A theatre play worth to see

Yesterday we were invited by two of our close friends to see the theatre drama play The Wild Duck by the famous Henrik Ibsen. It was a complete masterpiece: the manuscript, the actors, the director – ending up in a psychological drama of both old and modern time. Having the possibility to be in the audience, watching the subtle threads performed by magnificient actors works out as an injection of insights and new perspectives.
Read about the Wild Duck here: http://www.enotes.com/wild-duck/

Empty barrels sound a lot

I have just caught sight of the modern advertisement from a newborn consultant company – the website. Wow, are they not so very experienced! Wow – have they not such a great competence, built on years of learnings! Wow – they have their boots on, they are marching along, here they come!
But wait a minute – what the heck – why do they mention my name in their advertisement? I am not belonging to their fanclub and I am definitely not any supporter of their company.
This is an abuse of my name and I have of course an obligation to do something about it.
And I will.
And I am thinking that empty barrels have a tendency to create large sounds.
You´d better look up – don´t let go of your critical mind. All people are not to be trusted even if they dress up looking smart.

Psychologists and psychologists

I happened to listen to a psychologist yesterday – he was invited as an expert in a popular TV program. I have seen him there before. After a while I came to think about that I probably would not invite him into the team of ours. Why not? Well, I guess that he is well educated and well behaving and all that, but he is also a representative of the modern, quite young group of quick-fix psychologists, those who are very keen to give concrete advices: just do this, one, two and three, and then you get the result that looks like that, and so forth. The quick-fixers are like technicians. They are of course looking for the faults or the mishaps or the incomplete things, and then they are immediately ready with their reparation tools. Do this, do that, pam, pam, pam – ready! Finished!
All I can say is that there is a wide range between psychologists and psychologists. And I am not the best of quick-fixers. I have to think twice and even further, and I am mostly very curious of the here-and-now relations affecting the area that is called problematic, and I am not even sure that diseases always are diseases, as they very well can act as symtoms of underlying tensions, caused by series of complex intercommunications.
I have respect for people that want fast solutions and very clear instructions of how to live their lives, but I am experienced enough to state that this is not always the best way to move forward. The fast track could very well end up as a blind alley.
Yes, there is a a wide range and a big difference between psychologists and psychologists.

Driving forces

When you talk about “drive” and “high energy” when describing some people I think you´d better understand that forces like that are normally used in situations, where the energy is activated against something or somebody or somebodies. The person with a certain amount of drive has taken up a fight and wants to win. For example Mr. Obama. Or Mr. McCain. Or Mrs. Clinton. Those kind of driving actions are, according to my opinion, of a certain value for democracy. And it could, and should, of course become applied, not only for the elections of a new president in the US, but also right where you are – at your work, in your family, in your associations – everywhere. Driving forces are necessary to achieve a steady changing process. If you step back and if you try to not getting involved you will soon lose your general vitality, and death will become the only liberation movement to wish for. Go for it!

Impulsive actions

I regard myself as quite impulsive, meaning my brain takes sometimes shortcuts, getting a lot of stimuli from my emotions, making me actionminded. This is for good and for bad. On the positive side: I am quite energetic for my age, I am creative in my mind, I take now and then initiative outside the common behaviour.
On the negative side: When people around me, especially people I happen to know, but who are not my close friends, act in a way that I regard as stupid (including their verbal expressions) I may react in a way that sometimes is catched as an attack and a personal offense.
My belief is that this is a major factor behind most peoples’ fear of conflicts. Better to become silent and withdrawn than to to open your mouth and tell the surroundings what is going on in your mind. Oh, gosh, if you hurt anyone’s feelings. Very bad!
Or…is it?
Too much withdrawal from the scene will probably increase your blood pressure above good enough levels, also causing some other side effects, such as decreasing your ability to fantasize and to take actions when so is needed.
Life is not so very easy.

SIAP – Scandinavian Institute of Aviation Psychology

SIAP as an organisation of professional behaviour scientists and psychologists from Denmark, Norways and Sweden, working for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and for THAI Airways International, was founded by my close colleague/wife and me in 1984. From 1994 up to 2006 it was organised as a subsidiary company to Gordon Consulting Ltd in Sweden. (One of my Norwegian colleagues had prior to that registered a company of his own in Norway, called SIAP Norway.) We decided to finish SIAP in 2006 as we wanted to continue with one company name only = Gordon Consulting. We have nothing at all to do with those who have started a new Swedish company, using our old brand name SIAP. There is absolutely no connections between Gordon Consulting and the present SIAP, based in Sweden.
Why do I tell you about this? Because I have met people, who believe that SIAP still belongs to us. But, sorry folks, no.
If you want to have some more information of Gordon Consulting – welcome to visit www.gordonconsulting.se.
And no more advertisements on this page about me/us.

Destructions

Friends gathering around a table. Visions being brought up. Interesting thoughts shared. Strategies and plans formed. Working together. Teamwork. Very stimulating. Fun. We, all of us, joining the ideas. Let´s go together!
One main question: who is to act as the leader? Who is taking the front position, and who is given the rights to decide when the group of friends are not present?
A couple of voices: We need no leader. We do not have to select anyone to act as a front man or woman. A team is a team and no one has to stand in front of anyone else in the team. Cooperation!
A couple of other voices: Of course we need someone to act as a front representative of the group. Of course we have to select a leader.
Contradictions. The first sign of split.
After some time: there was one that called in all friends from the very beginning. There was one that formed the idea of the joint venture project. He (because it was a he) said that he aimed to continue to take the lead of the group.
Actions of resistance from some people in the group. Resistance expressed as silence and withdrawn attitudes.
The second sign of split.
Months later: the business was going very well indeed. Customers were pleased and the group members seemed to be happy.
Suddenly: revolution! Two members formed a new strategy, direct in opposition to the leader. Quarrel! Hard words!
Split! Breaking up! One team became two teams. Two very different teams.
A few members could not make up their minds which chair to sit on. They asked for permission to sit down on two different chairs simultaneously. This is very difficult and not at all comfortable.
Changes. More hard words. Actions behind the back of the others. Total split. Total separation. Former friends now speeding up their hate. Friends becoming enemies.
Destructions.
This is quite common in our open world, where business is a primary goal.
I have a bad taste in my mouth and I can smell the destructive parts of organisational ideas before they even have become verbalised. Our ways of creating main ideas in our society of today makes me to become a warrior.

Physical exercise

Science has provided clear evidence: if you are continuosly going to the gym, or to the swimming pool, or take long walks or jogging tours, or do anything else requiring your body to sweat and to work – and it has not to be hard training – you will most probably prolong your life, reduce the risk of getting ill or catching severe diseases, become stronger, feel better. I, myself, am quite a regular at the special form of aerobics that is practised in Sweden (and in some other countries), organised by a network of associations called – in Swedish – Friskis&Svettis (Healthy&Sweaty). As a matter of fact I am an educated and trained aerobic leader within this network of associations. By now I have reached an age where I have to start reducing my up-tempo pace. In a few weeks I am going to lead one of the most popular forms – the aerobic for senior people. And by senior people means everyone from 55+ and upwards. And it is nice indeed to see that this form of aerobics for seniors is growing fast – it has become very popular. Full house almost every time. Come on – I am looking forward to meeting you on the aerobic floor!

Psychoengineers vs psychologists

There are behaviour scientists who seem to believe that the only method that can be used to “discover the true personality” of a human is by a psychological test. Tests are looked upon as a sort of X-ray machines. And humans are looked upon as they (we) are fixed objects in a fixed reality. These behaviour scientists are the modern psychoengineers. They are not psychologists. And they are deceiving you, making up delusions about humans and about scientific methods. The reality is that personality tests cannot capture the complexity of human beings and they cannot predict how we will change over time. And, most important of all, they usually fail to meet basic scientific requirements of validity and reliability. Well experienced and well trained psychologists ought to have a profound knowledge in this area, but, unfortunately, some psychologists have walked straight into the engineering trap. If you meet such a psychoengineer, do not become fooled. Be careful. Do not trust everything you hear from the psychoengineers.

Recruitment and selection

There is one major question, of utmost importance within the recruitment and selection programs, where professionals are called in or hired to assess candidates to a specific position, and that question is: Who is selecting the selectors (the professional personality assessment people)? This kind of selection is the very first step in the selection process. If you make mistakes here it will, sooner or later, lead to failures in the final end.
I happen to know this from my own experiences. I have to admit that I have previously selected some wrong people to work within this important field. I have condemned myself for making that kind of mistake. I want to stress the fact that a very good selection is not primarily based upon what kind of test instruments that is used. A psychological screening test in the hand of a less qualified psychologist could be completely worthless. The quality is based upon the experience, the know-how, the intelligence and the sensitivity of the person, who has to investigate and come to a correct conclusion regarding the candidate and his future. It does not matter if the investigator calls himself “professional” or not. There are a lot of so called professionals out there, who look nice, who say the right things, but who are not as competent as they think they are.
My advice: try to find out as much as possible about the recruitment people. Are they to be find through Google or other search engines? Which companies are they working for? Could they state any references of importance?
Check them out!