The Daily Paradox

When levelling up may be levelling down

Professor Christian Terwiesch’s experiment at Wharton Business School is as good a point as any to start thinking about Generative Artificial Intelligence. His conclusion that ChatGPT3 would provide a B or B-minus grade for the examination of his Operations Management Programme is of concern to all teachers. Its wider implications are another worry altogether. Whatever…
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A Party for No Seasons

The lessons to be learnt from the British Government’s quagmire of un-governance are many. Perhaps the most important one is that if you lie to the voters for long enough they will begin to believe you. Tell them you will cut taxes while maintaining, or even increasing, public spending and they will vote for you.…
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Stature

In the course of our work, and in the occasional Daily Paradox, we mention the importance of stature. Difficult to define, we are often asked for examples of people with great stature. There are many to quote – leaders, politicians, sports people, prophets, persuaders, influencers (in the wider meaning of the word than just social…
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The skill of thinking

A boss of mine had a small marble stone on his desk. It had one word written on it: THIMK. The word faced the person sitting opposite him. It was meant to be a joke. Sometimes the reader looked at the message, then at my boss and wondered who it actually applied to. To be…
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Yin Yang and Paradox Management

Yin and Yang,  Paradox & Systems Management Eliza Quek eliza.quek@terrificmentors.com  Traditional Chinese Medication (TCM) is predicated on the need to balance cooling (the Yin) and heaty elements (the Yang). Good health is believed to come from a balance of Yin (negative, dark, and feminine) and Yang (positive, bright, and masculine)*. For example, believers balance consuming…
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The Next Hurrah?

Generative AI is here to stay. Its bounds seem limitless. We may hail it as the answer to humanity’s shortcomings or we may see it as a threat to our purpose, to our very existence. If we don’t think about it now, future generations will curse us for our indolence. If we don’t do something…
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NOTWORKING

No, it’s not misspelt. If you read it as NETWORKING – that’s exactly what I wanted you to do. Networking is at the heart of all today’s marketing and selling.  But it is NOT WORKING.   How do you want networking to help your business? Most often it is by acquiring clients. How does that happen?…
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Reading people

Covid revealed a huge hole in our ability to read people, whether we are of a cooperative or a command political persuasion. From the almost-too-kindly democracy and fairness of Britain to the somewhat overbearing disciplined autocracy of China, the people on the ground made their positions crystal clear and ‘management’ largely bowed to their views.…
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Jeremy Bullmore

Jeremy Bullmore has died at 93. He was active right to the end and we were corresponding less than a month ago. He was the leading advertising man of his time. I first knew him when he was still a copywriter at J Walter Thompson. What struck me about him then was his perceptive wit.…
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Prince Harry

Rudely but accurately referred to as The Spare, Prince Harry fails to embarrass himself or the British Monarchy by “revelations” that barely warrant the description of footnotes. No doubt encouraged by his wife’s American inclination to first inflate and then explode Celebrity, he certainly justifies criticism of his education, upbringing and lifetime compass. But then…
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