A thought-provoking cartoon published in Private Eye and reproduced here courtesy of its creator, Guy Venables:

Always wondered about the process of retirement? How did we end up with a retirement age based around 65 (and now slowly advancing to 70!). …

A matter of personal choice… ‘Enough’, says Charles Handy in his book ‘The Hungry Spirit’, is a liberating concept. When you know you have ‘enough’ it releases you from worrying about survival and bestows the luxury of choice. You can get on and do what you really want to do…

Introducing the art of measurement Which would you prefer? It is a question that I have been posing to colleagues and friends for a while now and, so far it has elicited a uniform response. Roughly right is preferable. Many years ago and as an articled clerk (in the days…

Oh how we miss the Global Conference! ‘Virtual meetings are just not the same’, ‘I really am Zoomed out!’, ‘can’t wait for human contact and getting to be in one room again’. But maybe ‘absence is making the heart grow fonder’ and we are forgetting about the downsides of a physical conference: interruption to our normal schedules…

I got pinged last week. For those not familiar with the UK Test and Trace App that means that I have been judged to be in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid 19 and therefore required to self-isolate for a specific number of days. Forgive me for…

In this article we explore a series of questions in determining the right path back to ‘normality’ for our businesses 1. What has changed for my business? 2. How have ‘my’ peoples’ expectations changed? 3. Has the nature of our work changed? 4. Have the fundamental principles changed for my…

Businesses, and in particular, consultants have a habit of catching onto a word or concept and squeezing the life out of it. ‘Fad surfing’ a good friend of mine calls it, borrowing from a book¹ entitled such. So everything is about ‘innovation’, then it is all about ‘collaboration’ and so…

Way back in April 2020 I wrote a piece entitled ‘Back to Normal?’. Right at the start of the pandemic and when we (other than most of the scientific community) were probably thinking we will be out of this in a few months. I thought I should re-read the article…