What are you worth?

A few days ago I was reminiscing with my husband about a range of books we had both loved as children called “Choose your own adventure” (as in, Minecraft Story Mode is the new Choose Your Own Adventure). If you were a child in the 80s hopefully you will remember what I am talking about. The story was always an exciting adventure, but rather than reading about somebody else travelling to the bottom of the sea, fighting robbers or discovering hidden treasure, it gave the illusion that you were the central character. This was achieved by the device that when a certain pivotal point in the narrative was reached, the reader had to pick which path the story should take. Make one decision and you had to flick to a particular page to discover what happened next. Choose the alternative and you were sent to an entirely different page.

The Dark Side of Personality Testing

A few years ago I attended a short course in coaching. The trainer was  a certified practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming and had included some of these techniques within the course. However, he imparted this knowledge with a warning – that these “powers” could potentially be used for evil.

Looking forward by Looking back #CIPD15

When I was asked what I thought was an excellent question at the interview for my current role, how would your colleagues describe you?, my response was “quiet”. Not believing this to be a particularly desirable quality in most employer’s eyes I qualified it by explaining that it doesn’t mean I can’t do public speaking, just that I don’t believe in wasting words unnecessarily. 

Want a great career? Choose HR.

There are not many people who, prior to entering the workplace, dream about a career in Human Resources, or in fact even know what that would entail. I had never thought about it myself until the chance opportunity to obtain a post-graduate qualification in HR while someone else was on maternity leave.

Leadership isn’t Hereditary

The latest book I’ve been toting around with me is Antonia Fraser’s two-volume history of Charles II. You’ll remember him, mainly because Parliament beheaded his father, forcing him into exile. Prior to this he was being schooled by his father the King (Charles I) in the art of running the Country.