The Power of Confidence

Studies such as that of Cramer et al (2009), point out that confidence, at least in a mock trial setting, leads expert witnesses to be taken as being more credible. And while it’s worth noting that high levels of confidence tended to be seen as arrogance and lowered credibility ratings to a score roughly 2.5% [...]

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Is entrepreneurship the cure to your woes?

One of the central necessities in any form of personal development, whether in the workplace or otherwise, is awareness. Quite simply, you cannot go through self-development without self-awareness, and you cannot be trained or coached if they in turn aren’t aware enough of what makes you tick. There are all sorts of profiling tools that [...]

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The Disconnect of the Creative Leader

I’m a strong believer that creativity is important in the workplace: even if you are not in a traditionally “creative” role (let’s say a mechanic) there is still always opportunity to solve some sort of problem that may require creative thinking. So some of the recent research on creativity has been fascinating. Firstly, people apparently [...]

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Video: Presenting with Confidence

A talk I gave a fortnight ago on confidence – comments welcome: Tweet

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Networking tips for the nervous

This was originally published for the Guardian Careers Blog I’m terrified – and I mean shaking hands and raised heart-rate level of fear – of networking. Despite my hobby being stand-up comedy, my job requiring me to stand in front of people, having once given a speech to the French Ambassador (and the German, and [...]

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Embracing our individual differences: the organisational “fit”

“They’re all clones” “I just didn’t fit the mould” “You can tell they’re ex-blahblahblah” Culture, personality, and individuality – I find them absolutely fascinating. I’ve worked with a variety of different people and understood more about the similarities between groups. Take a few seconds to think not of your employer, but rather your social group. [...]

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Value Drivers

I’m currently developing some new Setsights offerings, so the blog will be dropping from two posts to week to one from today onwards, until I otherwise say. The first tool that I ever used with Setsights was built around the well-known Flower Diagram, that over time was built into the Maple Leaf model that I [...]

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Competent or Incompetent: The case of the competency framework

If you’ve applied for jobs this side of the year 2000 (and much earlier) then you will have come across competency frameworks. You may be required to “communicate with empathy” or “deliver value”. Perhaps the employer expects everyone to “demonstrate intelligence” or “selectively judge”. Put in any phrase there and I’d be fairly sure you [...]

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Letting go may be the key to success in your career

Let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was a young graduate called Katy. She’d been out of university for about a year, on a wonderful graduate scheme. Her personal life was terrific and she managed to get away for a nice holiday at least once a year. One of the [...]

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Belbin & Holland Codes (Audio)

Belbin & Holland Codes Belbin & Holland Codes Audio Transcript Tweet

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