Freelance Services

The Productive Pessimist provides crisis resolution, emergency situation, and routine failure preparation consultancy to public sector organisations, non-profit organisations, businesses, and individuals.

Contact us by email on theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com to schedule an intitial meeting.

We also offer public speaking, article writing, and group facilitation services. Again, please contact us by email initially, on theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com to discuss any of these services.

Comments

Have We Reached The End of Growth?

End of the road for economic growth in the UK? The UK government - and most Western European governments - hyperfixate on economic growth as a measure of political success: If growth is strong, the claim goes, then the government of the day are doing things right, regardless of how popular their policies are with the public. If growth slows, the government has clearly made the wrong decision, and needs to alter course, and prove that they deserve to be in charge. This is something that has become a sacred truth in government. "This will destroy growth!" "This risks crashing UK growth prospects!" have become ever-more aggressive reactions to policy suggestions from opposing parties, or individual politicians. Initially, I assumed this was deliberate fear-mongering; because the public associates "economic growth" with " my individual life improving, me as an individual having more money for less work, and everything gettin...

What Your Boss (and HR) Say When They Think You're Not In the Room

Today, I attended a webinar on "Capability and Ill-health in the Workplace". It was hosted by a corporate insurer who provides HR consultancy services. Those attending were business leaders and HR representatives, and the Q&A at the end made it clear they believed they were only in a "room" with other leaders and HR reps. Their attitudes around long-term ill health and disability were immediately presented as: . This is an intolerable and ridiculous burden to us as employers . This is too expensive . These people are taking the piss . It's not going to be fair to able-bodied people who have to pick up their slack. This is also the attitude I've personally, directly encountered as someone trying to work whilst also being disabled. It's the attitude that lost me my last job - a job I mostly enjoyed, and a role I'd hoped to build a career from. Employers. HATE. Disabled. And. Chronically. Ill. Employees. They do not want to employ disabled p...

With Pride

We enter Pride Month at a time when global LGBTQIA+ rights are under direct, immediate attack, including in developed Western countries - which has not been the case, on a systemic level, for many years. For some younger LGBTQIA+ Western people, they have never in their lifetime known a situation where, systemically, at a legal level, they have not had rights as a default position. It feels frightening - even when you have lived through being LGBTQIA+ without rights, or without the level of rights younger Western people have been able to assume were "just naturally there." It actually is frightening. It is terrifying when your government directly positions itself in opposition to your ability to safely exist as yourself in the world. And LGBTQIA+ people have to exist in the world. Including non-passing trans people. Including very butch Sapphic women, and very femme gay men. Including people who are visibly intersex. Including polyamorous people who...

The Productive Pessimist

Search This Blog