Earlier in my working life, I often caught the train from Euston station in London, to Northampton. Every now and then, an older passenger would lean over to tell me (as we went through Bletchley) that ‘a lot of things went on there during the war, you know.’  This was always said in a hushed, […]

My Facebook feed is sending me clips of Dame Edna, and in the middle of the night, I find myself laughing until I cry. I adored Barry Humphries. He had a gift for hearing the vernacular and turning it back on the audience with razor sharp wit. But Barry Humphries was not just Dame Edna

I despair a little when I see bestseller books advising me that I should not give a f**k. I dislike the packaging of indifference as a ‘subtle art.’ There is nothing very admirable or creative about applied apathy. We live in communities, and indeed, on a planet, which requires us all to give more of

Do you know what cordwainers did for a living? Or coopers, or maltsters, or ostlers? I didn’t. They were, respectively, shoemakers, barrel-makers, grain selectors and horse handlers. Do you know what it meant to be a journeyman? It did not mean travelling, as I first thought. It was the stage of a trade or craft

A colleague needs to recruit some wise and responsible managers. The right people are not easy to find.  The kind of experience that is needed should automatically favour candidates with grey hair, but he has been hearing the same old refrain, ‘preferably not too old. Preferably not past it.’ The client really means; don’t send

A Jetstar supervisor has recently lost his claim for unfair dismissal, according to a report in the Financial Review, 3rd March. This might not ordinarily be newsworthy, but one of the reasons for his dismissal, was that he failed to report a subordinate who was farting loudly (and often) at work. The subordinate did some

If I ever had a dollar, for every song I’ve sung. Every time I’ve had to play, while people sat there drunk. John Fogerty wrote that line in a song called Lodi, and I often replay this in my head when I’m watching my son. Since he was very young, he has played the guitar

Google noted that in 2022, there was a new record for the search, ‘Can I change?’ If the father of modern psychology, William James, was alive, he’d probably say, ‘of course you can. Change your habits’.  Most behavioural psychologists would say that habits are the key to understanding behaviour, and that habits are simply learned.

The term Cognitive Dissonance first appeared in 1956 and was coined by Leon Festinger to describe the mental stress caused by holding two incompatible beliefs at the same time. Festinger and his fellow researchers had infiltrated a doomsday cult that believed the world was ending, and that they were going to be rescued. Some group

Paul Symon, the outgoing Director General of ASIS (the Australian Secret Intelligence Service) recently commented on the recruitment challenge in finding the next generation of spies. He said that ASIS looked for a high IQ and high EQ – but also for people who were balanced. They need to be comfortable in their own skin,