You can cultivate gravitas with inside out work Many think it is not is possible to cultivate gravitas, which is considered to be central to executive presence. That elusive quality said to contribute by 25% towards career success.  It seems it can be acquired by anyone, at any age. It’s about presenting your best self, all the…

Will me being LinkedOff with LinkedIn make a difference? I have just cancelled my premium membership to LinkedIn. You could say I’m LinkedOff with LinkedIn and have LinkedOut. Reduced professionalism Social media is awash with blogs and posts about the decline of the traditional channels. To cut to the chase, one over arching comment is this. With all the…

Gender De-coding and unconscious bias Corporate culture and communication generally has a male tone. Whether it’s job adverts and postings, job descriptions, feedback and review forms or employee engagement and reward terminology. The HR world is awash with phrases such as champion, ninja, winner, hero, scrum master and black belt. It’s hardly surprising that some women or introverts can be deterred from…

How helpful are Blind CVs? There has been a recent move towards proposing blind CVs in the recruitment process. Intended to increase diversity and reduce bias in areas such as gender, ethnicity and ageism, a number of organisations are committing to this system, including the U.K. Civil Service, the BBC, the NHS,  the European Union, KPMG and HSBC. But…

Diversity initiatives and commitment Diversity initiatives are hard to introduce and even harder to manage successfully and bring to fruition. Many would say they are the window dressing and lip service to appease campaigners. Having a diversity policy is very different to making it effective. Neil Morrison covered this exact point in his post the other “Some are more equal than…

Future of work –  is HR equipped to deal with it? There are two concepts guaranteed to divide HR opinion around the future of work.  They are: the sharing or collaborative economy portfolio careers In theory they are both fine and dandy. The reality is something different. The sharing economy Listed in WIRED as one of the main…

HRTech World in Paris was overwhelming. The sheer scale and energy of the event, with more than 3500 delegates, hundreds of sponsors and 200,000m² of exhibition space, meant some strategic cherry picking was needed. Although I became something of a Josh Bersin stalker, I spent a lot of time in the DisruptHR area, listening to pitches and talking to…

An increasing number of women are going on journeys of self-discovery  Years ago, if a woman had a difficult time, she might call some friends and open a bottle of wine, cry over a chick flick (a marathon Colin Firth, Pride and Prejudice session is my mooch movie of choice) or eat her favourite comfort food. Today, she doesn’t get…

HR Carnival – what cultural changes end up as workplace challenges? Organisations are always impacted by changes outside the workplace and HR can often be slow to react. In this week’s HR Carnival, we’re going to hear from some international HR commentators about the impact of some those cultural changes on HR professionals. Some changes are barely perceptible, but build up over time. Others…

With aging populations in many developed economies, elder care looms on the horizon for a high number, making it an HR crisis waiting in the wings. An increasing number of employees will have to balance caring responsibilities with paid work in the not to distant future. Many are already experiencing the challenge. I recently had an elder care crisis myself. My active and independent,…