Entries by R Thompson

Why are you complaining if you don’t want to solve the problem?

A friend has a problem at work and it is clearly upsetting them. They ask you for your advice. You empathize and then suggest an approach. They tell you it wouldn’t work. You suggest another approach. They tell you that wouldn’t work either. Nothing you can come up with seems to have any impact and […]

Are You (just) a Believer or Do You Think, Too?

It is only natural . . . We all have a natural bias towards belief. This is generally a fairly good thing. If we didn’t naturally believe things, we wouldn’t have made it as far as we have as a species. When life was relatively simple and things didn’t change much, this tendency helped us […]

Two selfish reasons to forgive.

Many people have difficulty forgiving others but it really is a skill you should cultivate. And not for other people. Do it for yourself. Forgiving is often seen as a gift or favour to the other person rather than to the forgiver themselves but in my opinion this is not the case. If you don’t […]

Learn to defend yourself.

There is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that the greater the power imbalance in any organisation, group or country, the more abuse takes place. If abusive behaviour is not challenged then it continues. Needless to say, in a company, this abusive behaviour takes a heavy toll on productivity. People get demotivated, they spend […]

“In the event of a loss in cabin pressure . . . ”

You have all heard it when flying: “In case there is a loss in cabin pressure, yellow oxygen masks will deploy from the ceiling compartment located above you. Please secure your own mask before assisting others around you”. Securing your own oxygen supply first before helping others might seem selfish but it really isn’t. Think […]