Britons are battling existential anxiety due to Brexit, psychologist warns
The run up to 29 March means that many of us may be feeling the build-up of existential anxiety. We don’t have much choice but to push on through
The Year Psychology was Born...
Whilst it’s widely accepted that unconscious bias (UB) affects the rationality of organisational decision-making, most companies continue to deploy UB training only as part of circumscribed D&I efforts. By combining commercial argument and cutting edge cognitive science, we provide senior leaders with an unforgettable wake-up call about the ‘automatic brain’. Our aim is to shine a light on system-wide blindspots and identify processes that need de-bugging as a matter of urgency.
There is no consensus on the definition of resilience. Which means that advice on boosting resilience is a confusing mashup of psychological, physical and social factors. Our psycho-physiological approach, includes Firstbeat Technologies Heart Rate Variability (HRV) testing and provides an ‘audit’ of your resilience system to identify where you are fuelled up vs. where you are depleted – so you can make micro-changes to your lifestyle and return to equilibrium fast.
Perception is reality. For public figures and senior leaders, who they are and why, is as important to reputations as what they do and how they do it. It is easy to compartmentalise work and life, but to be authentic, personal brands must complement professional personas. Our approach identifies any psychological splits and guides you towards a clearly articulated, purpose-driven leadership story firmly grounded in the motto ‘esse quam videri’ (to be rather than to seem).
Flawless foundation, fashion forward clothes and killer heels wrapped around a shape-shifting body image, digesting a lifetime’s worth of unsolicited feedback against a kaleidoscopic backdrop of unrealistic beauty ideal images. Most women can speak rationally about their looks but how many are truly comfortable in their skins? If you struggle to ‘feel beautiful’, our decade-by-decade approach to the psychology of female beauty will help change that.
Up to 30% of all GP consultations are for ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ or physical symptoms for which there’s no medical reason. The cause is often psychological. Our time-limited, high-impact interventions are designed for otherwise high functioning individuals whose well-being is being compromised by MUS. This neuropsychological approach is informed by extensive experience treating pseudo-seizures, functional neurological symptoms (FNS) & persistent physical symptoms (PPS).
Cliches about men of a certain age are the stuff of parody. But this masks a psychological truism – the nagging restlessness felt by people in all walks of life between the ages of 45-55. The drivers that have fuelled success till then (financial security, status, mastery, recognition) are spent and a vague sense of dissatisfaction may surface about the way things have turned out. Our menopause & andropause interventions help you navigate this challenging transition with dignity.
We are truth tellers.
We believe in straight talking.
If we feel that you have what is takes to positively shift the way you think and operate, we will look to inject a degree of constructive tension into proceedings to create forward momentum.
This can mean that working with us isn’t always comfortable. We will be there to persuade, push, prod and persist until you are where you and your organisation want to be.
We don’t believe in creating dependencies.
For us, success is when you don’t need us anymore.
We are pathfinders.
Everything we do is bespoke.
We aim to help you navigate uncharted territory with confidence. People and the systems within which they operate are inherently complex so we won’t simplify issues where it doesn’t make sense to do so.
We operate with intellectual edge to equip you to effectively manage ambiguity. We won’t impose a superficial and artificial order on what is necessarily messy. But we will help you join-up-the-dots in a way that makes sense for you and your organisation.
We ground our work in here-and-now reality but our solutions are constructed to be rich in explanatory power and thus future-proof.
Hamira Riaz is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. With 2 doctorates and a specialism in neuropsychology, she designed and managed clinical services for Dementia, Epilepsy & Parkinson’s surgery, Head Injury, Gulf War Syndrome, NEAD (non-epileptic attack disorder) and other medically unexplained symptoms, first in the NHS and later the MoD.
On joining YSC (a global business consultancy) in 2004, Hamira made the transition to the corporate world where for almost a decade, she advised senior leaders in multi-national companies on talent strategy and benchmarking, executive assessment, coaching and leadership development. She now splits her time between the business world, creative industries, clinical practice and non-for-profit activity.
Hamira is unusual by virtue of a 25+ year career of two halves. Her practice is informed by the cross-fertilisation of experience from the fields of clinical and business psychology. She is known for the quality and boldness of her thinking, as well as the pragmatism and integrity of her approach to the people, processes and politics attendant to the diverse environments in which she works.
Hamira is a longstanding member of the British Psychological Society Media Panel. She has made numerous TV and radio appearances speaking about subjects ranging from women in leadership, celebrity branding and female beauty to narcissism, character assassination, abuse and self-harm. Most recently, as Resident Psychologist on Channel 5’s series “Mind the Age Gap”.
The run up to 29 March means that many of us may be feeling the build-up of existential anxiety. We don’t have much choice but to push on through
Ideas about female leaders have been imported to China from the West, but there are many aspects of the Chinese experience which don’t fit Western perspectives.
Following the recent publication of research on gender diversity from the 30% club, which campaigns to increase the representation of women on boards, Hamira Riaz talk to the report’s co-author, Rachel Short, director at business psychology consultancy YSC.
CEOs are waking up to the importance of social media in managing their personal brands as their company’s success may depend on it.
Psychometric instruments may be useful during the early parts of a career, but there is no substitute for honest self-inquiry in the senior ranks.
The John Wayne version of masculinity, that of a tough, strong man who does good works but shows little emotion, continues to have currency in the corporate world. But this archetype of manliness is under siege like never before.
Question: What does the fashion designer, artist and publisher of VERY magazine, Uscha Pohl, have in common with environmental engineer and founder of Water21, Julian Jones? Or, with Tony Allen, Professor of Geography, at King’s College London? Answer: A series of collaborations examining the impact of climate change on soil and water quality. Dr Hamira Riaz, clinical psychologist and business consultant, speaks with the mercurial woman who has created a new series of short documentary films, Flood and Drought.
There’s an assumption that every generation wants different things, but they want what we all want – more self-determination, choice and meaning.
When Scilla Elworthy, Jean Houston and Rama Mani first met in 2012, there was a perfect synchronicity of temperaments and ideas. Hamira Riaz talks to the three founders of Rising Women Rising World about the goals of this global community of remarkable women and the art of a life well lived.
‘I think therefore I am’ or ‘I am human therefore I am irrational’? Clinical psychologist and business consultant Dr Hamira Riaz looks at how cognitive psychology has busted the western myth of rationality.
1 Jan 1970
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