David Yau & Associates

Robin Williams in 'Good Will Hunting' This post is to reflect on the relationship between humour and me in helping conversations.    On reflection, I used to hold a slightly negative view on producing humour in helping conversations.  It is a kind of cheat — a way to avoid the real work, or to collude with the clients, or even to entertain them for the ‘5’ rating.  Humour, I believed, was what you used when you do not want to face something important. Looking back, that beli

I find myself asking this question more and more often in my coaching work.  Asking this question (with a tone out of curiosity and...

It has been a long while since I last wrote.   So much things have happened and there are a lot to reflect on. Let me first reflect on a...

I happened to come across again these 2 movies after I wrote my last post on 'Appreciating Defense'. The main characters in the movies...

Day 55 of the lockdown. The official announcement is that the restriction is being relaxed. But …. along with many others, our compound is still under lockdown without any news when or under what condition it will end. Ironically, such discrepancy frustrates people (me included) even more. In an attempt to 'take some control back', I am trying to derive some learning out of it. In the last post 'Shanghai Lockdown like a GRC' , I reflected on how similar the experienc

In the spring of 2022, I find myself like in a Group Relation Conference (GRC) of 900+ members in Shanghai. I am talking about the...

(Photo source - https://snapshotsforsoreeyes.com/2015/06/22/light-at-the-end/) Jimmy (pseudonym) told me (as the coach), ‘I am...

I reflected on the concept of ROLE in the last post – Why me again fixing the Wifi? I come across recently an unusual example in...

One day I found myself attempting to fix the Wifi at home again.  I was somehow annoyed with it.  ‘Why me again?’…. And I have already...

(Source: press.ikidane-nippon.com) An executive made a casual remark in a recent intact team development workshop, 'Smoking (together)...

(The psychological game – NIGYSOB – ‘Now I’ve got you, you son of a bitch’) This is another post which probably only my Cantonese readers...

My take on collusion (e.g. pleasing participants in developmental interventions) has been changing in the last few years. First, I was...

[Photo source unidentified.  Please advise if anyone knows.  I will add the source accordingly] In the ‘Journey to the West’ story (西游记),...

A reflection on a recent ‘learning miracle’. I conducted a day of group coaching with 5 executives in a business school program. ...

‘It is often safer to be in chains than to be free’ Franz Kafka I come across this quote on radio today. It explains so well how often...

'What is really going on?' -  It is the question often used in the Adaptive Leadership practice as well as in the psychodynamics...