In ‘The Mentalist’ Patrick Jane is a petty criminal turned consulting detective. Incredibly perceptive, with a deep understanding of human behaviour, he picks up all sorts of clues from people, alive or dead, that his likeable but flat-footed professional colleagues always miss. He then uses clever psychological ploys and strategies to get the perpetrator, whom [...]
“Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.” Johann Wolfgang Goethe. The human condition includes blind spots. Therefore we need feedback. This means criticism. Criticism is a core process in delivering quality. In healthy environments people who create [...]
One of the most common rules for workshops is “Candour”. “Speak your mind!” But this is often the most difficult to practice. To understand this reticence let’s consider our growth process and development from dependence. We grow in cycles. On entry into the world we see ourselves as part of our mother, “me and mom [...]
Reviews of scientific literature have solidly demonstrated the existence of unconscious mental processes. Much of our mental life, including thoughts emotions and motives are unconscious. Conscious and unconscious thought and feelings operate in parallel. The mental process that deals consciously with reality is ‘The Ego’. The ego does its best to translate the expectations of [...]
Learning from experience is not a foregone conclusion. In fact we are as likely not to learn if there is anyway we can avoid it. Here is a learning model given to me by my good friend Arthur Gobey. Here we are living life, ready for the next experience. At our side is our tool [...]
Here is an application of Solutions Focussed Coaching for teams, developed by Daniel Meier. The approach has been elaborated and adapted by various authors to create a range and interesting and effective team workshop exercises. I have used this in various forms with teams and have found it to be really powerful. The big idea [...]
“Seeing is believing” has been well used since it was first recorded in 1639. However, what we see will probably be different from what someone else sees and the ‘facts’ are not easily interpreted. Wikipedia, where I found the above nugget, refers to this as a ‘sophistry’. In fact, just the opposite is true. Believing [...]
The conference has been long and somewhat tedious but at last here is the speaker with the topic that attracted you to the day. He moves to the microphone and stiffly tells a bad joke. Horrors! OK, steady, anyone can be nervous. Then he puts up his first slide. It is a cut and paste [...]
Apparently a business model is not strategy. Many people use the terms ‘business model’, ‘strategy’ and ‘tactics’ interchangeably. Here is a description of business models, by Casadesus-Masanell and Ricart (HBR Jan/Feb 2011) which brings some clarity. Business models Business models describe the logic of your company; the consequences you require and the choices you make [...]
As we experience different situations or emotions we may show dramatic changes in posture, facial expression, colour, breathing, tears, gestures. Categorising these changes we can say they take on the behaviours of a sad or happy child, a loving or judgmental parent or a wise, mature adult.We may exhibit all these behaviours, yet we remain [...]
