August 2023
#MonthNotes
Hi, welcome to my MonthNotes — reflective notes looking back over the past month, loosely based on a set of questions which help me reflect.
1. What went well?
“Every day is a good day.” Unmon
2. What else went well?
- The kick off meeting for a new community for people with some responsibility or interest in communications in our business unit (HT Lisa Pantelli)
3. What made you proud?
- Elsevier was selected as a finalist for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion award in the Reuters Responsible Business Awards 2023
- The alpha launch of Scopus AI:
Fore more than two decades, Elsevier has combined AI and analytics with our trusted, quality content and data to deliver insights for our customers. So, of course, we’ve been exploring how to responsibly harness generative AI as a way to continue to help our customers solve problems.
Scopus AI provides concise, trustworthy AI-based summaries of queries.
I did a bit of testing on the new tool ahead of the launch and straight away loved it. It’s a great way to get up to speed quickly on a topic. I got really useful summary information in response to my queries. I also like that everything is referenced to trusted Scopus data, as well as the ability to read the abstracts of the references. The team did amazing work at speed.
4. Who or what inspired you?
- Scott Thorton
- Mu
5. What did you do that helped someone?
- I got some lovely feedback from a coachee I’m working with on public speaking, who said how much the somatic/body-based approach to coaching that we’ve been following together has helped her.
- A former colleague who I enjoyed working with reached out for some advice/ideas on product maturity models. I enjoyed seeing him again, and he said our conversation helped kick start his thinking.
- A colleague who has just changed job asked me for some advice on their new role.
- I signed up to be a mentor on our Proud to Be RELX mentoring program and our Product Excellence mentoring programme.
6. What did you learn?
- What ‘bird-dogging’ means: It’s got nothing to do with birds or dogs (or dogging). Rather, it means to search out/follow/pursue with dogged determination.
- The ‘Lone Banana Problem’ (HT Melissa) illustrates some of the less familiar biases/limitations of GenAI
- Procrastination can be a sign of trapped survival stress (aka stored trauma) (HT Irene Lyon). It is possible to catch yourself procrastinating, pause the autonomic response/pattern, and find ways of proceeding that cause less stress or anxiety. (I wrote here about two of my own experiences of procrastination.)
- Mammals share 7 common forms of emotional arousal (seeking, play, lust, care; fear, panic/loss, rage), according to brain research
- There’s a man in Spain who has spent his life looking after vultures
- The principle of synchronicity:
7. What did you get reminded of?
- Onboarding a new boss four years ago (HT Ian)
- Liberating structures: What I Need From You, 1–2–4-all, and What, So what, Now what
- Speed-Dating Feedback — a great activity for teams
- The difference between empathy and sympathy (HT Brene Brown and Elizabeth Van Sickel) and between empathy and compassion (also here)
- The difference between accountability that is focused on the past, which is often perceived as something negative and punitive, and a more positive, forward-looking accountability (HT Keith Hadley):
- rands’ framework of organics and mechanics for discussing/understanding how people differ in the amount of structure they like (HT Linus Flink). I’d forgotten this model, even though I’d used it to self-assess myself (see #8 in here).
8. What poems touched you?
- At home, by David Whyte
- Gratitude, by David Whyte
- The Magic in me, by Peter Levine & Maggie Kline
- The Prelude, by William Wordsworth:
“The earth is all before me. With a heart
Joyous, nor scared at its own liberty,
I look about; and should the chosen guide
Be nothing better than a wandering cloud,
I cannot miss my way.”
9. What books did you read?
- The Essential Dogen: Writings of the Great Zen Master, edited by
Kazuaki Tanahashi and Peter Levitt
10. What was fun?
- Camping with friends
- Ten-pin bowling
11. What did you enjoy?
- Rainbows over Cambridge and West Kirby
- The smell of fresh basil
- Dancing
- Seeing a hedgehog in our garden
- Watching the super blue moon rising from our house
- Walking through Paradise woods in Cambridge
12. What are you looking forward to in September?
- A two-day masterclass on ‘Therapeutic Presence, Rhythm, and Connection’ in Somatic Experiencing with Peter Levine
- The Wonder of Wood — the annual Cambridge woodcraft fair
- Agile Cambridge, where I’m giving a talk on how to disagree well
- Running sessions with four of our management teams on: psychological safety, team health, priorities, and ways of working
