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Graham Birkenhead

Intrails and Extrails

Graham Birkenhead, May 18 2021

One of my favourite movies is A Knight’s Tale. It’s its 20th anniversary, so I watched it once again to mark the occasion. Without giving too much of the plot away, there is a point in the story where Geoffrey Chaucer (yes, THE Geoffrey Chaucer) is invited to join the small protagonist group; this group had grown to know each other very well, wi...

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Leadership & Management

Symptomatic Misdirection

Graham Birkenhead, February 9 2021

A few years ago, while training for a triathlon, I went to see my doctor about a pain in my knee. He prodded and poked, and did various scans and investigations, all of which identified nothing in particular. Eventually, he referred me to a physiotherapist who was adept at understanding, and very importantly resolving, strange aches and pains.

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Leadership & Management

For 2021, Make More Use of Your Mind

Graham Birkenhead, January 5 2021

Over the Holiday break, for a little light relief, I was simultaneously reading a couple of books: one about neuro-plasticity and another about memory. Both books about the brain; one from a physiological perspective and the other from a more psychological perspective. Both books were ultimately about learning.

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Leadership & Management

What is Core Purpose?

Andrew Penny, November 3 2020

Over that past few weeks we have been talking to clients about core purpose – that overarching reason to get up and do what you do each day. From an owner’s perspective making money is empty and soulless without purpose. From an employee point of view ’making the boss rich’ is obviously not a motivator. You can do much better than that!

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Leadership & Management

Doing Operations

Graham Birkenhead, October 6 2020

This is the second of two articles exploring the connection (or rather, often the lack of it) between strategy and operations.  Last week we discussed how ‘doing strategy’ was about keeping in your mind’s eye on what you want to be and where you want to go as a company, while at the same time being aware of the art of the possible. The future is un...

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Leadership & Management

Doing Strategy

Graham Birkenhead, September 29 2020

This is the first of two articles exploring the connection (or rather, often the lack of it) between strategy and operations.  The two things are separate but inseparable.  Any organization needs them both to be working in harmony and feeding each other.   We see many companies embarking on an exercise of strategic planning while simultaneously dri...

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Leadership & Management

Creatures of Habit

Graham Birkenhead, August 11 2020

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in why people do some things and why they don't do other things. Why some people achieve a little or a lot – seemingly regardless of how big or small they think.  The nature of luck - is there such a thing or do you make your own luck? And, the roles of motivation, challenge, power and fear, cul...

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Leadership & Management

Accommodating the Non-standard Worker

Graham Birkenhead, July 28 2020

By the late 40s, the US Air Force was experiencing an unacceptable increase in the rate of air incidents and crashes.  This was the era of the introduction of jet aircraft. Apart from appearing to be pilot error, there didn't seem to be a common underlying cause.   But there was.   Back in 1926, the Air Force realised that pilots came in all differ...

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Leadership & Management

Swimming in Circles?

Graham Birkenhead, July 21 2020

I love open water swimming, the fresh air, the peace and quietness, the natural smell of water rather than chlorine, and having the sense of going somewhere rather than bouncing off a wall every few strokes.  As you swim along with your head down, you are thinking about what your body is doing and how efficiently you are moving through the water, i...

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Leadership & Management

The Human Cost-Benefit of the Home Worker

Graham Birkenhead, July 14 2020

In my last post about Working from Home and the Office (WFOH), I mentioned that often people are more productive when working from home. So why is that and what can we do to help more people be more productive at home?  And could those same principles help people be more productive in the office too?

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