Through work I'd gone along Bolton University to listen to a talk by Professor John Seddon, who is an occupational psychologist specialising in business management and systems design. Sounds quite heavy, but this stuff is related to the kinds of problems we find ourselves dealing with at work. Seddon is very forthright in his views and pulls no punches, being fiercely critical of most of today's management fads, arguing that a target driven culture drives the wrong behaviours and ends up making the customer's experience worse rather than better. Whether or not you agree with his views, he is a very engaging speaker and his anecdotes and stories are amusing and compelling.
Of course, the real reason why he was in Bolton was to promote his new book, 'Systems Thinking in the Public Sector', which admittedly isn't the sort of reading you'd normally find in my bookcase.
When we arrived at the University, we were asked if we'd each mind handing over a business card. Out of our group, not one of us had a card with us, so I fished around on my wallet and found an old dog-eared one which hadn't seen the light for a good while (not many things in my wallet do). As this was the only way to save the embarrassment of our group, it would have to do, so I dropped it off and thought nothing more of it.
After the talk had finished, Seddon was up at the front signing books for those who had decided to make a purchase, when the head of the business school announced there was a free prize draw from all the business cards handed in. Based on the return from our group I had to be in with a chance, but even so I was more than surprised when my name was called out! Unfortunately there was no 'no publicity' box to tick, so to collect my prize I had to go to the front of the lecture theatre to be presented with it and have my photo taken to boot.
The prize itself was wrapped up like a Christmas present, so it was only when I got back to the office that I could take a look. For a while I've been toying with the idea of getting a digital photo frame anyway, so this has certainly made the day worthwhile.PS: There's something different about this picture - can you guess what it is?
1 comment:
I got in trouble about him. CC asked me what I thought, i said that while he was a good speaker, i didn't like him at all especially when he was talking to us before we went in. CC said he could tell by my body language!
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