So something I often think about within the analyst community is what the role of creativity and ideas play. As analysts it can be uncommon to think creatively and often think more more logically. The unfortunately side effect of this however is if one of us can’t solve a problem the rest, faced with the […]
Create custom shapes in PowerPoint
PowerPoint 2010 has a new feature that’s very hard to find, but that people are praising over and over. It’s called Custom Shapes, and it’s a set of four tools that you can use to create your very own shapes. Why do you need Custom Shapes? To make your slides unique. For the flexibility to […]
Psychological Safety
At the Adobe Summit I saw a great talk around the importance of psychological safety in the workplace and how critical it is to high performing teams. So important in fact that Google launched a 2 year investigation that lead to it. Over two years they conducted 200+ interviews with Googlers (their employees) and looked at […]
Justice Index and LGBT Rights Worldwide
During the Adobe Summit Amal Clooney, who was truly inspirational, talked about how they’re trying to use data to build a ‘justice index’ showing the quality of the justice system and laws in each country and how they change over time. The idea is that by being able to track this they would attempt to […]
What’s the difference between a good rebel and a bad one?
During the Adobe Summit a speaker referenced an article from “Rebels at Work” citing their definition of what makes up a ‘bad rebel’ and a ‘good rebel’ which I found a really interesting concept. How many people in your team, who are ‘rebels’ are rebels for the good or the bad reasons? Or how often […]
24 cognitive biases that are warping your perception of reality
We are each entitled to our own personal world view. Unfortunately, when it comes to interpreting information and making objective sense of reality, human brains are hard-wired to make all kinds of mental mistakes that can impact our ability to make rational judgments. In total, there are 180+ cognitive biases that mess with how we […]
The Four Laws of Combat
Somebody in the team sent me this extract from a book they’re reading which I quite like the simplicity of, it’s a bit militant but I think the principle is quite valid. The first Law of Combat: Cover and Move. This is teamwork—every individual and team within the team, mutually supporting one another to accomplish […]
The Beauty of Data Visualization
Not just a talk about how ‘pretty’ data visualisation is but how it can help to tell a story and the importance of visualising stuff appropriately to avoid people taking the wrong message.
Boss vs Leader: 12 Defining Characteristics of a Leader
There seems to be a lot of these type of artwork around and they can paint a bit of a black and white picture but can be an interesting test when thinking about your own behaviours. 12. Leaders Focus on Sustainable Solutions – Not Quick Fixes. A boss will teach you what to do. A […]
Everyday Leadership
This TED Talk was shared with me by somebody in Digital Trading about leadership. For me though a bigger part of this was about recognition and a call to action around recognising people regardless of hierarchy, how big or how small, if somebody does something you think is good, why not tell them?