Trite management sayings Managers love clichés. They pick them up as they gain experience and seniority. The most popular are those that prove their superiority and make others feel small. A couple of my personal favourite statements of the obvious are: “Fail to plan and plan to fail” and “Poor Planning leads to P### Poor Performance”. […]
Pride and Ignorance
Scurvy isn’t nice If you are unfortunate enough to contract it you will start to feel tired. Then you will develop spots on your skin and your gums will turn spongy. A week or so later you will start to bleed from your mucous membranes and your skin will turn yellow. Eventually sufferers develop open […]
The Potato King
They were dying of hunger In 18th Century Prussia bread was expensive, people were malnourished and famine wasn’t uncommon. The King at the time was Frederick the Great. He was wise enough to realise that unfed subjects were not a good thing — it is hard to run a kingdom effectively if people keep dying of starvation — […]
4 Ways to Change Behaviour
There are 4 ways to change people’s behaviour: The first is the stick: Beat people until they do what you want. The stick works, but people hate being controlled, they will rebel — sooner or later. Repression is not a great strategy. The second is the carrot: Provide an incentive. Incentives work beautifully, until you remove […]
Change Management, Goldilocks and the Three Bears
You have heard the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Goldilocks climbed upstairs and saw that there were 3 pretty beds in front of her It had been an exhausting day so Goldilocks decided to have a lie down. She climbed into the first bed, but tossed and turned, it was far to hard. […]