“Hang on a minute John, what do you mean to manipulate a group? Where are the ethics in this?” How many times have I upset someone by using the word manipulate? Is it bad to manipulate someone? Before we explore the subtle ways you can influence, let’s explore the word ‘manipulate’. When you go to…
Dr Milton Erickson, the great American psychiatrist and psychologist who specialised in medical hypnosis, had a patient who only spoke in word salad. You may know this condition to be a confused or unintelligible mixture of seemingly random words and phrases. Naturally, the patient often became frustrated when trying to communicate with others who just…
How do children control their parents? In my case frequently by the threat of embarrassment; and boy did I feel it on this occasion! The hot glare of disapproving eyes from the people around me felt like daggers as my four-year-old son threw a tantrum and dropped to the ground kicking, screaming as he demanded…
There are no small decisions You meet some interesting people at airports. I was talking with Susan who told me about her Bone Marrow Trust team in America. The perennial problem they faced was a lack of donors and this is largely because they are often signed off work and on sick leave for some…