“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler” Albert Einstein Communicating effectively is surprisingly difficult. In our attention-starved, multi-tasking society, we rarely have people’s undivided attention when we’re communicating. The onus is on you to make your audience sit up and take notice. And the simpler you… Read More »Five simple ways to make your message memorable
Movies are awash with tales of the underdog. But Friday Night Lights deals with a very different theme: the pressure of expectation. Set in the tiny Texas town of Odessa, that pressure is heaped upon the Permian Panthers High School football team. Here, football is a religion, and the boys are celebrities:… Read More »Setting expectations in Friday Night Lights
Why are performance reviews often so ineffective? And why can simply omitting someone from your email distribution list generate a strong emotional response? Recent developments in neuroscience can throw light on these questions. The invention of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machines now allows scientists to see which parts of… Read More »Five ways to understand the brain: the SCARF model
In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, a panic-stricken Ron Weasley is approaching his first match as the Gryffindor Quidditch team keeper. Ron is paralysed by nerves until he discovers that Harry has slyly spiked his drink with ‘liquid luck’ – a magical potion that bestows good fortune on anyone… Read More »How to create your own ‘liquid luck’
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 marks the end of a hugely successful film series based on Suzanne Collins’s dystopian trilogy. And central to that success is the character of Katniss Everdene (played by Jennifer Lawrence), the insecure but feisty teen who becomes the focal point for the rebellion. So what… Read More »Why showing emotion makes Katniss an authentic leader
“What is it that you actually do?” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Woz) asks in the movie Steve Jobs, after listing the impressive contributions of other Apple team members. “Musicians play their instruments,” Jobs tells him simply. “I play the orchestra.” Jobs’s widow and current Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook… Read More »Playing the orchestra: lessons from Steve Jobs
Hoosiers (also known in the UK as Best Shot) was an unexpected box office hit in 1985, telling the unlikely story of a tiny high school basketball team who win the State Championship in hoop-mad Indiana in the early 1950s. Disgraced former coach Norman Dale is given a final chance to… Read More »10 key leadership lessons from Hoosiers
In Apollo 13, Flight Director Gene Kranz overhears two NASA directors discussing the low survival chances for the crippled spacecraft. “I know what the problems are Henry,” one of them says. “This could be the worst disaster NASA has ever experienced.” “With all due respect Sir,” Kranz intervenes, “I believe… Read More »Apollo 13 and the power of the counterfact