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
Category: Themes
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
This marks the last day of our kids being at home and balancing off school, work and all the other bits, all at the same time. Hopefully for a long while. For all that I might joke about the kids going back to school being a relief to me, it's much more about it being … Continue reading Weeknote 524 – schooling
For the last 18 months or so I've been on a conscious, if somewhat haphazard, path to read more about issues of inequality and privilege. I'm white, male, straight, middle-aged, middle class and relatively wealthy. That's about as privileged as one can be in Britain in 2021. I was also brought up in the 1970s … Continue reading Educating myself
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a distinction between two types ofthinking - map thinking and list thinking. In a chance' conversation this week with a former colleague Mark, we started to explore how these two mindsets might apply to the thorny world of strategy. To start off, there are many interpretations of … Continue reading Lists, maps and strategy
The week in photos:
In the years BC (before COVID) there was a strict hierarchy. Meetings in the same room as one another were supreme. People who weren't in person could dial in. The people dialling in felt like interlopers. They were peripheral to the discussion. Often people in the room forgot the people on the line existed at … Continue reading The hierarchy of meetings
This week I have learned... the power of the House Trainerthe term "toxic positivity"that it's about creating environments where evolution happensthat bad things can happen when things that should be outcomes become inputsthat it's chuffing coldthat Gather has some legs (but not on a mobile)that I value being asked to be part of groups almost … Continue reading Weeknote 521: teletext retro
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