Business lessons from The Wonder Stuff

Yesterday a random chat between HR folk struck up about The Wonder Stuff and how we were all big fans. When I was in my teenage years I was a huge fan and I went to see Miles Hunt play a few years ago and he is still superb. When you are in your teens the lyrics …

Why I don’t hate HR

I'm writing this because Neil Morrison's last blog covers some of the same ground in a different way and the comments struck a chord with me. If you only have time to read one then I'd suggest reading his. Last week I was lucky enough to be asked to speak on a panel of 'experts' about the …

Bagpuss – energy and leadership

*This is the first of a number of blogs that I'll publish in the run up to New Year on subjects suggested by others. I had two measures of worthwhileness in my head when I started blogging. The first measure was a number (that I passed last week) the second was feedback from people saying posts …

Raiders of the lost point

The Big Bang Theory is a comedy centred around a group of scientists. It's more fun than it sounds and it provides a geekiness I find attractive. Last week's episode kicked off with Raiders of the Lost Ark being ruined for one of the characters by his girlfriend pointing out that Indiana Jones has no …

Tribes and Dr/Doctor

Recently I went to see a Dr Who movie at the cinema. It might actually be called Doctor Who. I'm not really sure and that was part of the problem. I went to see it because I had never been to see a movie at the British Film Institute in London and I quite fancied …

The Imposter

During the the past week I have had more than one person congratulate me on how good I am at networking and self promotion, citing the success of the book as an example of this. I thank them for that, I really appreciate the time and thoughtfulness behind it. I'd like to level with you all. …

#CIPD13 – Celebrations and frustrations

So. https://twitter.com/dds180/status/398789638250594304 A long time ago my HR dept used to do 'celebrations and frustrations' each week. Everyone would send in an email listing their work/experiences and then this would be circulated to keep people updated. What tended to happen, all too often, is that the busiest people didn't find time to fill it in, …

An open letter to Dan Pink

I dropped this note to Daniel Pink (). We met during the week and well, I got a little starstruck. Here Dan is with our new book - Humane, Resourced - it was pretty much thrust into his hands so he did very well to smile. Just prior to this I had asked to move …

#CIPD13 – Hacking HR #CIPDHack

So, panel discussion on hacking. I love hacking. I like disrupting things. I want to hear more... I hope this is good, as if it isn't and we can't find ways to involve people to change things for the better quickly... well, I'm not sure we deserve a conference to be honest. I'm not entirely …

#CIPD13 – day 1 = reflections and connections

I find people interesting. That's why I enjoy bumbling about in this profession. I can't network, I'm just not wired to think about people that way, but I do love meeting new people and chatting to them. Some people might argue that is networking, but I always think the distinction is in intent. I'm not …