Tag: politics
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Politics: The Dangers of Simple Answers and Angry Masses
There is a lot of frustration and anger in the world. This has led to the election of Donald Trump, to the Brexit vote in the UK and to the Catalan independence movement here in Barcelona. On the declaration of independence here in Catalunya, I made this video reflecting on the last 18 months of…
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Relationship First, Persuasion Second
I was listening to the Very Bad Wizards podcast episode #97 on how we really change our minds. Â They discuss a manifesto for a new virtual country called Rationalia that was initially shared on social media by Neil Degrasse Tyson. Â Here’s a very good reflection from Neil on the controversy triggered by his suggestion. In…
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How to Make a Country Rich, Build Attractive Cities and Become a Better Person (in 27 minutes)
Three wonderful short videos from The School of Life youtube channel, total duration 27 minutes: How to Make a Country Rich If you were setting out to make a country rich, what kind of mindsets and ideas would be most likely to achieve your goals? We invent a country, Richland, and try to imagine the…
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12 Abuses: Ancient Irish Wisdom for Kings
De duodecim abusivis saeculi “On the Twelve Abuses of the World” is a self-help book written by an Irish author between 630 and 700AD.  You could say that it was the earliest precursor to Steven Covey, Brian Tracy or Jim Rohn. The work was widely propagated throughout Europe by Irish missionaries in the 8th century. Its authorship was often…
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Bertrand Russell’s ten laws of teaching
This list was shared via email by my Dad today: Bertrand Russell’s ten laws of teaching Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed. When you…
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Are Business and Society always in Conflict?
Communities are Conservative, Business is Progressive There is an inherent conflict between communities and companies.  Communities (family, neighbourhood, tradition) try to maintain stability.  Companies are driven by the nature of the capitalism market system to innovate and change. (See Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” on wikipedia) . Stability vs Destruction Companies close their factories and replace deeply experienced craft…
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70% of Organisational Change Efforts Fail. 8 Steps for Leading Change.
70% of organisation change efforts fail. John Kotter has an 8 step process that can reduce the likelihood that your project of organisational change (and all leadership projects mean some form of change the the existing status quo). A big source of failure is starting action before you have put together a solid base of…
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Sun-Tzu’s 5 Factors for Victory and 5 Attributes of a Leader
I just watched Thomas Hyunh speak about his lifetime obsession with Sun-Tzu, the 2,500 year old Chinese General, at Authors@Google (video at the bottom of this post). Â Sun-Tzu was only 30 years old when he led the smallest region of China to victory over the largest region. Â This victory made him famous, and made…
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Leaders Go First. The First Steps on Learning Leadership.
Leadership: You Have to Go First. I love this little Dilbert storyline from Scott Adams: Employee: “I find it rather demotivating that you never praise me for a job well done.” Boss: “You’ve never done a job well.” Employee: “That’s because I’m demotivated.” Boss: “You have to go first.” Employee: “Wouldn’t that make me the…
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The Speech Act Theory of JL Austin
The Words, the Meaning, the Effect As we communicate, there are 3 separate processes at play: what we say, what we mean when we say it, and what we accomplish by saying it A rhetorician would call these 3 separate processes: 1) locution, 2) illocution, and 3) perlocution.  In my courses we use the shorthand “Point X” to…