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Santa Claus – aka Father Christmas

Santa Claus

Santa Claus is a chimera of historical and mythical figures.
He is also a cultural winner, having dominated the competing winter-time icons.

But first: if you’re reading this on the day of publication…

Santa Claus

  • Merry Christmas
  • Joyeux Noël
  • Feliz Navidad
  • Fröhliche Weihnachten
  • Buon Natale
  • Feliz Natal
  • मेरी क्रिसमस!
  • Счастливого рождества!
  • Nadolig Llawen
  • Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth

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Cognitive Behavioural Coaching (CBC)

Cognitive Behavioural Coaching

Cognitive Behavioural Coaching is not as well known as others among our Big Ideas. In fact, it’s more of a spin-off from a Big Idea, than one in its own right. But Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) would certainly qualify. It has had and is having a huge impact on people with serious problems.

Cognitive Behavioural CoachingBut CBT is not designed for the workplace. It’s a tool for mental health practitioners. If only there were something that could apply its principles to lower level stress and self-efficacy problems than its older sibling, CBT.

This is where Cognitive Behavioural Coaching comes in. Drawing from the ideas and tools of CBT, it is ideal for problems like:

  • procrastination
  • stress
  • lack of assertiveness or of confidence
  • perfectionism
  • hesitancy in decision-making
  • aggression

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Power Dressing: How to Dress for Success

Power Dressing

Power DressingLet’s be under no illusions. This article may be about power dressing. But you aren’t going to get fashion tips here!

Oh no. I am far from remotely qualified on that front. Instead, we’ll look at the phenomenon of power dressing, what it is, and whether it is still relevant.

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Enchantment: Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions

Enchantment

EnchantmentThere’s nothing new in the idea of enchantment. It’s been turning up in fairy tales, legends, and myths for thousands of years. So, when Guy Kawasaki applies the word as a metaphor for how to influence customers, is he telling us anything new?

Like many big ideas, the modern version of enchantment isn’t new. And also like many, you could interpret it as stating the obvious. His book contains nothing a well-read and experienced manager won’t have encountered before.

But, also like many big ideas, the value really comes where we too-easily overlook the familiar. So we need reminding of what we already know. And coining a great metaphor is a good way to do it. So let’s look at what lies at the heart of Kawasaki’s Enchantment.

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SaaS: Software as a Service

SaaS - Software as a Service

SaaS - Software as a ServiceThere have always been lots of models for how to buy stuff. Buy it outright, lease it to spread the cost and then look after it, or lease it and let the owner keep it maintained. Now software is as important to running our world as buildings and tractors, we are seeing the same sort of options arise. And hence the emergence of SaaS: Software as a Service

So what is it, why is it popular, and what concerns should you address, before taking on a SaaS contract?

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Systems Thinking

Systems Thinking

Systems ThinkingSystems thinking is a big idea that’s remarkably… simple.

It’s a simple idea about complex phenomena. And the principle virtue of systems thinking is that it reminds us that the real world is far from simple.

Indeed, when we try to apply simple solutions to complex problems, the solution tends to fail: often spectacularly. And it’s systems thinking that points us in the right direction. We need to think about the whole messy, complex, inter-connected system, if we are to have any chance of finding a solution that makes our problem better.

If only politicians could grasp this simple fact.

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Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology

Positive PsychologyPositive Psychology is one of the biggest of the big ideas to emerge during my adult lifetime. It starts with an even bigger idea: that insights into the way our minds work can help us address problems. And then it turns that idea on its head.

The impact has been no less than phenomenal. Yes, it has spawned a vast and growing library of books and self-help programs. But it has also genuinely helped people.

Not only has positive psychology given us the tools to live a more fulfilling and happier life. But it also equips us to make workplaces better, more sustainable, and more productive. So, if that doesn’t interest you, I do wonder just how big an idea has to be to grab your attention.

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MBWA: Management by Walking Around

MBWA - Management by Walking Around

MBWA - Management by Walking AroundWhen I was an active Project Leader, I practised Management by Walking Around, long before I knew it was a thing. Then, when I learned about it, I was fascinated to learn that, if this idea has any formal origin, it was in a company I much admired.

But can something millions of people have done over many centuries by instinct, truly be a Big Idea?
Well, maybe I could argue that such a powerfully intuitive approach cannot be anything but a Big Idea.

So let’s dissect the idea of Management by Walking Around.

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Speed Reading

Speed Reading

‘I took a speed reading course and read War and Peace in 20 minutes. It involves Russia.’

Woody Allen

Speed ReadingThat pretty well sums up my attitude to speed reading, and always has. And that is despite doing a speed reading course myself a few years ago.

But what I expect you want is an objective assessment of what speed reading is and what the research says about whether or how it works. So, let’s dive in.

Read this slowly.

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Grit: Perseverance and Passion

Grit

GritEvery few years we seem to get a new aspect of psychology that is ‘more important to success than intelligence’. In the 1990s it was Emotional Intelligence. In the Twenty-teens, it’s Grit.

So what can we learn from a woman whose father told her that she was no genius? Well, when that woman has a string of academic, commercial, and social successes to her credit by her early 40s, perhaps we should listen to her.

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