The Paula Principle

Month: March 2014

The Good Life and productivity

I've been reading How Much is Enough?, a thought-provoking tract for modern times by Skidelsky pere et fils.  Robert Skidelsky is an economic historian who has written with massive authority on Keynes and his legacy;  Edward is a philosopher.    Robert is giving a public lecture tomorrow (25/3) at the Working Mens College, part of an excellent series which the College has been running over past months (declaration of interest:  I chair the WMC governing board.) The Skidelskys' challenge is to the dominance of GDP and income as dominant measures of how well we are doing, as individuals and as a society.  They make trenchant and, to my mind, effective criticisms…
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The Lonely Crowd and validation

One of my recent interviewees, Margaret, told me how she had just gone for a job interview at a prestigious university.  At the end of the interview she had effectively withdrawn her candidature, in spite of all the advantages and status that the job offered.  She felt intuitively that it would not have allowed her to maintain her identity, or authenticity as a researcher.  Yet the process had been an encouraging one for her, because she felt that it had validated her competences.  I don't think this was just because she had come close to getting the job.  It was also because it had helped her clarify what she felt…
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Valuing Talent

Here's an interesting initiative, Valuing Your Talent, launched by a consortium including the RSA, the UK Commission on Employment and Skills and several major personnel/management bodies such as the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development. It's interesting in part because of the crowdsourcing approach, aiming to amass a host of ideas and opinions but also offering something back in the way of a £10K prize to help develop the best idea.  An Insights phase has just started, to be followed by an Innovations phase which will explore how the ideas might be put into practice. Substantively it's a challenge to all those who say 'people are our biggest asset' to come forward…
Read More

Aspirations and hurdles

I’ve just had a fascinating  discussion with David Hemery, the former Olympic gold medallist hurdler, and founder of 21st Century Legacy, a charity devoted to raising children’s aspirations to greatness. The meeting was set up to explore our apparently opposing views of aspiration.  David is absolutely committed to getting children to find their spark of greatness and to pursue it.  Too many people say how ‘passionate’ they are about something when they don’t really mean it;  David didn’t use the word, but he evidently is, in a very unassuming way, passionate about linking aspiration to social justice.  So he’s for onwards and upwards. By contrast I’m  interested in people –…
Read More

The Good Life and productivity

I've been reading How Much is Enough?, a thought-provoking tract for modern times by Skidelsky pere et fils.  Robert Skidelsky is an economic historian who has written with massive authority on Keynes and his legacy;  Edward is a philosopher.    Robert is giving a public lecture tomorrow (25/3) at the Working Mens College, part of an excellent series which the College has been running over past months (declaration of interest:  I chair the WMC governing board.) The Skidelskys' challenge is to the dominance of GDP and income as dominant measures of how well we are doing, as individuals and as a society.  They make trenchant and, to my mind, effective criticisms…
Read More

The Lonely Crowd and validation

One of my recent interviewees, Margaret, told me how she had just gone for a job interview at a prestigious university.  At the end of the interview she had effectively withdrawn her candidature, in spite of all the advantages and status that the job offered.  She felt intuitively that it would not have allowed her to maintain her identity, or authenticity as a researcher.  Yet the process had been an encouraging one for her, because she felt that it had validated her competences.  I don't think this was just because she had come close to getting the job.  It was also because it had helped her clarify what she felt…
Read More

Valuing Talent

Here's an interesting initiative, Valuing Your Talent, launched by a consortium including the RSA, the UK Commission on Employment and Skills and several major personnel/management bodies such as the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development. It's interesting in part because of the crowdsourcing approach, aiming to amass a host of ideas and opinions but also offering something back in the way of a £10K prize to help develop the best idea.  An Insights phase has just started, to be followed by an Innovations phase which will explore how the ideas might be put into practice. Substantively it's a challenge to all those who say 'people are our biggest asset' to come forward…
Read More

Aspirations and hurdles

I’ve just had a fascinating  discussion with David Hemery, the former Olympic gold medallist hurdler, and founder of 21st Century Legacy, a charity devoted to raising children’s aspirations to greatness. The meeting was set up to explore our apparently opposing views of aspiration.  David is absolutely committed to getting children to find their spark of greatness and to pursue it.  Too many people say how ‘passionate’ they are about something when they don’t really mean it;  David didn’t use the word, but he evidently is, in a very unassuming way, passionate about linking aspiration to social justice.  So he’s for onwards and upwards. By contrast I’m  interested in people –…
Read More

The Good Life and productivity

I've been reading How Much is Enough?, a thought-provoking tract for modern times by Skidelsky pere et fils.  Robert Skidelsky is an economic historian who has written with massive authority on Keynes and his legacy;  Edward is a philosopher.    Robert is giving a public lecture tomorrow (25/3) at the Working Mens College, part of an excellent series which the College has been running over past months (declaration of interest:  I chair the WMC governing board.) The Skidelskys' challenge is to the dominance of GDP and income as dominant measures of how well we are doing, as individuals and as a society.  They make trenchant and, to my mind, effective criticisms…
Read More

The Lonely Crowd and validation

One of my recent interviewees, Margaret, told me how she had just gone for a job interview at a prestigious university.  At the end of the interview she had effectively withdrawn her candidature, in spite of all the advantages and status that the job offered.  She felt intuitively that it would not have allowed her to maintain her identity, or authenticity as a researcher.  Yet the process had been an encouraging one for her, because she felt that it had validated her competences.  I don't think this was just because she had come close to getting the job.  It was also because it had helped her clarify what she felt…
Read More

Valuing Talent

Here's an interesting initiative, Valuing Your Talent, launched by a consortium including the RSA, the UK Commission on Employment and Skills and several major personnel/management bodies such as the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development. It's interesting in part because of the crowdsourcing approach, aiming to amass a host of ideas and opinions but also offering something back in the way of a £10K prize to help develop the best idea.  An Insights phase has just started, to be followed by an Innovations phase which will explore how the ideas might be put into practice. Substantively it's a challenge to all those who say 'people are our biggest asset' to come forward…
Read More

Aspirations and hurdles

I’ve just had a fascinating  discussion with David Hemery, the former Olympic gold medallist hurdler, and founder of 21st Century Legacy, a charity devoted to raising children’s aspirations to greatness. The meeting was set up to explore our apparently opposing views of aspiration.  David is absolutely committed to getting children to find their spark of greatness and to pursue it.  Too many people say how ‘passionate’ they are about something when they don’t really mean it;  David didn’t use the word, but he evidently is, in a very unassuming way, passionate about linking aspiration to social justice.  So he’s for onwards and upwards. By contrast I’m  interested in people –…
Read More

The Good Life and productivity

I've been reading How Much is Enough?, a thought-provoking tract for modern times by Skidelsky pere et fils.  Robert Skidelsky is an economic historian who has written with massive authority on Keynes and his legacy;  Edward is a philosopher.    Robert is giving a public lecture tomorrow (25/3) at the Working Mens College, part of an excellent series which the College has been running over past months (declaration of interest:  I chair the WMC governing board.) The Skidelskys' challenge is to the dominance of GDP and income as dominant measures of how well we are doing, as individuals and as a society.  They make trenchant and, to my mind, effective criticisms…
Read More

The Lonely Crowd and validation

One of my recent interviewees, Margaret, told me how she had just gone for a job interview at a prestigious university.  At the end of the interview she had effectively withdrawn her candidature, in spite of all the advantages and status that the job offered.  She felt intuitively that it would not have allowed her to maintain her identity, or authenticity as a researcher.  Yet the process had been an encouraging one for her, because she felt that it had validated her competences.  I don't think this was just because she had come close to getting the job.  It was also because it had helped her clarify what she felt…
Read More

Valuing Talent

Here's an interesting initiative, Valuing Your Talent, launched by a consortium including the RSA, the UK Commission on Employment and Skills and several major personnel/management bodies such as the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development. It's interesting in part because of the crowdsourcing approach, aiming to amass a host of ideas and opinions but also offering something back in the way of a £10K prize to help develop the best idea.  An Insights phase has just started, to be followed by an Innovations phase which will explore how the ideas might be put into practice. Substantively it's a challenge to all those who say 'people are our biggest asset' to come forward…
Read More

Aspirations and hurdles

I’ve just had a fascinating  discussion with David Hemery, the former Olympic gold medallist hurdler, and founder of 21st Century Legacy, a charity devoted to raising children’s aspirations to greatness. The meeting was set up to explore our apparently opposing views of aspiration.  David is absolutely committed to getting children to find their spark of greatness and to pursue it.  Too many people say how ‘passionate’ they are about something when they don’t really mean it;  David didn’t use the word, but he evidently is, in a very unassuming way, passionate about linking aspiration to social justice.  So he’s for onwards and upwards. By contrast I’m  interested in people –…
Read More