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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
26 Jul 2022 - 11:19

null Seek out the reluctant candidate 

Seek out the reluctant candidate who needs to be cajoled into accepting the position because they are not driven by naked ambition, they are not over confident, they will not see dissent as personal disloyalty or feel so insecure in the post as to shut down debate. If their reluctance is not based on doubts about their ability but an accurate assessment of the difficult nature of the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 Jul 2022 - 08:34

null My Story

 A good story gets you an interview, expanding convincingly on that story gets you the post.  I didn’t always want to be a manager let alone a senior manager. In fact when I started out I thought there were only two types of manager , good managers rended ineffective by out of touch senior managers and bad managers tolerated by out of touch senior managers. Over the years, as my... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
21 Jul 2022 - 08:13

null Top Gun and the Maverick Manager

  Thundering rock music,  super sonic jet fighters and a central character who is a rebel with a need for speed, Top Gun gives a lot of bangs for your bucks. But why are senior management always portrayed as out of touch, overly bureaucratic , risk adverse, stuffed shirts. I would like to see a film or t.v.series where senior management is the hero. The pitch to the commissioning... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 Jul 2022 - 16:15

null  Diversity - The Phoney Version -looks different but isn’t 

The image is of someone frantically bailing out a leaky boat whilst water continues to pore in through the holes in its hull. There is a lot of effort but it doesn’t  make much difference. This is what it is like trying to make the organisation more diverse by putting a lot of effort into recruitment whilst ignoring Inclusion.    The reason why diversity is championed as good for ... See more
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Blair McPherson
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11 Jul 2022 - 10:07

null Learn  how to lose 

It’s Wimbledon so the sports pages have an interview with John McEnroe. He who was as famous for his on court tantrums as his skills with a racket. He was a serial winner who said he had to learn how to lose. It reminded me of interviews for senior management posts.    There were four of us in for the Directors post. We were being chaperoned by the executive recruiter the night before... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
10 Jul 2022 - 14:28

null What’s the difference between a football agent and an executive head hunter?

It’s called tapping up in the game an attempt to persuade a player contracted to one team to join another with out first seek the permission of their current employer (Who would of course not give it). Alternatively the manager of another club publicly expressing admiration for someone else’s player. The message being we want you come and join us.  Alex Ferguson didn’t like players... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
10 Jul 2022 - 09:50

null Would you pass the Cultural Competence Test ? 

If your organisation has or aspires to a diverse workforce your managers should be able to demonstrate cultural competence yet most managers would feel I’ll prepared to pass a Cultural Competence test. Of even greater concern is  the number of organisations claiming to be striving for Equality and Inclusion and yet when appointing managers they do not stipulate in the Person... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
04 Jul 2022 - 11:13

null Is it such a good idea to make AI more human? 

Is someone working on ensuring AI understands sarcasm?  Being to literal could be a real problem. On the other hand who wants a sarcastic robot!   
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
30 Jun 2022 - 14:56

null Interviews from Hell 

“It’s 5 p.m. on a Friday. You have been called to an interview for your dream job. In a stunning office thirteen floors above the city below, you are all alone with the man interviewing you. Everyone else has gone home for the weekend.The interview gets more and more disturbing. You’re feeling scared.Your only way out is to answer a seemingly impossible question.” The Interview... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 Jun 2022 - 11:56

null Despite the evidence 

“ Throwing money at the problem won’t solve it.” Margaret Thatcher.  NASA disproved that theory in putting a man on the moon. “ Spend alone doesn’t explain differences in performance between LA’s.” Audit Commission. No but poverty, low income , and health inequalities does present a bigger challenge for some LA’s.  It’s not about the money is a dangerous slogan. Of course you can ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
24 Jun 2022 - 11:05

null Just a job, away of putting food on the table and paying the rent/bills 

The pandemic has caused significant numbers of employees to question whether they want to change jobs and do something different. The return to work has reveal previously unrecognised or ignored levels of disengagement. The management have tended to assume that whilst a minority of employees may feel it’s just a job and do as little as they can get away with the majority care about... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
18 Jun 2022 - 10:16

null Drugs and Driving 

He doesn’t remember anything about the accident. If it was an accident. The boy who was due to go to Oxford but who now struggled to writ his name. His best friend said he was up set. His girl friend said it was a silly argument. But neither of them would say anymore. When he crashed through the road works he was doing over a hundred. Everyone said he was lucky to be alive although he... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 Jun 2022 - 10:27

null Do we need a Superhero? 

Why this obsession with superheroes are ordinary heroes no longer up to the job?  Well what chance us mere managers.  How many superheroes can you list? It used to be that there was Superman and Spider Man plus possibly Batman, although technically he didn’t have any super powers. Now due to the popularity of the Avengers and X -men films it’s not just the comic book nerds who can ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
11 Jun 2022 - 20:20

null Making your mind up 

If you want to change someone’s mind ask the right questions, listen carefully to the answers and share your own story. But be warned the person describing how to do this considers it to be so effective that he has serious doubts about about telling you.  How minds change David McRaney   
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
09 Jun 2022 - 11:02

null  When managers lose it big time. 

May be you were just the unlucky person who picked up the phone but the manager on the other end is angry, very angry with HR. Perhaps something has gone wrong in the recruitment process, maybe there has been a cock up over the redundancy notices, or a disgruntled employee has been advised to submit a formal grievance against this manager. Could it be that the disciplinary hearing did... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
31 May 2022 - 14:12

null Exceptionalism

The idea that this new thing won’t work here because our circumstances, population profile, unique history, political make up, levels of deprivation, industrial past, prevailing culture, are so different. Coupled with a misplaced view that we’re not only different but a bit better than the others so we don’t need to do what they do. Resistance to change from the top is often simply a... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
28 May 2022 - 10:57

null Leadership like a submarine 

Rarely seen, silent on most issues, assumed to be getting on with it, ignoring what’s going on around them, isolated from the rest of the world/organisation. But requiring us to trust them. Not really leadership.  Blair Mcpherson former director, author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk 
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
27 May 2022 - 14:50

null So how do your managers treat the cleaners when no one is looking?

A lack of respect and poor treatment. Totally Ignored as if invisible. Subjected to derogatory sexual comments. Sworn at. Treated with contempt. Expected to clean up vomit and spilt wine stains. According to Sue Gray.    All I know is that I have worked in a number of organisations and I have often still been in the office when most people have gone home and the cleaning staff are... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
26 May 2022 - 14:27

null In charge but not in control 

Who is in charge is a question that comes up a lot at work in all types of organisations. At one stage in my management career I was responsible for 83 Nursing and Residential  care Homes. Before we changed their job titles each Home had an Officer in Charge. This type of institutional care regularly throws up scandals involving abuse and neglect and routinely involves allegations of... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 May 2022 - 20:49

null The best career advice I have been given

It’s interesting to hear what those at the top of organisations say about the best career advice they were given. Although on reading some of that advice I think if the individual followed it then they must have been a challenge to manage. Howard Davies chairman of the NatWest Group is quoted as saying the best career advice he’s been given,” Always show you could do your boss’s job... See more
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