This week I have learned: Maybe we need sustainable, not high, performance?That elections are just Goodhart and Campbell in actionThat yet another thing has come up that means I can't make CardstockThat after a year of avoiding risks, learning how to take them again is going to be hardThe book is dead. Long live the … Continue reading Weeknote 534: sustainable
Category: Themes
As we crawl out of the pandemic, exhausted by a year and a bit of worry and fear and general rubbishness, we are all looking to where to turn to next. This week is apparently Mental Health Awareness week, but you not necessarily know it in organisations that constantly bang on about "high performing" cultures. … Continue reading Sustainable performance
I'm the sort of person who has favourite Laws of Social Science. Don't judge me. The two "Laws" (let's be honest, they're rules of thumb) are Goodhart's Law and Campbell's Law. The first, Goodhart's Law, is best described in paraphrase from Marilyn Strathem:When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. … Continue reading Goodhart, Campbell and Elections
This week I have learned: how strange it felt to not be there on Saturday, in person.that remote working might enable us to think differently about transitions between employers.that you can't beat a good pun.the winner of World Cup of Matts was a Mattock. A worthy winner.sometimes the strangest things spark on the socials.Boris Bloody … Continue reading Weeknote 532 – promoted
There's a story that is embedded in my mind from my time in my very first job nearly three decades ago.A friend of mine was dying. Lymphoma. He'd been in and out of treatment for months, but this trip into hospital looked like it would be his last. Every week we had a meeting for … Continue reading “Other models of masculinity are available”
Over the weekend I had the sudden realisation that this June marks 25 years since I started my first job at the BBC. 25 years seems like far too long a period to be commemorating because in so many ways it seems like only yesterday. Having said that, back in 1996... The BBC Website was … Continue reading Silver jubilee
The BBC recently ran a news item describing how an airliner got into difficulties because of a software flaw. On closer examination, it's probably more precise to say that an airline pilot got into difficulties because some people interpret the meaning of the title "Miss" differently to others, but that's not as snappy, and doesn't … Continue reading Data and ethics
The world is suffering from Zoom exhaustion, apparently. We find ourselves in a state of permameeting, where hours become but interchangeable units of attention mediated through Zoom, Teams, Meet or, for the really unfortunate, WebEx. Because back in the (prepandemic) day, meetings were great, right? It's not like HBR were publishing articles like this but … Continue reading Zoomed out?
One of the most often cited bits of psychology that haunts the corridors of organisations and management training is Abraham Maslow's 1940s theory of human motivation, The Hierarchy of Needs. As with any well established model, there is critique, but nonetheless it forms a useful and popular way of visualising what it is that motivates … Continue reading Maslow’s hierarchy of User Needs
This week I have learned: for me the Covid jab was distinctly less irritating than the flu jab, and the flu jab was mainly just a bit of a bruise.that sometimes the insightful stuff just appears, but on other occasions you have to work hard to find it.3 hours is a long old time for … Continue reading Weeknote 526 – Jabbed
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