When organisations have their own life

“To be honest, I’m bored. I could do so much more, only petty politics, pointless bureaucracy, and tedious conversations with the Chief Executive just get in the way.” That was Adrian’s analysis of his situation after the first few minutes… Continue reading

How projection undermines even polished performers

A few of my clients are referred by their HR Director. There are all kinds of reasons why this happens, but one of them is that an individual is seen as critical to the success of the organisation and yet… Continue reading

How projection undermines even polished performers

Gordon – how projection undermines even polished performers The following abstract illustrates typical situations that arise in the course of my work with leaders – it should go without saying that permission to quote has been given, names have been… 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

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

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