Blog
Well…I guess the first thing to mention is what a fantastic view! We’re going on a good bit of track at the moment – speeding along nicely. Slightly hectic, mind. Lots going on and lots to see. I suppose the main drawback is there doesn’t ever seem to be much time to pause and take any of it in. Hair a bit windswept, too…
Back to school: There’s no time to be anything but brilliant at work
Today I went back to school and here’s what I learnt… The great thing about being passionate about what you do, is that it attracts genuine people. Be genuine and you attract genuine...genius! Today, one of these good people introduced me to Craig Tunstall, perhaps the greatest CEO who isn't. You see Craig is the Head Teacher of the Kingswood Federation, which will shortly incorporate 3 schools and 2 child care centres. He has been responsible for turning around Kingswood Primary School in SE17, and the school round the corner, oh and the one over the road, and after meeting Craig you can completely understand why. Actually you know why as soon as he says ‘the children matter’ for the 5th time in two sentences, it's a rallying cry, a vision, a banner and a bloody good one.
Read More »IT'S A NO FROM ME! Is Talent all it’s cracked up to be?
Much to the excitement of the ladies in the Chemistry office X Factor started on Saturday. Monday morning was greeted by cries of ‘Oh My God, did you see X Factor?’ followed by spirited banter over everyone’s favourite auditionee. Getting...
Read More »What makes an inspirational leader?
I’ve been thinking about my blog topic this time round. Considering the recent furore surrounding Fabio Capello and his management of the England team and the speculation on whether we’re entering a double-dip recession, I thought this could be an interesting question to ask. What makes an Inspirational Leader? At Chemistry we’ve been profiling leaders over a number of years and we’ve found that there are certain traits that come up over and over again.
Read More »Is competency-based interviewing a good predictor of future performance?
I’ve been working in recruitment for a number of years and have seen competency based interviewing done with varying degrees of success, ranging from the comically bad to the quite good. According to the CIPD “Competency is defined as the behaviours that employees must have, or must acquire…in order to achieve high levels of performance.” This definition puts the focus firmly on behaviours of the individual, how and why they do what they do. But is past behaviour the best predictor of future behaviour?
Read More »'Weapons of Influence' at Work
I sometimes find it challenging to have the level of influence required to get people to do the things I ask of them. To help make my life a little easier I wanted to learn what it is that makes people great influencers and what I can do to become one. This is my understanding of Cialdini’s ‘Weapons of ethical influence’ and how I think these can be applied to being a successful influencer in my role
Read More »Why middle managers are the answer not the problem
It’s amazing how many times a senior executive has said to us, “I really need to change things here, the problem is that we need middle managers to execute it, and they just aren’t good enough.” In a turnaround you can take a radical approach – replace them all. It is expensive, but like liposuction it is also fast and effective. Assess them and if they don’t fit the rapid and radical new strategy and style needed, it is better for them and for the business that they leave. Simple. But in most businesses this option is just not available (I mean, I really don’t fancy liposuction myself). So most managers say, “how can I get round them?” Wrong!!
Read More »Why the excuse, "but that's just (not) me", doesn't really cut it...
In May 2008, Citroen released a daring new advert for its new C5, which used the German stereotype of “reliability” (complete with Wagner soundtrack and various other Nazi allusions) to reinvent the common perception of the French brand, namely stylish...
Read More »Why Being No.1002 Is Fun...
Something happened to me the other day that got me thinking...I ran my fastest ever mile, which was great but what got me thinking was why? Analysing Nike+ I could see which mile it was and it then came to...
Read More »Chemistry Hiring Again Again :-)
OK, so it's been months since I have written on our blog and I have a back up of subjects, opinion and possibly a rant or two to get down on the 'ol electronic paper. First and foremost though we...
Read More »Creating a World Class team
Ok, so part of my new role as Head of Amazing is to help Chemistry build a World Class team. It seems quite apt to blog about it now given the World Cup has just got underway - if the odd football analogy creeps in you’ll have to forgive me!
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