Thanks to Helen Highley for this little gem: perfect for the New Year: A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on … Continued
Feeling it was time for a shakeup, an organisation hired a new CEO. The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers. On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning against a wall. The room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he … Continued
A young engineer was leaving the office at 3.45 p.m. when he found the Acting CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand. “Listen,” said the Acting CEO, “this is a very sensitive and important document, and my secretary is not here. Can you make this thing work?” … Continued
Went to a talk given by Paul Bridle on Friday (www.paulbridle.com). Paul is a self styled leadership methodologist who highlighted some key issues on leadership in the 21st century. Whilst there wasn’t anything startling new it was a good reminder that employees today: are focused – they are outcome and achievement oriented take ownership – … Continued
This is scarey stuff. That an HR/leadership policy can directly or indirectly lead to the deaths of 24 employees and yet the government (still the major shareholder in France Telecom) seems paralysed as to what to do about it. 24 suicides in France Telecom Shortened CNN report
This is another gem from Beth Axelrod, head of HR, eBay and the types of conversations HR people should be having with their clients. Unfortunately these don’t seem to happening anywhere near enough. “While I do think that the business world now understands intellectually the role that HR should be able to play in driving … Continued
Interesting and sensible stuff from Beth Axelrod, head of HR at eBay on how to do it…. “Just ensuring that the basic conditions of a meritocracy are in place is a good start. Being aware, on a systematic basis, of how we unintentionally interpret women’s and men’s personal communication styles differently. And being careful to … Continued
We’ve been banging on for ages about the simplicity and value of competencies. Yes, I know, they are so 80’s. However, even McKinsey can see their value in delivering performance improvement
The skills we learnt at school won’t equip our children going forward. Logic and left brain thinking are no longer as critical but we need to be inventive and shine at ‘artistry’, ’empathy’, ‘big picture thinking’. Today’s pace and nature of change call for a shift in the way we think about education, argued Daniel … Continued
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