The Productive Pessimist

Pride isn't just about slapping rainbow stickers on things, hiring flamboyantly gay or visibly trans influencers, and doing 'awareness training.' As businesses and leaders, Pride month should be where your LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic, and other non-cishet identities and experiences) colleagues guide you in the groundwork that needs to be done for lasting change. Stonewall wasn't just a random incident of civil disobedience; it was the detonator blast that broke ground to begin to build a new way of being human, and a new way of seeing and welcoming other human beings. LGBTQIA+ Inclusion For Life, Not Just For Pride There are things which are a common, unconscious part of how people who are not LGBTQIA+ behave and set up the world, especially in workplaces, which, unintentionally, exclude LGBTQIA+ people, especially those who are also experiencing financial challenges, and/or have intersectional  disadvant

  "Mental health at work" has become something of a buzz phrase in recent years, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. "Mental health" is the reason people "need to get back to the office" - because the extroverts are suffering, since they're no longer able to dominate meetings, talk people into agreeing to take on more work than they're actually comfortable with, or enthusiastically create a situation where, if getting drunk with people you already spend too much time with, or leaping on a zip wire, aren't really your thing, you're "unadventurous", "anti-social", and "not really a team player." The UK government insist work is good  for our "mental health", even as successful GPs decide they literally can't carry on anymore, and choose a permanent solution to the problem of burnout.  While the low wages, in comparison to the cost of living, and long hours of many jobs are actually c

  Thursday night's episode of BBC One's The Apprentice centred on often the most "Aggghhhh!!! How are these people even getting selected?!" part of the Apprentice process - the presentation of business plans. While many people will have simply enjoyed rolling their eyes and laughing at how ill-prepared the candidates were, others will have been feeling empathic anxiety. Five-year plans.  Business plans for businesses you haven't launched yet. Can't get support for a concept without a business plan, but how do you plan an idea? A fast-changing world doesn't allow  for 'plans', yet people are still demanding not just that they exist, but that they're flawless - how is anyone supposed to cope? The Productive Pessimist' s Strategic Consultancy can help answer the question "what should be in a business plan?" (or a five-year plan, or any other kind of plan.) There are also plenty of templates available online, often for free. Let'

Lord Sugar has always presented himself as being of the 'fake it 'til you make it' school - a street-smart kid with more nouse than people twice his age, better at business than the people running companies he briefly worked for in his teenage years.    And appearances would say it paid off - he didn't have the exam results, the MBA, the network of friends and family to give him early opportunities, but, by every indicator, he's 'made it.'  It's understandable, therefore, that the Apprentice  candidates frustrate him so much - he faked it until he made it, they're much better off than he was, what's their problem? The problem is, you CAN'T 'fake it 'til you make it.'  It , whatever 'it' is - nouse, a boldness that borders on the offensively entitled, a daring that goes beyond normal risk tolerance, the kind of lateral thinking that sees an opportunity three years before its wave crashes in to shore, and thus has enough tim

(*names and features have been changed for privacy) GullRun Health Services are an independent healthcare provider, established as a Community Interest Company (CIC) who are looking to move away from their current business model, which is heavily dependent on NHS (National Health Service) commissioning.  GullRun want to move away from this model in order to establish a more visible presence in their local area, and also to avoid the significant payment lags that they are experiencing on many of their contracts - in some cases, it has been over a year since the service they were commissioned to provide started seeing patients, and they still haven’t received a single payment from the NHS. This is obviously having an impact on their ability to maintain a prudent level of reserve funding, and preventing them from addressing pressing healthcare needs within their communities. GullRun Health Services approached The Productive Pessimist Ltd, and requested a supported session working through