Creating space to think, to work, to live.
One of my clients is a senior IT consultant looking for a new career direction right now. He is aware that both his industry and his interests are changing, and feels stuck in an old way of thinking. His mind is cluttered with many ideas and thoughts, all of which are going around in circles …
Today I attended a very interesting talk on the Power of Diverse Thinking by Matthew Syed. We all know that diversity is meant to be a good thing, and there is now also a fair amount of empirical data to show that this is the case. Diversity however is also not always relevant, it is …
One of the things that I am involved with in my local community is chairing the Patient Participation Group of my GP surgery. Earlier this month I attended a conference to meet other PPG chairs and various NHS representatives, and to learn from others’ experiences and ideas. The thing that struck me was how overworked …
This was one amongst many topics discussed in last week’s very interesting event by CIO WaterCooler on managing data complexity. Unsurprisingly, dark data (data that is being generated and stored by companies, but not used in any way) accounts on average for more than half of all the data held. What huge untapped potential! It’s …
Last month, I visited The Moon Exhibition at the London Maritime Museum in Greenwich. This reflecting telescope was built by James Nasmyth in 1850-52 and was one of the biggest at the time, allowing detailed views of the moon. What a piece of engineering! Telescopes are great to reveal what appears like a fleck far …
This week I worked with a client who wanted to introduce a new daily routine. Knowing that they would find it difficult to stick to their commitment, they started contemplating how they could punish themselves if they didn’t complete their daily task. Rather than exploring possible punishments, I asked how they might reward themselves instead. …
Many of us will have come across the idea in one form or another of our legacy, of what we want to be remembered for, or what we want to see inscribed on our gravestone. It is a rather impactful way of taking perspective and seeing the bigger picture! I recently came across 2 different …
I enjoyed speaking about de-cluttering at the AGM of the metfriendly, a financial services organization for the police. Everyone I talked to, either at the beginning of the event or afterwards, had a story about clutter. There were even two separate stories of garages which both involved climbing over boxes to reach bicycles! One person …
Another day, another tech conference in a fabulous building! This was Bloomberg’s Sooner Than You Think in Central Hall Westminster, looking at the tech industry as a whole both in the UK and globally. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond was one of the many speakers, and he covered how the UK government supports the …
What a venue for a tech conference! The Merchant Taylor’s Hall was certainly an atmospheric spot for the CIOWaterCooler Live event that made a change from your standard day in the office. My highlights were seeing some familiar faces, thinking about the difference between innovation and disruption, learning about blockchain and trying to make sense …