The Chain, Allington

A proper Spring day today. I think the first time I've walked anywhere without wearing a coat for months. Now when the sun does shine you can begin to feel the warmth on your skin. It does lift the spirits so much.
Read a brilliant article about confidence by the journalist Sathnam Sanghera in the business pages of The Times yesterday. He was saying that quite a lot of people at the top management level in businesses have too much confidence in their abilities and so therefore very rarely accept that they have made a mistake or listen to other people (especially these in positions beneath them that really know what they are doing).
He mentions a book by a business physchologist who does a great job of dismantling the cult of confidence. He points out that those people with lower levels of confidence are often more motivated, more self-aware, more realistic, more likeable and more likely to improve, whereas people who are seen as over-confident can often be obnoxious, stubborn and believe only in their own opinion.
Unfortunately, in this country a lot of businesses choose this kind of person to be at the top of their departments and organisations. It's still very much the culture to promote or employ the over-confident loudmouth than someone more thoughtful, quietly intelligent and very competent.
I've come across quite a few people in management positions in my working life who are more of the former than the latter. It's when you do get a great manager or department head that they stand out and you learn to appreciate them because they can be as rare as hen's teeth.
The worst ones take on quite a few, equally bad, forms - the narcissist, the shouter, the belittler, the non-listener, the buck-passer, the credit taker (when you've done all the work), the non - praiser to name but a few! If you're really unlucky, and I have been once or twice, then they are a volatile combination of all these elements.
With today's shot I was trying to capture the feeling of Spring sunshine filtering through the shadows. What made it even better was I was just about to enjoy a lovely cold pint of lager!