So you go into a meeting/workshop/tutorial room feeling on top of your game… looking forward to your session…and positive interaction – and then you spot them.

Sitting slightly away from everyone else, they will be demonstrably engrossed in their smart phone, i-pad or incredibly pressing work. Yes, they are a member of that global tribe, who turn up when least expected or needed … the lesser-spotted Determinedly Difficult Person.

A couple of weeks ago, I had one of these in a group. She was on the offensive from the outset – maybe to do with me, or maybe to do with her having better things to do (the big boss had organized the session).

She’d run workshops and presentations herself she said, but we differed fundamentally over what this meant. Hers was that this involves ‘exercising power and control over the audience’. Call me lily-livered, but mine was about ‘hoping to be mildly influential and engage people’.

She works in a singular role in Continue reading →