Reaching inside an executive’s hard shell

The company that Fiona works for has a high performance management course onto which aspiring MDs are ‘invited’. They progress through a series of workshops that focus on the softer skills of leadership, typically lasting ten months, before being offered… Continue reading

Teams, groups, executives, and the psychodynamics of unconscious urges

Anyone who works with people in groups needs to understand the ways in which the individuals in that group will be handling the emotional dynamics of it. Emotions always enter into groups, no matter what the subject matter is. And,… Continue reading

What will YOUR wake up call be?

Wake up calls can happen at all kinds of times of our lives. Evan’s came one summer Sunday. He’d driven back from holiday that morning, and the kids and his wife were unpacking the car. He’d sat on the patio… Continue reading

A very quick introduction to Psychodynamics

I thought it might be helpful to produce a few short notes that describe the background to the work I do. Whereas there are many ‘coaches’ who work in the field of personal development, there are only a handful of… Continue reading

The Dalai Lama explains why social media work so well

In order to network effectively we need to be able to both empathize with others and to receive human kindness from them. People of power often struggle to do either but once they can they are able to exceed even… Continue reading

Dalai Lama offers social media users advice on avoiding conflict

Social media sites are just as prone to unconscious processes as physical environments. Indeed, you could put forward an argument that they are more so, as many clues used to test out (and refute) our hypotheses about others are either… Continue reading

The myth of the SoHo entrepreneurial boom

There’s a popular perception that one of the trends of the ‘noughties’ was a growth in the proportion of ‘SoHo’ businesses. As Wikipedia defines it: “The modern concept of small office/home office, or SoHo, refers to the category of business,… Continue reading

What is the ‘point’ of personal development?

Do you visit a coach or therapist to grow? Can people who are ‘happy’ in themselves benefit from coaching or therapy? If someone is ‘doing alright’ why should they consider personal growth and emotional development? From a recent online group… Continue reading

Papal visit outrage – it ain’t what you do, it’s the way people react to it

With apologies to Sy Oliver, Fun Boy Three and Bananarama, this morning’s shock news is that Foreign Office staff, keen to make the Pope’s visit to the UK a success brainstormed such ideas as… Launch a “Benedict” brand of condoms… Continue reading