Ever wonder why punishment rarely creates better behaviour — but a simple “thank you” can?

This week’s episode dives into the psychology behind carrots and sticks, and why my chocolate fish policy might be the best leadership tool you’ve never tried

A lot of the time in HR, we don’t actually have power — we have influence. And the most effective kind of influence often comes from calmness.

In this week’s 12-minute HR lesson, I share a story that started with a car accident (literally, half an hour before recording!) — and ended with a lesson
about leadership, composure, and how to take charge when no one’s in charge.

We unpack:
-What it really means to be “in charge”
- What calmness looks like in action (even when you’re paddling like mad underneath)
- How to assert influence through tone, timing, and clarity; not volume

Because sometimes the most powerful person in the room… is the calm one.

This week's podcast: Strategising up.

Ever felt stuck in HR, waiting for the business to tell you what to do? What's important?

Falling for the trap of focusing of what looks good, but doesn't provide much ROI?

In this week’s 12-minute HR lesson, I unpack how “The Remains of the Day” teaches us about managing up,anticipating needs, and making your HR strategy actually matter. It’s less about doing what you think is right, and more about knowing what the business truly needs before they even ask. It's about anticipating what will make the boat go faster and being 2 steps down that road before others ask you.

Are you a Mr. Stevens or a Mr. Faraday in your organisation?

We interview. We personality-test. We talk endlessly about “fit.” But we rarely ask candidates to actually do the work. Work samples — small, simple, real-world tests — are one of the strongest predictors of job success, and yet almost no one uses them.

But the lesson isn't really about that. I’m challenging habits- our own, and our following ours habits because that's what most people do. Why we interview the way we do. Why we trust data that feels scientific but isn’t. And why the secret sauce you’ve been missing might be as simple as saying:
“Show me how you’d actually do it.”

There’s an old saying: “Dissecting jokes is like dissecting a frog. No one laughs—and the frog dies.”

In this week’s 12-Minute HR Lesson, I’m unpacking what comedy can teach us about risk—and why playing it too safe can quietly kill your organisation’s growth.

How is a dinosaur like a piece of legislation? The lesson of Jurassic Park is chaos theory; life is too complicated to be fully accounted for by any system. It's the same with the law.

You've written the policy, you've launched it, you've had the awareness day, you've posted the photos of people smiling in bright coloured t-shirts. You've plucked the low-hanging fruit. Now what?

The problem with low hanging fruit is that it can't be picked twice. There's more work to do, and it's harder to reach, harder to get, and smaller gains. But gains can't be made by doing the same things again and again.

How can an iconic song give you insight into your workplace language? In broad vague sloganistic safe phrases?

Love as topic of music has become so generic that we cease to hear the words. But what about songs about home?

oo much of HR is treated like internal marketing.
- Convincing people everything is fine.
- Selling the “isn’t our company great?” message.

But what if HR is closer to engineering than marketing?

Think about an engineering manager in a factory. Their job isn’t to make machines look good in company colours — it’s to keep the line running.
- Fix breakdowns quickly.
- Do preventative maintenance before things fall apart.
- Focus on uptime and performance, not appearances.

Most managers don’t realise they have a hidden superpower.

This week's 12 minute HR lesson: Whitney: the greatest.

(Warning: this week's episode come with an ear worm risk)

This week I gush over one of my least favourite artist, and how Whitney Houston's performances help us understand and see talent.

Management is hard and unpleasant, and many shy away from the unpleasant parts. But it has to be done, because systems only work if everyone pulls their weight. This lesson talks about the pressures that management places on the manager, and the managee.

We rattle off the term 'best practice' all the time, but is it true? Is there a 'right way' to do things in all situations? Let's discuss.

Stopping and thinking is a skill. Too little, and you blunder from mistake to mistake, too much and you get analysis paralysis. I discuss one of the great pauses of history, how the courts expect us to pause, and how that mechanism for pause is you.

Everyone has two parts to them, two sets of needs. What is too much to ask, and what is reasonable to ask, when it comes to enforcing the contract?

Maslow explained how our needs are a hierarchy, but he also had a hammer. Maybe he did some DIY on the weekends.

In this episode I explain how we used to what we are good at, but we need to challenge ourselves to pick the best path, not just the most familiar.

When is a manager's style wrong? Why do we need to intervene? There are many ways of dealing with situations, but most of the time rough handling of others isn't appropriate. This lesson helps you think about how and when the ends justify the means.

Apologies are an important social tool for getting us back to harmony. But does it always work? what does sorry mean? If someone apologises, is that a giant history eraser? Do we have to accept, or can we set aside?

Understanding what sorrry means, and what people mean when they say it is an important skill for every HR professional or manager.

ER is a skill set within HR that many struggle with. To make it harder, it's not even clear in the industry what people mean when they use the terms ER, or Employment Relations.

In this episode I talk about the dual meanings of ER, how they are two different sets of work that require different sets of knowledge, and different sets of skills, so you can understand the differences.

Want to be wiser? Want to appear wiser? Or at least be less foolish? The answer is it depends. Have a listen.