You can’t mandate spirit

The ridiculous and thrilling comebacks of Liverpool and Tottenham show the importance of spirit. But it’s not that simple, and Crossrail, and all of us, should take note.

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Crossrail and spin

One thing politicians are right about on Crossrail: the project leadership shouldn’t have suppressed the bad news.

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How to create meaning

People pull out all the stops if they care about what they’re doing, but how do you help them care? How do you create meaning?

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Specific and ordinary

Effective goal-setting requires discipline in language. Ditch clever-sounding abstractions like “maximising synergies”. I propose the following test for checking the language you use.

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The blame game

We want to blame someone when something goes wrong. Thirsty for explanations, we say this person is out of his depth, or that person is negligent. But this is often simplistic.

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Careful feedback

Don’t use feedback to try and “improve” someone. Their sense of self, and self-esteem, should only be boosted.

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