second thoughts

TAPE FACE LEADERSHIP

Paul Rutherford

Nov 11, 2019
3 min

TAPE FACE LEADERSHIP

There's no obvious label for Tape Face's entertainment. Mime, perhaps? Silent comedy? Both conjour up former practitioners (Marcel Marceau, Buster Keaton), but neither accurately capture what he does. Actually, it's not what he does that's most important. It's what he doesn't. In a world drowned in management speak and leadership oration, Tape Face is a timely reminder of Albert Mehrabian's "7-38-55 Rule" - the percentage weighting of words, tone of voice, and non-verbal sign

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THINKING - CRITICAL!

Paul Rutherford

Nov 4, 2019
5 min

THINKING - CRITICAL!

Four months since I last blogged; four months of Client activities, family milestones, personal ill-health, and - oh yes - the world politically turning upside down. Of course, at the time the reason for not posting wasn't as clear. That's the reality of explanations; they all make perfect sense after the fact. So, for future reference, let me go on the record to explain why I am dusting off my keyboard and re-starting the blog now: It's a recent LinkedIn posting from someon

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DISCOVERING BELIEFS

William Deresiewicz

May 13, 2019
1 min

DISCOVERING BELIEFS

Excerpt #4/4 from 'Solitude and Leadership', an essay by American author, essayist, and literary critic William Deresiewicz. He is the author of A Jane Austen Education, How Six Novels Taught me About Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter (Penguin Press, 2011) and Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press, 2014). 'Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is

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CREATING CACOPHONY

William Deresiewicz

May 6, 2019
1 min

CREATING CACOPHONY

Excerpt #3/4 from 'Solitude and Leadership', an essay by American author, essayist, and literary critic William Deresiewicz. He is the author of A Jane Austen Education, How Six Novels Taught me About Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter (Penguin Press, 2011) and Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press, 2014). 'You are marinating yourself in the conventional wisdom. In other people’s reality: for othe

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SINGLE POINT GATHERING

William Deresiewicz

Apr 29, 2019
2 min

SINGLE POINT GATHERING

Excerpt #2/4 from 'Solitude and Leadership', an essay by American author, essayist, and literary critic William Deresiewicz. He is the author of A Jane Austen Education, How Six Novels Taught me About Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter (Penguin Press, 2011) and Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press, 2014). 'Concentrating, focusing. You can just as easily consider this lecture to be about concentra

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BURSTS OF 20 SECONDS

William Deresiewicz

Apr 22, 2019
2 min

BURSTS OF 20 SECONDS

Excerpt #1/4 from 'Solitude and Leadership', an essay by American author, essayist, and literary critic William Deresiewicz. He is the author of A Jane Austen Education, How Six Novels Taught me About Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter (Penguin Press, 2011) and Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life (Free Press, 2014). 'Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think. Thinkin

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THE GREAT JOB TITLE CHASE #6

Paul Rutherford

Apr 15, 2019
4 min

THE GREAT JOB TITLE CHASE #6

This series of ‘TGJTC’ blogposts was originally prompted by an email signed by the Chief Deputy Auditor. Not Deputy Chief (the second in line) but Chief Deputy. I imagine that there were more than one ‘Chief’ at that level too, just to keep everyone on their toes. TGJTC #1 started with my General Manager role, which was a misnomer at best. I’ll come back to that in a moment. Subsequent postings about VP, CMO, Director and Partner tried to give each some context, definition an

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AIN'T NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS

Paul Rutherford

Feb 18, 2019
2 min

AIN'T NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS

William Muir has known more plucked poultry than you've had hot dinners. As professor of Animal Sciences at Purdue Agricultural University, he's an expert in breeding and genetics. Not that he always roosted on the lofty perches of Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks. His studies started with flour beetles. Specifically, Muir examined the beetles' evolution in an (artificial) environment of very little food. Those who survived did so at the expense of others: they grew faste

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HEROES

Paul Rutherford

Nov 12, 2018
2 min

HEROES

(A belated 're-print' of lessons from one of the greatest physical achievements of the past sixty years - by one of the most modest men. RIP Sir Roger Bannister.) After Olympic and Paralymic over-achievement for team GB, the British public will have an embarrassment of riches to choose from for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. This annual sports shindig has become more glitz than game, yet despite the showbiz presentation, at heart it’s a celebration of what we still need

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NORMAL ISN'T NORMAL

PRIORITIES

Paul Rutherford

Mar 12, 2018
2 min

PRIORITIES

I don’t know the origin of this story; there are several variations out in the digital ether. Sometimes the moral is spelt out explicitly; I prefer a looser interpretation. The professor stood at the front of the lecture theatre behind a large workbench. On it stood a large glass specimen jar, the sort that collectors of the macabre use to exhibit animals with too many limbs. It was the start of term, so he was playing to a full house. From beneath the table he lifted a bucke

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SNEAKER SCARCITY

Paul Rutherford

Feb 17, 2018
5 min

SNEAKER SCARCITY

40 Books in 2018 Robert Cialdini INFLUENCE 336pp HarperBusiness 2007 Jan and I are visiting our second son, BJ and his parter E in their new flat. Better equipped, decorated and furnished than anything we achieved when starting out. We’ve seen the Nespresso machine (that we gave as a Christmas gift, but we still haven’t had a coffee) the Playstation 4, the cleanser and conditioner collection in the bathroom cabinet - and the obligatory stacked occasional tables. And now we're

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BUBBLES AND THE BLONDE

Paul Rutherford

Jan 20, 2018
6 min

BUBBLES AND THE BLONDE

40 Books in 2018 Susan Cain QUIET 333pp Penguin Books At a schoolfriend’s 16th birthday, the attempted catch was ‘Bubbles’, an exceptionally curvy, lively girl who seemed to connect with everyone. Especially boys. I sat with her on the sofa, making her laugh with my mid-teen jokes. To keep the atmosphere (and my chances) moving positively, I went to the kitchen to fetch a drink. I was only away for 30 seconds, but when I returned ‘Bubbles’ had gone. Even at that age, I could

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EQUITABLE TREATMENT

Kenneth Iverson

Oct 30, 2017
1 min

EQUITABLE TREATMENT

Final excerpt from 'Plain Talk: Lessons from a Business Maverick' by Kenneth Iverson, credited with transforming Nucor Steel from a nearly bankrupt company in the 1960s into the largest and most successful steelmaker in the United States. The Hazards of Hierarchical Power 'Inexperienced managers tend to lean heavily on formal, hierarchical sources of authority. This is understandable. They have not yet had the opportunity to develop other forms of authority such as experience

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HANDS-ON MANAGEMENT

Kenneth Iverson

Oct 23, 2017
1 min

HANDS-ON MANAGEMENT

Excerpt from 'Plain Talk: Lessons from a Business Maverick' by Kenneth Iverson, credited with transforming Nucor Steel from a nearly bankrupt company in the 1960s into the largest and most successful steelmaker in the United States. 'The notion of an internship for managers has a precedent in medical education, of course. Doctors intern for a number of years before they are turned loose on the world. There ought to be a comparable transitional step in completing the requireme

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ACTIVE LISTENING

Kenneth Iverson

Oct 16, 2017
1 min

ACTIVE LISTENING

Excerpt from 'Plain Talk: Lessons from a Business Maverick' by Kenneth Iverson, credited with transforming Nucor Steel from a nearly bankrupt company in the 1960s into the largest and most successful steelmaker in the United States. Japanese symbol for listening Listening is among the scarcest of all human skills, in and out of management. Listening requires concentration, skill, patience, and a lot of practice. But such practice is a very sound investment of the developing m

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"LIFE'S A SERIES OF STEPS"

Paul Rutherford

Sep 25, 2017
6 min

"LIFE'S A SERIES OF STEPS"

Back in 2007, my MP - then in Opposition - agreed to talk about working in the House of Commons. As we didn't have a budget, the aim was to create 'content' to promote our small, local business. It turned out to be a frank, open exchange about women in work, careers in politics, managing upwards and self-belief. Here's the interview that Theresa May signed-off for our publication nine years ago. I hope that as Prime Minister, she'd do the same today. Micro CV @ 2007 Educated

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HIDDEN SUBJECT

Paul Rutherford

Aug 14, 2017
6 min

HIDDEN SUBJECT

12 ANGRY MEN Twelve jurors are set the task to reach a verdict on a teenage Hispanic boy who has just been tried for the murder of his father, with a guilty verdict sending him to the electric chair. There must be a unanimous verdict on a capital case. The jury foreman (Juror ONE - no character is named) asks for a preliminary vote: ONE - . . . nine . . . ten . . . eleven . . . That’s eleven for guilty. Okay. Not guilty? (EIGHT’s hand is raised.) One. Right. Okay. Eleven

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NORTH STAR

Paul Rutherford

Jun 26, 2017
2 min

NORTH STAR

US defence lawyer Gerry Spence championed underdogs. His clients included the Karen Silkwood estate in its battle with a nuclear power contractor and native American Indians trying to protect their land rights. Big cases, with enough blind alleys to keep juries confused for months. In his book *How to Argue and Win Every Time*, Spence says that one of his biggest challenges was keeping on course through long, protracted trials. After amassing rooms-full of information,

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TWO-LETTER WORDS

Paul Rutherford

Jun 19, 2017
4 min

TWO-LETTER WORDS

In 1965 the splendidly-named Delphus David Bourland Jr published an academic paper on semantics. It contained a rather radical thought; an idea that once shared can prove difficult to shift. Read on at your peril. TO EXIST OR NOT TO EXIST Bourland invented a new version of English: Think of it as Release 2.0. It looked astonishingly like the existing language – the same nouns, adjectives, adverbs, punctuation and syntax. Except he removed one key building block of the l

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