Articles & Anecdotes

Stories and ideas drawn from over 40 years working as an occupational psychologist and management trainer.

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Personal Blog

My personal blog is written as the mood takes me, on a whole variety of topics. Comment is actively encouraged.

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Bid for any original watercolour

I will accept offers (reserve £50) for any of my watercolours (they are all originals, not prints).  I donate the money raised to charities of my choice.  Simply click on Fundraising Watercolours and scroll down through the images.  They are unmounted and unframed.

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Dr. Peter Honey: A short biography

I am a lapsed chartered psychologist and founder of Peter Honey Publications Ltd (now owned by  Pearson).

After graduating, I worked for Ford Motor Company and then British Airways before becoming a freelance occupational psychologist in 1969 (yes, that long ago!). I have always focused on helping directors/senior executives to manage themselves and other people better (impossible to run out of clients!) and worked in organisations as diverse as the Bank of England, AstraZeneca, American Express, the Automobile Association, ICI, ICL, UKAEA and Ford.

I am ‘respectable’ – a Fellow of the RSA and, until recently, the CIPD.  I was a founder member of the distinguished group that produced A Declaration on Learning.

I am a dedicated lifelong learner and, rather to my surprise, a popular conference speaker.  I am also a prolific author, writing frequent blogs and over 20 books including:

  • The Manual of Learning Styles (with Alan Mumford)
  • Developing Interactive Skills (with Neil Rackham)
  • 21 Questionnaires for Personal Development
  • Explore Your Values
  • Teams and Teamwork
  • How to Manage Your Learning Environment (with Alan Mumford)
  • Valuing Diversity
  • 101 Ways to Develop Your People, Without Really Trying!
  • Problem People and How to Manage Them
  • Improve Your People Skills
  • 50 Cautionary Tales for Managers
  • Strengthen Your Strengths

All my work has two enduring themes; learning and behaviour.  Fortunately, neither of these has a sell-by date.  Helping people to learn from their experiences and to interact with others more effectively, will always be relevant.

My most recent book (co-authored with Sir Christopher Ball) is That Strange Necessity; Visions of Portmeirion published in 2015.  Besides contributing to the text, I produced all the illustrations.

Latest Article

Music, the confessions of a low middlebrow

  Last night I was at Wigmore Hall listening to a concert given by Iestyn Davies (countertenor) and Thomas Dunford (lute) and, not for the first time, I reflected on my musical likes and dislikes. My wife and I often go to Wigmore — certainly once a week, sometimes twice — so I have plenty of time to mull things over.  Particularly so this week when, in addition to last night’s concert, I will have listened to music performed at […]

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Latest Blog

The Delay

Seat belts were fastened and we were ready to go when the captain announced our departure would be delayed.  She explained that a group of Japanese tourists were held up in immigration, but that their luggage had already been loaded into the hold.  She assured us the delay would only be a matter of a few minutes. I turned to my neighbour who was gazing at his wrist watch, an ostentatiously expensive  Breitling, as if doing so might speed things […]

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