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I report on one of my most instructive chess losses in my life. And that’s a lot of chess losses. Its lessons go far beyond the chess board.

The painful experience took place in the last match of the season in Division one of the Stockport Chess League.
But before I go further, I should mention why it reminds me of an old story about the boiled frog. The story, now accepted as a metaphor not a scientifically fact, is about a frog placed in a saucepan of cold water remains happy as its surroundings warm up, and is eventually boiled. 

But, and here’s the point, if the water is heated first and the frog popped in, it tries to escape. The metaphor has been used to suggest humans like frogs are unaware of gradual changes, until it’s too late to do anything about it.

In my lesson on how to win a chess game from a losing position, I recommend acting, immediately after you make a blunder, by immediately looking for a rescue plan, looking for a way of jumping out of the pot of water.

In other words, making a mistake at chess is the wake-up call to use another cliche. 

So, on to the story of my crushing defeat ...

[Prepared for anyone interested in chess or boiled frogs]

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Happy Birthday , CAIM

Creativity and innovation management journal has been an important part of my life for over 30 years. This year, the journal celebrates its 30th birthday and I almost forgot to send a birthday card.  Instead, here is my podcast to all my friends at the journal.
If I go back in time, I remember that the journal came about after many years before when I practised my editing skills with an informal newsletter from Manchester business school. 

By then my cofounder was Susan Moger who was to become my life helpmate, and undoubtedly the leading partner through her dedication to the journal subsequently. 

Looking at an early copy,  brought back memories of the founders internationally of creativity as a subject of professional and academic interest. In on sense, it was the little brother to innovation which was already for more established. The editorial and advisory panels began to include  a Galaxy of talent, many of them distinguished professors and thought leaders. 
Early names included Chris Argyris of Harvard University who was later succeeded by Teresa Amabile. In the innovation field, my old friend John Bessant was also an early supporter. When I spoke to him recently, he told me of his interests which includes online courses for Guitar musicians. 
In Europe, The University of Twente was already active in technology, innovation and design, and Jan Buij was also a key figure and became a wonderful friend from the University of Delft.

Buffalo provided Sid Parnes, NYU Mo Stein, and several younger figures such as Mark Runco, founder of the Creativity Research Journal and now a distinguished figure in his own right. Professor Murakami in Japan helped the growing global reach of CIM.
The founding figures of the European Association for Creativity and Innovation were also lending their support. 

The more formal journal came about in a way that was described by Petra who had such an important role together with Olaf Fisscher in the early 2000s. Those of you who know the work at Manchester  will understand when I mean they represented a dream team, not only being creative but in their very different ways releasing the creativity of others ...

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Hi, how are you? I gaze at the approaching stranger? My mind goes blank.

 I manage to stop myself uttering the first words that came into my head. Sorry, do we know each other? 

Now he’s shaking my hand. Vigourously. He is gentleman of mature age, smiling, but not in a frenzied fashion. If anything, too well-dressed and groomed to be one of my close acquaintances. 

The family gathering for lunch at the Albatross had just ended.  He must’ve been one of the party at the next table. No, I’ve never seen him before in my life. I search for a suitable introduction. He is still shaking my hand. I look around for help, My other family members seemed to have backed away. I take the only action I can think of... 

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Should creativity and chess be included in the Olympic Games?

The immediate answer might be no. But as is often the case, the immediate answer might overlook some interesting discussion points.

Creativity actually does take place in a sort of Olympic Games, as does chess.
The Mind Sports Olympiad is a regular event. It has over 100 different competitions including Chess. There is also ItBackgammon, Scrabble, and Go as well as less familiar  games, such as Settlers of Catan, 7 Wonders, Dominion, and Carcassonne. It incorporates the Amateur Poker World Championship and exam-based competitions ranging from Memory and Sudoku to the Mental Calculations World Championship. 
There is even a sort of champion of champion event awarded each year to the player with the best results in five different competitions.

I took part in the Mind Sports Olympiad once, when the event was held in Manchester I performed well below medal-winning standard in the chess competition where I represented Wales for the first time beyond junior level ...

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Tudorama offers three favourite jokes about penguins.
Listeners are invited to send in their own jokes. You aren't confined to jokes about penguins ...

TR

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My story goes back to 2015.

I arrived early for the Executive Business Course at what was then the Manchester Business school. One of the executives had already arrived and was quietly working at a place he had chosen towards the back of the room,
I started to arrange my notes for the course on leadership and change management. It was part of the induction period for a new cohort of students
A closer glance revealed the early arrival as someone with a passing likeness to Vincent Kompany who at that time was Captain of Manchester City, and already one of the most famous faces in English sport.
We exchanged glances. He was examining me carefully. Still preoccupied, I made small talk. ‘I suppose people are telling you that you look like Vincent Kompany’ I said. He continued to scrutinise me without commenting.
At that moment I realised my mistake. It was indeed Vincent Kompany. If I had checked the class list, I would have not made what he must have assumed to have been a rather
crass joke.
Other members of the class began to arrive. The show had to go on. A few minutes later, I was introducing myself. It was not one one those courses which began with potted introductions for participants. That was done after the formation of the small working groups, each of which would work on a business project together.
It turned out the Vincent Kompany’s participation had been played down by the School by mutual agreement. As it was part-time programme, he was able to manage his day job with a certain level of flexibility of attendance. It turned out he was out of action. I can’t remember now if it had been injury-related or the result of temporary ban...

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This podcast is written for use as a mini-case in creative leadership. 

The news headlines for the past week have been dominated by a dispute between the BBC superstar football broadcaster Gary Lineker and his employers.
To be more precise,  Gary is a contracted freelance broadcaster not a permanent member of staff. This is a detail which may have added a complication to what is already a complex case.

Other figures who became involved were the Director General of the BBC, Tim Davie; the chairman of the BBC board, Richard Sharp; the Home Secretary: Suella Braverman; and the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

A critical event which makes a convenient starting point is a tweet by Gary Lineker strongly condemning the language and content of the immigration bill being introduced into Parliament by the Home Secretary Suella Braverman. 
He described the bill as immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people, and in language ‘that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s’ As was inevitable, his tweet produced a storm of discussion both for and against his tweet. His supporters broadly took the free speech argument . Opponents claimed he had himself deployed hate speech, by describing the government as operating with the methods of the Nazis.

The consequences are examined as a case example of creative leadership.

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March 2023

The death was announced this week of Dick Fosbury an American athlete who changed the  ways an entire sport is conducted and as a result wrote his name for ever into sporting history.

Fosbury used his new technique to win the gold medal from the High Jump at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, setting a new Games record of 2.24 metres in the process. His revolutionary approach became known as The  Fosbury Flop, and paved the way for the style to be universally adopted by future generations of athletes competing in the event.

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My thought for the day begins with verses from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 15 verses 1 and 18.

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.


Like all good thoughts for the day, mine is about something unexpected that happened to me recently.

I was returning home from an appointment at my tennis club early on Tuesday morning. On entering the house, I was greeted with the waft of scented carpet cleaner. Yes, the Gleam Team had arrived in my absence.
But my sense of well-being was quickly disturbed when I discovered a bag of rubbish from a pedal bin had found its way into the brown recycling bin for bottles, not the black bin for general household waste.
My arms are not long enough to retrieve the rubbish. After considerable unsuccessful effort I must admit I was wrathful and sorely grieved. I started texting a grievous message to the offender. 
I had to take the rubbish bag out of the brown bin which is only for glass or plastic bottles. Please remember to put the rubbish bag in the black bin in future.

Then a second thought occurred to me.
Yes, my grievous words would stir up anger, but would that help? Might it build up resentment ...

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The government has made stopping the small boats crossing the channel one of its five pledges on which to fight the next election. With opinion polls showing a continuing slump in support, will this turn out to be a political masterstroke, or a further blunder from a doomed administration? I seek the advice of Mandy, the hairdresser. 

Wednesday 8 March

9.00am

Seems to me this is a dog-whistle issue that triggers strong reactions rather than informed debate. This morning, I made that mental  note as Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 was beginning a phone-in programme on the boat issue.  I hear him use precisely that same metaphor.
His guest, a Conservative MP, had been selected as having concerns over the legislation.
‘People want to tell you you are wrong,  They want to have a fight with you not debate it’ she says.
The other guest, a Sun reporter, says it’s important for her readers, and that they  mostly support the planned legislation.
Callers to the program who followed also seemed mostly in favour of what I had described as a dog-whistle proposition.
One read out his prepared contribution. He concentrated on the millions of pounds being wasted on court cases, giving as an example  the one involving a person who said he wanted to stay in the country because of his cat.
Another used the ‘Britain is full’ argument, with the increasingly difficulties of arranging an appointment with a doctor, ambulance time waits, lengthening hospital waiting lists etc. 
A spokesperson for Conservative Home  said action needed, but the Government intends to open up legal routes. People are jumping the queue. Any sensible Govt has to look after its own people first.
At which point the discussion fell into squabbling. Campbell’s attempts to promote sequential rather than simultaneous contributions were not entirely successful. 
Perhaps in microcosm, the programme captures the heat and intensity of this debate, and the difficulty of changing  fixed beliefs other people hold. 

10.00am 
Campbell, anything but a quitter, now has a further hour of discussion with MPs and phone-in callers. Calm is now restored. The MPs start more politely, but quickly deteriorate into interrupting and disagreeing with each other. 
I leave for a close encounter with a hairdresser’s clippers, comforted that I had heard enough for the moment. But there the matter did not rest.

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