Wise Wednesdays

So this is the start of a shorter (medium?) version of Wise Wednesdays while I test if some of the writing momentum can be put into the book. It’s officially three years since I took a career leap into the unknown: beyond a structured, institutional career into entrepreneurialism. Yesterday, I was at a meeting on reinventing healthcare public services. Last week, a client was reflecting on the role of work culture on her career decisions. She’s worked in some of the most pressured and prestigious organisations in the world including alongside the military in fragile states. She was clear that one of her core values is collaborativeness. This clarity has played a key role in her decision to take a career leap to create something that works better for her. I was reminded of the aphorism that  People don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses. I would rephrase to: People don’t leave jobs, they leave work cultures. Interestingly,  research by Google  and others has found that the ...

OK, so I’ve noticed Wise Wednesdays has been getting longer and it may be a signal to put some of this writing momentum into the book again. So, assuming I stick to it, you should be seeing a shorter WW next week and this may be the final longer version for the time being. Yesterday, I was at an informal meeting of Global Health Women organised by a colleague who leads on public health at Doctors Without Borders. Everyone present had worked in some of the most challenging emergency situations in countries including Sierra Leone, South Sudan, DRC many had worked to contain Ebola. These are women who don’t fear much when it comes to helping the most vulnerable and averting global catastrophes. And yet…many also shared that it can be a struggle getting their voice heard or influencing their organisations, EVEN when they’re at the table of power. So what’s going on? “It’s about having a voice at the table, not just a seat.” - Natalie Wharton, Wharton Business Consulting. ...

If you’ve ever been to an interview, you’ll know to prepare an answer to the What’s your weakness? question. You may have been given advice to include how you turned your weakness around into a strength. You may have also been given a hint not to talk about a real weakness (like crippling anxiety before presentations or losing sleep after bad meetings) but to choose something a little more palatable and that ultimately looks good, for example: “taking on too much”; or “finding it hard to say no”… The perversity of a work culture in which this is normal is disturbing. I was reminded yesterday, at this year’s  British Medical Association Public Health Conference  (themed on mental health), that weakness is still a taboo in our work culture. While we acknowledge “challenges” in the economy and politics, we seldom examine the impact of such work cultures in a frank way. It’s too painful to dig into the alienation inherent in the 21 st century human experience of work, l...