Iron Law of Bureaucracy

Iron Law of Bureaucracy

When I first read Jerry Pournelle’s iron law of bureaucracy, I felt he had given words to a deep truth. A truth that I, and probably many of you, can confirm from lived experience within organisations.  The Iron Law  Pournelle’s iron law considers organisations as...
Optionality in doing what you love

Optionality in doing what you love

Beyond the joy of it, there is embedded optionality in doing what you love. If things really work out commercially, you gain (if such gains interest you that is). If not, you are doing what deeply interests you anyway!  Shift in mindset  So, the optionality in doing...
Putting-up a front

Putting-up a front

Everyone puts up a front, the only question is how much? It may be a big front some of the time, a bit of a front all of the time, or any mixture in between. Whatever the particular flavour, putting up a front is behaviour that is deeply human. I do it, you do it, we...
Cat as coach?

Cat as coach?

Someone recently asked me if after a few coaching sessions they would be able to ‘get things on track’. My response, which will not surprise some of you, was that the answer is unknowable —maybe, maybe not. I pointed out the epistemic uncertainty around if my...
No.1 survival skill in modernity

No.1 survival skill in modernity

Being able to cut through the noise is the No.1 survival skill in modernity. In our information age of vast and mass communication, we must either cut through noise or else drown in it.   Inherent property  Generating patterns and narratives is an inherent property of...