Horeb International

Image source: CIPD

Charles Handy is a British management guru whose social philosophy ideas have influenced the management of British organisations. His book, Myself and other more important matters, is an autobiographical account of his life in which he discusses how his life journey from a small vicarage in the Irish countryside to the top of the management consulting world shaped his life.

He shares the insights he has gained from these life experiences; principles which were learnt through maturity and reflection. Each chapter in the book is filled with many gems of wisdom. I have listed some of my favourite ones below and I hope you too are able to benefit from some of these practical and useful ideas from Charles Handy. Continue reading →

Image source: William Brawley

I talked about becoming a better storyteller in my last post and the desire to add visual elements to my storytelling repertoire. I spent time over the last few days recording video footage and editing it with Sony Vegas Movie Studio software. It has been a lot of fun as well as a lot of hard work. Thank God for Youtube tutorials. I would have given up without them. These are early days for me as I attempt to master visual storytelling techniques. I read once that the best time to plant an oak tree is 20 years ago and the second best time to do so is now. My visual storytelling development starts now. Continue reading →

Image by Olaojo Aiyegbayo

I attended a storytelling conference at Brighton last week. I was there to present a paper as well as to learn more about storytelling. I believe we are all in the storytelling business irrespective of what we do for a living. We learn best via stories. We organise our sense of the world through stories. They help us process complicated facts. Stories also help us empathise with other human beings and this is what separates us from animals. I used my iPhone 4S at Brighton to capture all the images in the picture frame above. I would like to share with you some of the things I plan to develop over the next few months. Continue reading →

Photo taken by Jane Gaffikin

I am a big fan of Lifehacker’s weekly “How I work” series. I have decided to use and answer the series’ question template as the basis for today’s blog post . I would recommend you check out the series on Lifehacker.

Current gig: Researcher, blogger, speaker,
Location: Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, England
Current mobile device: iPhone 4s
Current computer: Samsung X520
One word that best describes how you work: Slowly Continue reading →

Image Source: the russians are here

I have done a number of posts on perception in the past. This is because I am fascinated with how we perceive the world. I believe that we don’t see the world as it is but as we are. We see the world in a subjective way rather than an objective way. The way we see the world determines how we respond or react to it. I saw a ‘Google talks’ video by Jeff Johnson (User Interface designer) and he talked about the three things that influence the way we see the world around us. Continue reading →

Image Source: gailjadehamilton

I am currently doing a project at work looking at how academics use iPads for teaching, research and administrative tasks. The project is 6 months old and there are some exciting preliminary findings. There is one specific finding that will be of interest to the readers of this blog. Continue reading →

Image source: Wikimedia

Have you seen the movie – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? I saw it a few months ago and I enjoyed it. I loved the movie’s CGI gory action effects and its plot. What intrigued me most about the movie was the creative concept behind it. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (ALVH) started out as a novel before it became a movie. I discovered a transcript of an interview with the author, Seth Grahame-Smith, on how he got the creative spark that became ALVH. Continue reading →

Image source: Ze Carlos Barretta

There are two professions which I find fascinating: architecture and film-making (particularly directing). My admiration for both occupations is based on their leadership and creative features. I grew up with the desire to become an architect like my dad but I realised in my latter years at secondary (high) school that desire was not enough hence I moved into Social Sciences where I was best suited. I recently came across an interesting Metro newspaper quote by Fernando Meirelles (Brazilian movie director) which showcased the leadership similarities between architects and directors.  Continue reading →

Image source: Lee Edwin Coursey

Margaret Thatcher is one leader who divides opinions in the UK. Some think she was despicable and others think she was respectable. Her death was celebrated by some as good riddance and mourned by others as a great loss. I find the whole thing amusing. Continue reading →

Image source: Phillie Casablanca

A few months ago, I contacted an American nonfiction author, Glenn Stout, to ask him for his first ever longform article which I was unable to locate online. He kindly agreed to post the article to me. But could you guess the first thing he did when he got an email from me – a complete stranger? Continue reading →