resilience, powering on and through are qualities long admired in the workplace. The challenge we face is to be clear to what end and with what effect. If it’s just about staying upright and moving forward on what can feel like a treadmill of relentlessness we may be wasting these qualities, and energy, on...
Mostly our world seems geared to receive mode. The amount of information we’re deluged with daily is testament to how little we have to do to get information. Or is it? We face a number of challenges here. With so much data coming at us we may become a little lazier, try less to access...
We are making choices almost every second of the day even though it doesn’t feel that way because most are unconscious – automatic pilot we might say. Part of our inbuilt efficiency is to be able to operate from a place of habitual actions based on earlier choices made in another time and space. What...
Now we’re on the other side of our own national election in the UK we may be watching on with (at times horrified) fascination at the scenario playing out across the Atlantic as the US approaches another 4-year turn in its Presidency and Government. Back in Obama time there was a philosophy in his campaigning...