It strikes me that the very visible leadership afforded us through daily Coronavirus briefings will leave a lasting legacy about what leadership looks and feels like in the UK. I love the fact that leadership has been visible at this time, daily briefings is something I have never experienced before. I have a few concerns […]
Welcome to our blog
What do you want… an easy or a rich life?
This week I wanted to ask you whether you want an easy life or a rich life. I feel that many around me have for some time been veering towards easy, whilst bemoaning what they then get. So I’ve done some thinking about it… Some of us want an easy life. No question. Simple, easy […]
Are you the light or the dark in your workplace?
Today I sat in a coffee shop in Central London opposite a good looking man in his early 40s, smartly dressed even down to his matching bumble bee tie, socks and accompanying silk hanky in his breast pocket. But instead of having a sense of energy and eagerness to take the world on, he had […]
Unconscious Bias? Or simply that women don’t ask?
At Jaluch we are updating our unconscious bias infographic that we first created in 2013. During that process, we have been looking at some of the more recent unconscious bias research that has been published. Inevitably the topic of salaries and bonuses came up. Here is one piece of research we found: “Within 5 years […]
Mad, bad and oh so sad… the challenges of employing great staff!
It only happens in the summer months I am sure. Does everyone go a bit loopy and clap happy? This week I have read about a square running tack, a mad woman with a chocolate cake on her head and an employee whose claim to fame was to still have all his teeth. It’s a […]
The impact of “I don’t know” on staff development
Today I met some lovely business women in Jeddah and one of our conversations was about whether it is acceptable in business to simply say ‘I don’t know’. If, when asked something, you say ‘I don’t know’, is it a sign of weakness? I have heard it suggested that you are better off saying […]
Binning the SMART objectives
It’s a radical approach, but would your whole performance review experience be improved if you binned the SMART objectives? Having delivered training in how to set and write up SMART objectives for many years now, I don’t suggest this lightly. But I do suggest it as SMART objectives seem to be universally hated, so perhaps […]
Who inspires you?
I have been talking about leadership and role models to a number of business and student groups recently. Who inspires us today to choose our careers, develop our skills, aspire to the board, or set up a business on our own? What I have found is, if you ask a group of students, invariably […]
Hardship at work
Are you having a hard day? Stressed, fed up, under appreciated, picked on, bullied, harassed, under paid, under valued, ill trained, lacking promotion prospects, having to work with someone you detest, irritated by your boss, got a smaller bonus than you wanted, hate the fact that you don’t have a company iPhone, perhaps no […]
Networking and relationship building skills
Is career progression about who you know? A recent survey of workers from 1500 firms across five continents, found that the number one hindrance in a person’s career is a poor relationship with superiors. So should we conclude that career progression is not about intelligence, experience, skills, potential, technical know how, charisma, sales technique or […]
Twit twoo
Who’s a moody, misery guts in your business? Yesterday I heard a guy on the radio saying, it’s now possible to monitor the overall daily mood of the world by analysing global tweets on Twitter. So what you might say! But they have also worked out that the Dow Jones index actually responds to the […]
Work ethic – a lost cause?
‘Thursday is the new Friday’ was the explanation given to me last week when we were out drinking in Central London and yet another cocktail was being pushed into my hand. He continued ‘if you’re going to have a hangover, why let it ruin the weekend when you can have it at work on a […]
Whose responsibility?
Today I am speaking at one of the banks in London on Motivation. Part of my speech relates to responsibility for motivation – are we each responsible for our own motivation? Or are our companies and managers responsible? Perhaps you take the view it should be a shared responsibility? I suspect many will say it […]
The Lone Ranger
You have probably met the corporate Lone Ranger at conferences, airports, or executive lounges – for those who have no real office base. You may occasionally have seen him (or her) passing through your own offices, on the way to some unknown meeting. The modern corporate Lone Ranger has a job title no one is […]
If life deals you lemons – make lemonade
At Jaluch, we work with a number of great partners who run their own fantastic businesses which are all entirely complementary to the work we do at Jaluch. One of these partners is Making Lemonade – a business run by Steph Cutler. She set up the business after her career as a fashion designer […]
All bricked up
Is anyone irritating you at the moment? Holding you back? Taking the shine off the job you used to enjoy? Hey, don’t let those brick walls put up by others stop you from achieving, or prevent you from having a great time at work each day. I suppose a starting point, if you are feeling […]
Innovate to succeed
Life is set to continue to be tough in the UK for months, if not years, to come but the British do have a reputation for coming ‘through’, and for getting on with it and finding a way forward. We don’t have a reputation for giving up. I was therefore thrilled to see reported in […]
Choose your attitude
Today I have woken up to breakfast news channels giving serious airtime to the doom mongerers insisting that we are now entering into the dreaded ‘double dip’ recession. Actually I had woken up in a very optimistic mood. Question though is, having seen the bleak news, should I now spend the day with a morose […]