Random thoughts on things that are half connected to the way I think about HR, L&D, Management, Leadership, business and the world…. and the world of business and the business of the world – David D'Souza (@dds180)
Synopsis: a pondering on why good people often have to do bad things and why ambition probably corrupts more than we think. I've a had a couple of conversations with people recently about their careers and they've been adamant that they weren't ambitious - they just wanted to make a difference. What's interesting is that [...]
Synopsis: As more and more HR functions start to make use of chatbots to answer queries HR teams have to address a problem that didn't used to exist: what happens when someone is mean to something that isn't conscious? Yesterday I was chatting to an HRD about a possible change in their structure and approach. [...]
A couple of years ago I was going through a particularly unfun time and I began to struggle with noise and light in a way that was more overwhelming than before. I now regularly suffer from sensory overload. It means I struggle (in fact I find it impossible) to filter out noise and my whole [...]
Synopsis: Why having values is tricky but, lacking them is far worse At the weekend someone I respected posted a view on something that I didn't agree with. I think we broadly want the same outcomes, but they are absolutely adamant that a change should come about that I'm not sure of. They posted it [...]
Synopsis: a couple of thoughts on fatigue, quality of thinking and modern work that I can't be bothered to reference properly. In Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman he references a theory by Shafir and Mullainathan that 'Scarcity consumes you, you're less able to focus on things that are important to you'. Their theory addresses [...]
Synopsis: An emptying of my head around what I want (and don't) from HR teams I work with. I worked for years in HR. I now, technically, have a 'normal' role, despite still spending quite a bit of time writing and discussing HR. Leading teams and doing work outside of HR has been a great [...]
Synopsis: A short piece on value. If you ever get a chance to walk around an exhibition at an auction house it is an odd experience. The exhibits have a guide price - and you are essentially being told what holds more value than other things. The ugly piece that you can't work out the [...]
Synopsis: short read on interpretation of performance and motivation. Deals with how to agree that someone is underperforming (there is no strengths based thinking in this blog, it's about agreeing it is going wrong...) One of the hardest challenges in organisations - and indeed society - is where two people have available the same information [...]
Content: a short reflection on how being shouted at when younger still has a positive impact now. Even though I'd never recommend shouting When I was about 16 I was working in a fast food chain that has a largely arch based logo. I had been told to fill up the milkshake machines with new [...]
Synopsis: a short request for a practical change in language. Easy to make happen. Change 'onboarding' to 'welcome' then let me know. In 2017 I wrote that there must be a better name for the process of welcoming someone to an organisation than 'onboarding'. Onboarding is a process. A welcome is something you experience. And [...]
