This is a famous painting by Renee Magritte of a pipe, that carries the legend ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’ (This is not a pipe). Well, it’s not, it’s a painting of a pipe. In fact, it’s a painting of a thing we call ‘a pipe’. The thing is what we put tobacco in and […] Read More…
This is not going to be one of those empty exhortations to grasp control of your destiny by getting off your arse and taking massive action. Nor is it going to imply that the you are to blame for the unsatisfactory job in an unsatisfactory organisation that you find yourself in. But if you are […] Read More…
If you want to be different, just be you. It’s obvious, isn’t it? After all, we are all unique individuals, there’s no-one else on the planet quite like us. So, ergo, if we are ourselves then we are different. However, we are not brought up to be ourselves, are we? We are brought up to […] Read More…
Since I did my coach training some ten years ago, I have read a lot of books and articles on mindset, behaviours, happiness, positive psychology, coaching, leadership, culture and a variety of ‘self-help’ topics. One thing that has struck me time and time again is how much of what we are ‘discovering’ now was already […] Read More…
Most organisational change projects fail to deliver the desired outcomes. Many transformations fall short of their goals. A couple of years after they have ‘delivered’ it is often found that many of the old cultural values, behaviours and hierarchies have reasserted themselves. The reason for this is that these projects are applied to the mechanics […] Read More…
One of my first jobs was as a programmer for an Oil company. There were no computers, the title referred to the fact that we programmed the delivery of oil products to various depots around the country, where the road tankers would get filled to deliver to petrol stations and customer sites. I was responsible […] Read More…