Can we assume that US tests fit New Zealanders?

The population of New Zealand is quite diverse (Massey University, 2026), and I think we like to think of ourselves as being a very diverse country. Statistics from 2023 show that our ethnic percentages were 68% NZ Europeans; 18% Māori; 17% Asians; 9% Pasifika; and 2% "Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African (MELAA)” (Massey University, 2026). Interestingly, if we compare ourselves with the population of the US, Americans are more diverse than we are, with 62% Europeans; 1% American Indian; 6% Asian people; 19% others; and 12% African Americans (US Census Bureau, 2021). We can see by the pie charts accompanying this post, that - at a quick glance - the USA's population profile looks similar to Aotearoa.

But only at a quick glance. Yes, both populations contain roughly two thirds European peoples, but the US has a greater number and range of the 'other' nationalities, along with a longer shared history. I was staggered to see that only 1% of the US population is American Indian, compared to New Zealand with far more Māori and Pasifika people, lending New Zealand a very different cultural make-up (Fischer, 2012; Kennedy, 2001). Only 14% of US citizens were born elsewhere (Daftari, 2024); in Aotearoa close to 30% of our citizens were born offshore (Statistics New Zealand, 2024). I wonder if it is migration which makes our society feel more vibrant, even though, going by the pie charts, Aotearoa is less diverse than America.

So why am I exploring this? Well, there are very few home-grown career assessments - CareerEQ (2026) is one, but I think I am correct in saying that has sprung from a number of offshore instruments. So when New Zealand career practitioners want to use an instrument with a client, we can nearly guarantee that we will be using one designed and normalised in the US. Just to provide some scale, around 4000 assessment tools have been evaluated by Buros - a not-for-profit independent test review centre at the University of Nevada (read more here; 2026) - since the 1930s. While I do not have hard evidence, I would think that close to 99% of them would have been developed in the USA. Few instruments are likely to have been normalised for use in New Zealand: the USA has 340m people; we have 5m. These numbers clearly show there is little gain for the companies creating the instruments. 

Why does that matter? Well, when using US-normalised career assessments in New Zealand, we might feel that – providing tests have been scrutinised and independently tested – they will be accurate (Zunker & Osborn, 2016). And that, as long as we consider test norms, reliability, and validity (Zunker & Osborn, 2016), and follow our codes of ethics (CATE, 2025; CDANZ, 2016), any testing we do for our clients should be valid and reliable.

But we know that the US population is not identical to ours (Massey University, 2025; US Census Bureau, 2021). And New Zealand is without a national independent, organisation like Buros who could to evaluate and certify any tests we created here, or who could normalise the test results of those US instruments used here to be sure they would fit our people (Young, 2022). And that may mean that tests created in the USA may not be such a good cultural fit for New Zealanders.

We practitioners must remain cautious in using tests created elsewhere; to only use them as a general lens for our client to view themselves with, but not as an accurate measure.

Sam

References:

Buros. (2026). What does the Buros Center for Testing do?. https://buros.org/resources/faq/

CareerEQ. (2026). Home. https://www.careereq.nz/

CATE. (2025). Code of Ethics. Career and Transition Educators. https://www.cate.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/CATE-Code-of-Ethics.pdf

CDANZ. (2016). Code of Ethics. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://cdanz.org.nz/ModularPage?Action=View&ModularPage_id=26

Daftari, A. (2024, September 12). Percentage of Foreign-Born Residents in US Hits Highest Level Since 1910. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/percentage-foreign-born-residents-us-highest-level-1952874

Fischer, D. H. (2012). Fairness and freedom: a history of two open societies, New Zealand and the United States. Oxford University Press.

Kennedy, J. C. (2008). Leadership and Culture in New Zealand. In J. S. Chhokar, F. C. Brodbeck, R. J. House, (Eds.), Culture and Leadership Across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-depth Studies of 25 Societies (pp. 397-429). Psychology Press.

Massey University. (2026). Ethnic Profile [Environmental Health Intelligence New Zealand (EHINZ)]. https://www.ehinz.ac.nz/indicators/population-vulnerability/ethnic-profile

Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Statistics New Zealand. (2024, October 3). Census results reflect Aotearoa New Zealand’s diversity. https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/census-results-reflect-aotearoa-new-zealands-diversity/

US Census Bureau (2021, August 12). Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html

Young, S. (2022). Culturally appropriate assessment considerations. https://www.samyoung.co.nz/2022/08/culturally-appropriate-assessment.html

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Catchphrases ride again!

Already it is time for another lot of catchphrases. Having written about these before (here), I continue to record those items I stumbled across since my last update.

Ah: the old NZI add. The Aussies are always stealing New Zealand icons, remember; so, to avoid people "stealing your stuff" we need to be insured (Phlashman, 2007, 0:23). This one has been used in various butchered forms in our family, but usually just "someone's always stealing your stuff".

Then,  from 1975 on, there is the Australian/New Zealand Telethon jingle, "Thank you very much for your kind donation" (Nostalgia Duck, 2018), and - as the first Telethon producer was shipped in from Perth (Perry, 1992; Tennant, 2013) - that was how the Aussie jingle was absorbed into New Zealand culture. Telethon TV ratings in Aotearoa sometimes "exceeded 70 per cent of the population" with per capita donations [in] 1978" reaching NZD$3m on a population of three million people, gaining entry into the Guinness Book of Records (Perry, 1992, p. 18). An accidental recent reminder when hearing a British Roses chocolates ad, where they had ...er ...repurposed the Telethon jingle which has become ubiquitous in the UK, with the Brits not realising its Antipodean roots (Business Education Resources, 2022, 9.46). 

Most Kiwis would be utterly sure that the KFC cartoon ad - "The cows and the sheep and the birds and the horses were mooing and baaing in and whistling and neighing; having lunch in the sun, while Hugo and I were having none, in the back seat, we sat: getting thinner..." (eat4freeatkfc, 2010) - was a Kiwi ad. But while we all knew the words to "Hugo Said You Go", it was in fact created by Aussie ad house, Zap Productions, and used in Australia (New Zealand on Screen, 2026a).

The New Zealand Milk Promotion Council, to the tune of Grieg's Morning Mood (Op 23, from Peer Gynt), advertised the white gold to us all, with "Morning girls!" "Where are we going?" "Milking. With Murray" (New Zealand on Screen, 2026b). And woe-betide any family friends called Murray. They were regaled with "Where are we going?" in a bovine voice to the refrain of "Milking. With Murray", which seemed to never get old... to us.

I have no idea why the Chef pet food ad refrain, "Snowy, Tiger, Jellimeat for dinner!" stuck in our collective family consciousness. But it did. And it is how we would announce mealtimes in our family. There is some confusion in general as to whether the names are "Snowy, Tiger", or "Joey, Tiger" (New Zealand 1980s memories, 2025); but in our family it was definitely assumed that this was "Snowy" and "Tiger". Hmm. And as Chef advertising tended to go for common pet names, white cats tend to be called "Snowy"; it seems more likely that the name was/is "Snowy".

Then there was "Well, I think we've done enough for a Mallowpuff" from the Griffin's biscuit ad (DigitaliseMe, 2022, 0:31). We often had done enough, we felt ;-)

Sam

References:

Business Education Resources. (2022, December 9). Secret World Of Christmas Chocolate S02E06 [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/QDa3QpxlFxQ?si=3f0QBRLIgVE-uKSl

DigitaliseMe. (2022, October 31). Mallowpuffs 1993 Nz Ad [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/PZ1yOguHLSs

eat4freeatkfc. (2010, June 17). Kentucky Fried Chicken Commercial - Hugo & Holly [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/0YtAVIGq1ko

New Zealand 1980s memories and 1990s Memories's post [sic]. (2025, January 29). Meeeoooow [Facebook]. https://www.facebook.com/nz80s/posts/meeeoooow/1037464791750870/

New Zealand On Screen. (2026a). Hugo and Holly - Kentucky Fried Chicken: Commercial (Full Length) – 1975. https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/kfc-hugo-and-holly

New Zealand On Screen. (2026b). Till the Cows Come Home: Commercial (Full Length) – 1981. https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/till-the-cows-come-home-1981

Nostalgia Duck (2018, March 29). Telethon NZ - Thank You Very Much For Your Kind Donation [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/SaWkfmmmjDQ

Perry, N. (1994). The Dominion of Signs: Television, advertising and other New Zealand fictions. Auckland University Press.

Phlashman. (2007, February 1). Someone always wants to steal your stuff!!! [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Pn_AfVS0IWY

Tennant, M. (2013). Fun and fundraising: the selling of charity in New Zealand's past. Social History, 38(1), 46-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071022.2013.755390

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The power of his voice

The horror in the film, Gaslight (Cukor, 1944), really stuck in my Mother's memory: she spoke often about it, and watched the film with me, so I was familiar with the plot when the term "gaslighting" was a runner up word of the year (Oxford Languages, 2018). Defined as "The action of manipulating someone by psychological means into accepting a false depiction of reality or doubting their own sanity" (Oxford Languages, 2018), gaslighting is very hard to counter.

Last year I watched a clip about a reader (Jonathan, 2025) who was encountering The Lord of the Rings for the first time, and who vlogged his thoughts on the books as he went (First Timers, 2025). And when he got to the Wizard Gandalf bearding the captive Saruman in Orthanc, Jonathan felt that Saruman was gaslighting everyone in the party, with Gandalf's approach being a potential antidote for Saruman's gaslighting: "Beware of his voice!" (Tolkien, 1954, p. 752) Gandalf warns those who will accompany him.

The company goes to Orthanc, summons Saruman, and: 

"Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves" (p. 754).

Saruman works through the company, tempting, seeking out individual weaknesses, looking for a way out. At last, not having deceived Gimli, Eomer or Theoden, Saruman tries to have Gandalf enter Orthanc, who responds with humour:

"Gandalf laughed. The fantasy vanished like a puff of smoke. ‘Saruman, Saruman!’ said Gandalf still laughing. ‘Saruman, you missed your path in life. You should have been the king’s jester and earned your bread, and stripes too, by mimicking his counsellors. Ah me!’ he paused, getting the better of his mirth. ‘Understand one another? I fear I am beyond your comprehension. But you, Saruman, I understand now too well. I keep a clearer memory of your arguments, and deeds, than you suppose. When last I visited you, you were the jailor of Mordor, and there I was to be sent. Nay, the guest who has escaped from the roof, will think twice before he comes back in by the door" (p. 759).

Then Gandalf is merciful to Saruman, saying if he comes down, he is free to go. But Saruman is imprisoned by his own poison (Tolkien, 1954).

Despite having read LOTR many times, I had not thought of Saruman's oratory techniques of divide and conquer as gaslighting, but I think Jonathan has called it well (2025; First Timers, 2025). 

But to counter gaslighting, we need a company of friends around us - to divide the gaslighter's attention - in order to beard a gaslighter in their lair. We need have emotional distance and back ourselves. We need to keep our head; to focus on the facts and to trust our memory; to respond with genuine humour; and to be merciful. 

We have to know that the flickering of the light is real.

Sam

References:

First Timers. (2025, June 12). This is Tolkien's SOLVE for Gaslighting and Manipulation [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/WL0aneHoIvY

Jonathan. (2025). About First Time Readers. Substack. https://firsttimereaders.substack.com/about

Oxford Languages. (2018). Word of the Year 2018: Shortlist. https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2018-shortlist/

Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954). The Two Towers: Being the second part of The Lord of the Rings. Allen & Unwin.

Cukor, G. (Director). (1944). Gaslight [film]. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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Projected international population change

If you have not yet watched the documentary by Shaw (2025), Birthgap, I strongly recommend it. I felt it connected many disparate elements for me in understanding why so many of us are not having children.

For population stability, our replacement rate needs to be 2.1. However, with replacement rates at 1.50, the UK is well under that (Economics Help UK, 2024, 1:15), and quite similar to the population replacement rate in Aotearoa New Zealand, at 1.52 (Spoonley, 2024). Further, the UK replacement rate is projected to drop to 1.2 by 2050, leaving one person working for every retiree (Economics Help UK, 2024, 5:18). Crikey. Imagine the impact of having only one taxpayer for each retired person!

There are a number of drivers attributed to our population reduction: the cost of raising children; the cost of housing; access to family planning; the increasing percentage of women in the workforce; and climate change (Economics Help UK, 2024; BBC, 2025). Additionally, market research indicates that our stated drivers - such as finance - may not really be survey participants' 'real' reasons: often what we attribute our choices to may be masked by finer, complex, societal nuances. For example, the documentary (Shaw, 2025) showed what a big player global crises are in young people either getting into relationships, or postponing parenthood, by illustrating the number of Japanese who postponed having children due to the oil shocks of the mid-1970s. A similar drop in birthrate followed the global financial crisis of 2007 (Shaw, 2025, 21:09), and - as I understand it - has followed the Covid-19 pandemic (Winkler-Dworak et al., 2024).

As well as the global shocks, culture is another likely factor, where mothers "must be prepared to sacrifice [themselves] and [their] self-interests and selfish desires" (Símonardóttir, 2024, p. 470) in order to have a family, with the pressure of excellence meaning "Inhuman stress is placed on people, especially mothers" (p. 471). And perhaps that should read "inhumane". 

I was particularly struck by how many men in the documentary seemingly indulged in magical thinking, that they still had plenty of time to get married, despite the fact that they were already in their late 30s (Shaw, 2025, an example at 1:07:00). Additionally, education is both expensive AND necessary for our children to be successful in a modern world, delaying our ability to be parents until our own educational investment/opportunity cost has generated a return.

Declining fertility is not often mentioned in other sources (Economics Help UK, 2024), however, Shaw tackles it, discovering what he calls the "vitality curve", where the intersection of new mothers and fathers by their age shows that as the age of first child increases, the fewer children are had by the parents overall (2025, 1:02:52). Really, this intersectionality should not be a surprise, but it seems to show that decisions to postpone parenthood may mean we really cannot have it all.

The most striking aspect of the documentary is our apparent individual powerlessness to reverse this trend (Shaw, 2025). This will take a whole-of-society approach, and I worry that we have little political will to do that... even more so because those of us who are older are still voting, and who is going to vote themselves out of their own 'well-earned' retirement?

Are we self-less enough?

Sam

References:

BBC News. (2025, August 12). How will falling birth rates affect the global economy? | BBC News [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/goVElusmeac

Economics Help UK. (2024, August 5). Why UK Population Is Set to Fall Much Faster Than Forecast [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/I5kcbEK-qAc

Shaw, S. J. (Writer, Director, Producer). (2025, September 19). Birthgap [documentary film, Torch Pictures]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/m2GeVG0XYTc

Símonardóttir, S. (2024). “Unless I could be like the typical dad”: Exploring parenthood through the perspective of the voluntarily childfree. Acta Sociologica, 67(4), 463-477. https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993241260608

Spoonley, P. (2024, May 27). NZ is changing faster than the census can keep up – the 4 big trends to watch. Radio New Zealand. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/517937/nz-is-changing-faster-than-the-census-can-keep-up-the-4-big-trends-to-watch

Winkler-Dworak, M., Zeman, K., & Sobotka, T. (2024). Birth rate decline in the later phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of policy interventions, vaccination programmes, and economic uncertainty. Human Reproduction Open, 2024(3), hoae052. https://doi.org/10.1093/hropen/hoae052

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How to source a Whakataukī

A student contacted me, wanting to use a Whakataukī (effectively a Māori 'proverb', but the meaning is more 'sharing of a cultural treasure' than something as prosaic as a folk saying) in an assignment, but had found two versions, with two different translations.

The first they found on the Umbrella Learning site, which read "E hara taku toa I te toa takitahi, he toa takitini" (2025), and was translated as "My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective"; the second from Inspiring Communities (2018), "Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini", and translated as "My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, it was not individual success but the success of a collective".

Neither of the sources the student had found struck me as being particularly expert. So I suggested that the student do a GoogleScholar search for each of the two versions of the quote, putting each Whakataukī in double quote marks, so the exact text string was sought each time (i.e. "E hara taku toa I te toa takitahi, he toa takitini" and "Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini")​ and see what they could find. The reason I suggested a GoogleScholar search is because any sources they found - books or articles - are more likely to be peer-reviewed - so are therefore more reliable, verifiable, valid and, theoretically, more accurate. I wanted them to find a sound source where the interpretation was robust; or, even more important for a Whakataukī, a source with mana. With gravitas.

If they found nothing, I suggested they repeat both searches in their favourite search engine, and see if they could at least find more of a consensus on both the Māori language version and the English translation, and would hopefully find a somewhat more reliable source. 

Luckily, GoogleScholar turned up a great example, complete with appropriate diacriticals: 

"Ēhara tāku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini" from a paper by Quigan et al. (2021, p. 283), with the translation provided, "My strength is not mine alone, but that of many" (p. 284).

Even better, the source of this saying was explained as being from the "Pāterangi of Ngāti Kahungunu, who maintained that collective effort of many was necessary for the completion of any task" (p. 284). That suited my student's uses nicely.

It is always worth looking for where something comes from. 

Sam

References:

Inspiring Communities. (2018). Whakatauki information sheet. https://inspiringcommunities.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Inspiring-Communities--Whakatauki-information-sheet.pdf

Quigan, E. K., Gaffney, J. S., & Si’ilata, R. (2021). Ēhara tāku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini: the power of a collective. Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 16(2), 283-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/1177083X.2021.1920434

Umbrella Learning. (2025). Introduction to Te Whare Tapa Whā. https://learning.umbrella.org.nz/enrollments/283188040/page/1064978659

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Defining survivor guilt

Interestingly, years ago when I worked for a large corporate, significant organisational change came along with a new CEO, who reversed the expansionist approach of the previous incumbent. Staff were made redundant all around me, yet I still remained, suffering survivor guilt. I even called it survivor guilt, although I didn't know then that survivor guilt (Fimiani et al., 2021; Russell, 2021) was actually a 'thing'. I felt terrible to be still within the organisation while my colleagues all had to go. There were three rounds of redundancy and I survived each round, but each time my psychological contract (Maguire, 2003) with the organisation was damaged a little more...

Guilt in general has evolved over the past century or so to be considered "an interpersonally driven emotion based on feelings of care for important others [in our lives] and on the need to preserve one’s own bonds with them" (Fimiani et al., 2021, p. 2). So if that is guilt; what is survivor guilt? These are "the feelings of guilt that [we] may experience when [we have] escaped disasters or other traumatic events" (Fimiani et al., 2021, p. 1). Survivor guilt may occur "even when the individual has no real power to influence the situation" (p. 3); in fact, I wonder if it arises more so when we lack control. While survivor guilt is often linked to times where others have lost their lives - after disasters, wars, or other catastrophes - and we have not, this effect is not limited to a deadly outcome. 

So survivor guilt arises from the "empathic concern" we have for someone we know who is "in distress combined with a feeling of responsibility for that distress that is felt even when the person has no responsibility or power to change the situation" (Fimiani et al., 2021, p. 2). Survivor guilt is "connected to the violation of the principle of equity" (p. 3). We feel it is not fair that we still have a job while our colleagues are axed around us. But more than that, our colleagues get to move on, while we may remain preserved in aspic; or our own pain. 

We can end up in a place where we exhibit "irrational self-sacrificing behaviors" (p. 2), and need ensure we process our feelings. Otherwise they can toxify our work relationships, and further erode our psychological contract with our organisation, until we have backed ourselves into a corner and have to leave (Maguire, 2003). 

Sam

References:

Fimiani, R., Gazzillo, F., Dazzi, N., & Bush, M. (2022). Survivor guilt: Theoretical, empirical, and clinical features. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 31(3), 176-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/0803706X.2021.1941246

Maguire, H. (2003). The changing psychological contract: challenges and implications for HRM, organisations and employees. In R. Wiesner & B. Millett (Eds.), Human Resource Management: Challenges and Future Directions (pp. 87-103). John Wiley & Sons.

Russell, H. (2021). How to Be Sad: Everything I’ve Learned About Getting Happier, by Being Sad, Better [e-book]. 4th Estate.

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So what is Maslow's hammer?

If you have not heard of "Maslow's hammer" before, you still may have heard the saying "it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail" (Maslow, 1966, p. 15-16). This is the saying known as Maslow's hammer.

Maslow is talking about our practice becoming formulaic and process-oriented. So whenever a new client comes in, and we get them to complete the O*Net Inventory. We forget to see the client in front of us for who they are as people, and what their unique needs are. As others have said, it is a "human tendency to be overreliant on a familiar tool to the exclusion of other potentially more appropriate tools" (Giangreco, 2021, p. 281). This human tendency is also known as 'solutionism', where we forget "to consider the appropriateness of [our] solutions" for the situation we find ourselves in, and the client we are with (Looi et al., 2021, p. 2).

So instead, let us begin by being client-centred in our practice, and first having a kōrero with our client and finding out what they would like to achieve. We might need a screw driver. Or a polishing cloth. Or a mirror. We might need the hammer, but much later, after we have used our tweezers :-)

Abraham Maslow was a US industrial psychologist who has become famous for his Hierarchy of Needs diagram (read more here). And I think there is another layer to the Maslow's hammer saying: I think our training can also make us blind. For example, sand is likely to appear as: a liquid ingredient to a glass blower; an abrasive to a carpenter; a resting place to a swimmer; a mandala base to a Buddhist monk, and a former mountain to a geologist. Our perspective - our training - can also colour what we see.

Staying creative, staying in the moment and being present with our client can help us, to help our client to see.

Because when we see a client, it is not about us. It is about the person who has come to us for advice. And if we can stay focused on that, we are much less likely to use a hammer regardless of what job we are aiming to deliver.

Sam

References:

Giangreco, M. F. (2021). Maslow’s hammer: Teacher assistant research and inclusive practices at a crossroads. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 36(2), 278-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2021.1901377

Looi, J. C., Bonner, D., & Maguire, P. (2021). Maslow’s hammer: considering the perils of solutionism in mental healthcare and psychiatric practice. Australasian Psychiatry, 29(6), 687-689. https://doi.org/10.1177/10398562211005438

Maslow, A. (1966). The Psychology of Science: A reconnaissance. Gateway Editions, Ltd.

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Replacing Word's non-breaking space

After all these years, I had finally become motivated enough to want to find out just what that little degree symbol meant when Word formatting was toggled on, and whether I needed it. And what I mean is text like this:

with a°50%°SS on one question

This is the degree symbol, which appears to have no other 'official' name (Waddingham, 2014), though apparently it was once called a "gradus" in Latin referring to steps, having many technical and scientific uses, such as temperature, angles, co-ordinates (Symbol Wiki, 2025; Webb, 2018). It is also a 'glyph' not a diacritical, from the Greek, 'carving' (Webb, 2018): what we also know as a pictogram. 

What I didn't realise is that the degree symbol which shows when Word formatting is toggled on is equivalent to " " in html: a non-breaking space (Certent Help, 2021). IT Trip says that "A standard space (ASCII code 32) tells Word that it’s okay to move to a new line at that point if needed. A nonbreaking space (ASCII code 160), on the other hand, instructs Word to keep the adjacent text together on one line" (2025). When we "notice a tiny circle in place of a regular space" because we have toggled on the Pilcrow (¶), we are seeing "a nonbreaking space. The symbol typically looks like a degree sign (°), and if [we] try to delete it as if it were standard text, it can behave unpredictably" (IT Trip, 2025). That is because the non-breaking space often joins things together that it does not make sense for them to be split up, such as a title and a name, an ellipsis, or large, formatted numbers (e.g. Sir Graham Henry; ...; $5 billion). 

If we end up with funny clumps of text that will not break over a line, we can fix it. We simply use find and replace. So, to find and replace non-breaking spaces, which shows as a degree symbol when Word formatting has been toggled on, we simply: 

1. highlight the text we want to replace the non-breaking spaces
2. open Word's Find and Replace box (Ctrl & H), then 
3. key ^s (caret, lower case s) into the "Find what" box
4. key one tap of the spacebar into the "Replace with" box
5. Click the Replace All button

We have now replaced all non-breaking spaces with standard spaces.

However, if we want to key a degree sign on our keyboard, we hold the Alt key down and key 0176. We get a °. 

And finally, if we want to add a non-breaking space in Word we simply highlight the standard space we want to replace with a non-breaking space, and key Ctrl, Shift and Spacebar (Wright, 2025).

I think that covers it!

Sam

References:

Certent Help. (2021). Non-breaking space. https://dm.certent.com/help/Content/D_Draft/Format/nonbreaking_space.htm

IT Trip. (2025, April 10). How to Remove or Replace Nonbreaking Spaces in Word for Perfect Document Formatting. https://en.ittrip.xyz/ms-office/word/remove-nonbreaking-space

Symbol Wiki. (2025). Degree Sign Symbol °. https://symbolwiki.com/en/degree-sign

Waddingham, A. (Ed.) (2014). New Hart's Rules: The Oxford style guide (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Webb, S. (2018). Clash of Symbols: A Ride Through the Riches of Glyphs. Springer International Publishing AG.

Wright, E. (2025). How to Insert Nonbreaking Spaces in Microsoft Word. https://erinwrightwriting.com/how-to-insert-nonbreaking-spaces-in-microsoft-word/

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Have you heard of the Ringelmann effect?

I was listening to a podcast last year (Agnew, 2025), and the Ringelmann effect was mentioned. My ears pricked up: a new theory! This effect is named after some late 19th century agricultural engineering research (in the 1880s), which showed that, as team size increases, member contributions drop; or how "individual effort [decreases] when performing in groups as compared to when [members] perform alone" (Kravitz & Martin, 1986, p. 936, citing Latane et al., 1979, p. 822; Ringelmann, 1913). It is the first study of social loafing... sort of.

When studying how processes and group productivity relate, these human factors efficiency experiments showed that group members working together on a rope pull meant that each person could put in significantly less effort than when if they were working alone (Ringelmann, 1913; Kravitz & Martin, 1986)... which is entirely logical. We go from an individual maximum strain to being able to do things more safely, with shared responsibility. That to me is the power of numbers; the benefit of working together which allows us to minimise individual harm.

But. As we add more people to our group, the collective becomes less efficient: teams become less productive as they get bigger. There is a sweet spot for team size (Kravitz & Martin, 1986, after Ringelmann, 1913)... and this too is logical. If not everyone can get a grip on the rope, collective returns decrease. No surprises there, either, with Ringelmann noting "coordination loss" (according to Kravitz & Martin, 1986, p. 936). For the rope pull, more than 7 people was where coordination loss outweighed productivity for manual handling (Ringelmann, 1913).

And, if we have ever tried to co-ordinate a group meeting, we will all know that the larger a group is, the harder it is to get everyone aligned and free at the same time. In my experience - NB: I have no empirical evidence for this! - the sweet spot for co-ordinating a team is somewhere between three and five people.

However, I hesitate to say that Ringelmann's theory (1913) is about social loafing. My take on this is on optimisation: together we maximise collective safe physical effort, getting the job done without anyone busting a gut; until the group becomes too unwieldy to manage.

Sam

References:

Agnew, P. (2025, September). Why (often) you’re less effective in a team [Podcast]. Nudge. https://pod.link/1457621005/episode/ZjA3MzU2ZjQtOGUyNS0xMWYwLTk2ZmEtZjcyYjk0NzkzZjUx

Kravitz, D., & Martin, B. (1986). Ringelmann Rediscovered: The Original Article. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(5), 936-941. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.50.5.936

Ringelmann, M. (1913). Recherches sur les moteurs animés: Travail de l'homme [Research on animate sources of power: The work of man]. Annales de l'Institut National Agronomique, 2(12), 1-40. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54409695.image.f14.langEN

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Are LLM apps the 'man behind the curtain'?

I have noticed more and more that people are using AI apps to put together text for novel situations. For example, a colleague of mine recently used the Open AI app, ChatGPT, to write a response to a student complaint, and the resulting answer was a superb piece of sympathetic, supportive writing intended to smooth those ruffled feathers. The response was read for sense, edited to suit our context, and emailed out. It seemed to work in practice, as well.

Personally, the idea of pasting another's email into such an app feels like stealing: I am giving away another's words under my own aegis. I am uncomfortable with that. If it is my own writing that needs editing down (e.g. sweating a 500 word draft into two paragraphs), I semi-OK with it, but even then I am struggling. Perhaps 'hesitant' might better describe how I feel. It feels ...dishonest.

Perhaps it feels like cheating because writing is a "time skill", like keyboarding (Canning, 1975, p. 277). It is “where the ticking away of the unforgiving seconds plays a dominant part in both learning and application of the skill” (p. 277), now known as sequential learning (what comes next) and map learning (where we find that next thing). Our skills become automatic though practice, helping us to embed both types of learning (Canning, 1975; Rao et al, 2000). Like learning to drive, like cooking, like carpentry, like becoming a doctor, or like glassblowing; there are no shortcuts. We learn by doing year on year, gathering mastery. Once we gain mastery, we can take some shortcuts: but too many will erode our hard-won skills. I worry that LLMs writing on our behalf will erode our writing mastery. Everyone may be doing it, but I am not sure that makes it any better. 

Adding more to my unease, if we are using the large language model AI apps, how do we know the apps we use are valid, and don't suffer from hallucinations (Lingard, 2023)? Trying to compare AI LLM apps is difficult for the average user: there are so many options, and how do we actually weight them against each other? 

Well, that is where LM Arena https://beta.lmarena.ai/ comes in (Bansal, 2025). We can ask a question in this online app, and we get pointed to a pair of LLMs, and asked to chose our preferred answer from the two results from two anonymised LLMs. We can chose to ask again; to clarify further; or accept the result (which will then unmask which LLM we prefer). Having tried a few times, I am apparently drawn to Claude.ai and DeepSeek. No surprises there: these are the two models I have found in my own limited usage to provide the most accurate responses to my personal requests.

However, I am still uneasy, and the Bansal article further explores yet another reason for my unease: the inequity of human AI 'raters': those underpaid workers who 'massage' those responses we receive to our AI app requests (2025). This is truly smoke and mirrors: AIs need a human baby-sitter. 

Human AI raters apparently don't "trust [...] the products they are helping build and train. Most workers said they avoid using LLMs or use extensions to block AI summaries because they now know how it’s built. Many also discourage their family and friends from using it, for the same reason" (Bansal, 2025). It is reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, perhaps the most famous "man behind the curtain"; the charlatan of our childhood imaginings (Baum, 1900). It looks and sounds great, but it is all a trick.

If those who work on the apps avoid them, perhaps some unease is warranted.

Sam

References:

Bansal, V. (2025, September 11). How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/11/google-gemini-ai-training-humans

Baum, L. F. (1900). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (illustrations W. W. Denslow). George M. Hill Company.

Canning, B. W. (1975). Keyboard skill-a useful business accompaniment. Education + Training, 17(10), 277-278. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb016409

Lingard, L. (2023). Writing with ChatGPT: An illustration of its capacity, limitations & implications for academic writers. Perspectives on Medical Education, 12(1), 261-270. https://doi.org/10.5334/pme.1072

Rao, S. M., Harrington, D., & Parsons, M. W. (2000). Acquisition of keyboarding skills: An event-related fMRI study. NeuroImage, 11(5), S361. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8119(00)91292-8

read more "Are LLM apps the 'man behind the curtain'?"

Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 4

In a couple of recent posts (here), I looked at the stage for exporting a Google Calendar as an .ics file, and updating it for reimporting as a new Google calendar.

However, if we get that reimporting WRONG, we need to know how to undo it. I did just that, by trying to get clever and assuming that I could change the dates of my calendar export and then reimport it into the same calendar. Of course it overwrote all this year's dates because the entry ID numbers were the same. Sigh.

Luckily someone has documented how to undo the import for us all to benefit from: and it is a life-saver (GCal Tools, 2020). All we need to do is to open our edited .ics file in some type of text editor (I use Notepad). Do a find and replace of the following:

STATUS:CONFIRMED

For:

STATUS:CANCELLED

Then save the .ics file. We are now able to reimport the .ics file into our Google calendar, and our mistake will be erased. 

All I need to do is now to undo the find and replace, then reimport the .ics file into a new Google calendar to avoid the duplicate problem. And that worked perfectly.

Yay! And next time I was much more careful, first creating a unique annual calendar for the next year so I can safely have duplicate event IDs :-)

Sam

References:

GCal Tools. (2020, November 12). How to undo an import to Google Calendar [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/hJdGBmHDafA

Google Calendar Help. (2025, January 1). Copy Google Calendar Events from 2024 Calendar year to 2025. https://support.google.com/calendar/thread/319764201/copy-google-calendar-events-from-2024-calendar-year-to-2025-year?msgid=320864848#

read more "Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 4"

Academic publishing, open access, and profit

Having research papers hidden behind a paywall offends my sense of social justice, particularly in a place as small as Aotearoa New Zealand. It offends me even more because New Zealand academics, appointed to tertiary institutions, do the research, and write the articles within the boundaries of their own teaching work (which is funded by our government). And it might take two years for an idea to go from research being a paper ready for publication. Those want to publish also need to peer review for the journal, for the privilege of being published in that journal... and they do that as well within the boundaries of their own teaching work (which is funded by our government). 

Then those who are on the editorial boards of the journals we are submitting to are also other academics, who - guess what? - do what they do within the boundaries of their own teaching work (which is funded by their governments in their nations). 

And then the big publishing houses - Reed-Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Wiley-Blackwell, Springer and SAGE (MacDonald, 2015) - who incidentally own over half the global journals and teaching text brands (The Economist, 2024), now often own the copyright on the research because they 'published' it. And because they own the copyright, they paywall the articles: they formatted it, after all, they own the processes, and they have the website. They make BILLIONS in profit annually (The Economist, 2024) all due to global 'government funded' research, write-up, and validation... which actually means that taxpayers from around the world provide the publishing houses with utterly ridiculous waterfall of money. 

One paper I asked my library to obtain for me was going to cost USD$75 (NZD$125) to rent a copy of the article FOR ONE YEAR for my own research only. I could share it with no one. I wouldn't 'own' a copy - I had to agree to destroy it after a year. These costs are extortionate. 

But when we consider that the writer gets nothing (except being published and a few author copies); the peer reviewers get nothing (except being published); the editorial boards get nothing (except to say they are on the board); and the taxpayer gets nothing; this model does not seem fair. Why should the payers get locked out of reading the research they are paying for?

Authors usually get roughly 6 'free' copies for the privilege of having sweated blood for a year or more to write the article which finally passes peer-review and gets accepted. So let's rub some salt into that wound: those big publishers make a song and dance about 'open access' publication, which means that, if the submitting academics pay a fee, the article becomes available freely to all (Butler et al., 2023). And the fee? Usually around $4000 (USD$2600 ≈ NZD$4300), but may be up to USD$10000 (≈NZD$17000; Ayeni & Larivière, 2025, p. 1). There are very few institutions that can afford to cough up that type of open access charges. Trying to get back conference travel costs of $100 is hard enough; there is very little untagged money in the education sector. The Gates Foundation announced last year that they will no longer fund open access fees (The Economist, 2024). 

But it is not just journals where the publishing houses have it all their own way. A colleague of mine wrote a textbook on coaching which used to retail for around USD$150 - she got $1 profit on her years of work in putting that text together. So when it came time to do a second edition, she declined the publication house contract, and went to a self-publishing/printing house in Ireland that did print-on-demand. Her students together online batch-ordered their copies for NZD$75 each (which including international shipping). She made about NZD$25 per copy on the second edition, at effectively a quarter the price to students.

So why are we paying publishing houses to 'publish'? Even if institutions no longer have the capacity to self-publish, we need a better way. Perhaps we need the research equivalent of Wikipedia. If we had the platform, and we collectively bought in, it could be run by the same volunteer efforts as the academic writing, peer-review and editorial boards currently are. 

I would love to see those vampire publishers kicked into touch. 

Sam

References:

Ayeni, P., & Larivière, V. (2025). Inequity, precarity, and disparity: Exploring systemic and institutional barriers in open access publishing. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. Advance online publication, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000625135338

Butler, L.-A., Matthias, L., Simard, M.-A., Mongeon, P., & Haustein, S. (2023). The oligopoly’s shift to open access: How the big five academic publishers profit from article processing charges. Quantitative Science Studies, 4(4), 778–799. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00272

MacDonald, F. (2015, June 12). These Five Companies Control More Than Half of Academic Publishing. Science Alert. https://www.sciencealert.com/these-five-companies-control-more-than-half-of-academic-publishing

The Economist. (2024, November 20). Scientific publishers are producing more papers than ever. http://openscience.ens.fr/ABOUT_OPEN_ACCESS/ARTICLES/2024_11_20_The_Economist_on_publishing.pdf

read more "Academic publishing, open access, and profit"

Senge's learning organisation characteristics

In a previous post (here), I mentioned Senge’s five elements of learning organisations: those of systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision, and team learning (2006). In learning organisations, those who lead are kaitiaki and teachers, not those who impose or tell. They accompany the troops, not dictate. They are are the sweeper on the curling rink, allowing the team to continually develop themselves to better understand the complexity of a unified systems model, to clarify organisational vision, to create shared mental understandings, and to create something that is larger than the sum of the individual parts.

So lets walk through what these elements are, in more detail:

• Systems thinking: this is the most important element of a learning organisation - the "fifth discipline" of Senge's seminal book (1990, 2006). It is thought that management may try overly hard to simplify what are very complex systems, seeing the organisation as parts and not as a whole: the organisation is thus not seen as one dynamic system. Taking a higher-level and longer-term view would enable us to more clearly see the impact of our actions - because we are often measured on a short time-scale and on specifics, not systems. While "We [may] learn best from our experience, [...] we [may not...] directly experience the consequences of many of our most important decisions" (Senge, 1990, p. 23). We are likely to remain blind to the ramifications of what we set in motion. We need to think about the interconnectedness of all things.
  
  
• Personal mastery: This is our personal proficiency, our expertise; our vocation or calling. Our professional drive to master the unmasterable; our focus which keeps us in a continual learning mode. And because we are so driven to master our profession, our organisation learns through us. "Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs" (Senge, 1990, p. 139).
  
  
• Mental models: These are "deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures and images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action" (Senge, 1990, p. 8). I have written about mental models before (here), what Daft calls “theories people hold about specific systems in the world and their expected behavior” (2008, p. 133). They are the routine ways of thinking we develop through experience and education, our repertoire (Schon, 1983) and Schon is a good person to draw on here: we need to be reflective to be able to see what happens when our mental models - often our 'sacred cows' - are slaughtered in front of us. Read more on mental models here. 
  
  
• Shared vision: Senge begins with is a simple idea about leadership; that we need to have "the capacity to hold a shared picture of the future we seek to create" (1990, p. 9), or be able to create that capacity as we move forward together. That shared vision is the critical piece of kit that allows us to stay synchronised; in step, in harmony, aligned. It focuses all our efforts on the one key place we are all working towards. Everyone buys in, and the goals are legitimate. Two elements implicit in this shared vision are: a sense of purpose, of agency, that collectively we can do this work; and a longer-term view, that time is less important than the goal being achieved. Senge relates "Once the vision of the product and how they would develop it began to crystallize [...] the team began to work in an extraordinary way. The energy and enthusiasm were palpable. Each individual felt a genuine sense of responsibility for how the team as a whole functioned, not just for 'doing [their] part'" (1990, p. 314-15).
  
  
• Team learning: This is somewhat aligned to the humility of Level 5 leaders (Collins, 2001), and mindset (Dweck, 2006), in that the openness to learning, and mistakes being a part of learning, are key attributes of the organisation and the staff actually learning from 'throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks'. This learning is "the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire" (Senge, 1990, p. 236), where what is learned builds on personal mastery, but it fits with the shared vision, and the team can see how it will speed progress. Team learning begins with true, open conversation, or "'dialogue,' the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine "thinking together." To the Greeks dia-logos meant a free-flowing of meaning through a group, allowing the group to discover insights not attainable individually" (Senge, 1990, p. 12). Senge reminds us that "Dialogue differs from the more common 'discussion,' which has its roots with 'percussion' and 'concussion,' literally a heaving of ideas back and forth in a winner takes-all competition" (1990, p. 12). And while I take his point, I think that is semantics. I don't think of winner takes all in discussion: I focus more on disussion being a collaborative conversation.

However, it is easy to see that if a team, an organisation, or a nation delivers on these five elements, it will be very productive indeed.

Sam

References:

Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap... and others don’t. HarperCollins Publishers.

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Baltimore Books.

Schon, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books.

Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Currency Doubleday.

Senge, P. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (2nd ed.). Currency Doubleday.

read more "Senge's learning organisation characteristics"

Samsung, Google, and USB troubleshooting

I have an Android Samsung phone. Together this is usually a very reliable piece of kit - although I would love to delete some of the crazy Apps the Samsung marketing people think the consumer needs/wants - but Google and Samsung usually works well.

However, there is a growing problem with these two big kids not playing nicely with USB C. Sometimes everything works seamlessly, and other times... not so seamless. More screamy, in fact. I don't know which corporate giant is at fault here, but many times I plug in my USB cable... and NOTHING happens.

Why am I using USB with my phone? I use USB to transfer my ebooks and talking book files onto my phone. I don't use cloud storage because I (a) like to use the listening and reading apps I have personally selected, and that work for me, and (b) I draw my files from a range of libraries which all use different apps, and (c) I read/listen on my PC as well as on my phone, and sometimes my laptop, so need cross-device accessibility.

Many people have a tile "USB" or "USB Options" in their Samsung Quick Access settings Menu. I have a blank space. There is no reference to USB anywhere in my phone's settings. Sigh.

Two things. Firstly, use another cable. USB cables seem to take offence to my phone with regular monotony. Just changing one cable for another can make it play more nicely.

If that doesn't work, however, I have found a second solution, thanks to the Blinks and Buttons site (Ellison, 2024). What I need to do is to enable Samsung's USB "debugging mode". How we do that is:

1. Tap on the 'Settings' icon on our Samsung phone
2. "Scroll down and tap on 'About phone'" (likely right at the bottom)
3. Tap on Software, then "Look for the 'Build number' and tap on it seven times to enable developer options"
4. "Once developer options are enabled, go back to the main settings page and tap on 'Developer options'" (also likely right at the bottom)
5. "Toggle on the 'USB debugging' option"
6. "A pop-up message will appear, asking for [our] confirmation. Press 'OK'" Ellison, 2024), and now our USB connection should work.

With USB debugging mode turned on, I am able to plug in my USB cable to my PC and transfer files.

However, Ellison warns that we should "Disable USB debugging mode after [we] have finished using it to ensure the security" of our phone (2024). Good point. Presumably toggling off Developer Mode - which makes the whole set of options vanish - does the same thing. Then we simply repeat Ellison's process (2024) above the next time we need to use our USB cable.

Sam

References:

Ellison, J. (2024, September 3). Enabling USB Debugging Mode To Activate USB Ports On Samsung Devices. Blinks and Buttons. https://blinksandbuttons.net/how-do-i-enable-usb-ports-on-my-samsung/

read more "Samsung, Google, and USB troubleshooting"

What is a theme?

Donald Super was the founder of the "Thematic-Extrapolation Method" (1954) where we take the life history of client, and seek patterns of behaviour within it. He "described [it] as extrapolation based on thematic analysis, and the underlying theory is the theory of life patterns" (p. 13). This is where we are the "historian, reviewing historical evidence, seeking the patterns or themes that explain the past, and then extrapolating the most plausible prediction of future client performance" (Jepsen, 1994, p. 44).

The theme is what we seek with our clients. As Super says, "one way to understand what an individual will do in the future is to understand what [they] did in the past" (1954, p. 13), by together analysing the past "sequence of events and the development of characteristics", we can identify "the recurring themes and underlying trends" and hopefully help the client see potential futures. Both desirable and undesirable futures. By doing this we put the power in the hands of the client to make change.

Yep: that is good. But what are themes, exactly? We can turn to Super here as well. Themes can be thought of "as changes in the frequency, strength, and interaction of the behavioral manifestations[,] needs, values, [and] achievements (Jepsen, 1994, p. 44, citing Super, 1957, p. 282). Super provided "an example of an emerging theme from the case history of George Litch [...] whose early need for security was extrapolated as a likely recurring [theme] later in his career" (p. 44, citing Super, 1954).

Perhaps from this we could assume that a theme is a pattern. A pattern of need, value, behaviour, or achievement, a pattern which is likely to recur... unless we make a deliberate effort to change (Jepson, 1994; Super, 1954, 1957). So what type of things might form a theme?

As we can see from Mr Litch, security can form a theme throughout our career. Other themes I have seen in my practice include fear/seeking of change; avoidance/seeking of responsibility; damaged/solid psychological contracts; bewilderment of/insight into others' motives. All limit or propel the individual in their work.

From a practitioner point of view, a practice theme might be particular type of practice, a particular client group, a particular stage, or a particular field. A practitioner theme might be clients in science; engineering graduates; student job search; career transformation; career transition; clients with complex/specialist workplace needs, such as disability, vulnerable populations, neurodiversity or diverse learners; managing conflict; working with a particular culture or ethnicity; entrepreneurship and career development; ethics; gender; leadership; motivation; national and international change; AI; decentralisation versus centralisation; globalisation versus localisation; new practitioners; professional development.

The list is almost endless. But at least, thanks to Super (1954, 1957), we know what a theme is.

Sam

References:

Jepsen, D. A. (1994). The thematic‐extrapolation method: Incorporating career patterns into career counseling. The Career Development Quarterly, 43(1), 43-53. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.1994.tb00845.x

Super, D. E. (1954). Career patterns as a basis for vocational counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology 1(1), 12-20. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0061989

Super, D. E. (1957). The Psychology of Careers. Harper & Row.

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The knowledge worker

Knowledge workers are professionals whose job is the analysis, application, and creation of information in order to solve complex problems... or to generate ideas. Their specialised expertise, critical thinking, and ingenuity is their secret sauce; not their muscles nor their strength. They are driven by a need for autonomy, continuous learning, and informed decision-making (CERIC, 2025). 

Peter Drucker related a story which I find a sound example of what knowledge work is perceived as being (1959):

"In the wilds [...] the big car of an American tourist broke down and refused to start. No one could figure out what was the matter; even the factory representative who was flown in gave up. The tourist was ready to abandon the car and go home when someone remembered that an old blacksmith who lived beyond the mountains some fifty miles away had, in his youth, tinkered with engines. In his despair the tourist sent for him. Three days later the old man appeared on a mule. He took one look at the car and asked for a hammer. He gently tapped one spot on the engine twice, and said, “Start her up”; and the engine purred as smoothly as if it had just left the test stand."

“What do I owe you?” the grateful tourist asked.

“A hundred dollars.”

“What, a hundred dollars for two taps with the hammer?”

“Well, I can itemize it for you,” the old man said, "For two taps with hammer—ten cents; For having known where — 99 dollars and 90 cents" (Drucker, 1959, pp. 75-76).

In this case, the knowledge worker, or "professional specialist" (Drucker, 1959, p. 76) holds the arcane knowledge of "having known where" to apply that 10 cents worth of percussive maintenance.

In 1954, Peter Drucker talked about the "advancement of the arts" — the constant improvement of our ability to do by applying to it our increased knowledge — is one of the tasks of the business enterprise and a major factor in its survival and prosperity (Drucker, 1954, p. 56). He moves on to talk about the "leader [of] the team; [... who may have] authority [but] it is guidance rather than supervision or command [that conveys leadership]. It derives from knowledge rather than from rank (p. 138). It is emphasised that we must "learn by acquiring knowledge rather than simply by experience. [This] requires 'teaching' rather than 'training' programs — many of the typical programs of today make a [person] rigid, rather than flexible, teach tricks of the trade rather than understanding. And the need to train workers in the ability to unlearn and to learn will become greater as the skill and knowledge level of the worker increases" (1954, p. 268).

Then in 1957, he began considering how "to organize men of knowledge" (Drucker, 1959, p. xi). I wonder if this is the start of his ideas about knowledge work, per se? I get the impression that Drucker feels we can see the shadowy outline of a pattern long before we can know what the pattern IS, and that by working out what is missing, by "the systematic organization of our ignorance from which we then can develop the necessary new specific knowledge and tools" (p. 31). So we see something. We clock a pattern. We consider what we CANNOT see. That enables us to build a taxonomy of what we CAN see. 

Drucker goes on to suggest that "Organization[al] knowledge and professional knowledge are becoming the real 'factors of production'; [and that] 'land, labor and capital,' the three factors of production of traditional economics, are increasingly becoming merely limitations on the effectiveness of knowledge" (Drucker, 1959, p. 62). Where management's aim was previously that of "functional specialization", where management "tried to organize skill and knowledge work as if it were performed by" a single individual (p. 69), more current thinking is that we use "thousands of high-grade professionals of all kinds of knowledge [... who] work[...] together, organized [...] by the stage of the project" that they are involved with (p. 70). 

We bring in the right people, at the right time, to work their arcane knowledge. An old idea whose time has finally come.  

Sam

References:

CERIC. (2025). Glossary of Career Development. Canadian Education and Research in Career Counselling. https://ceric.ca/glossary-of-career-development/

Drucker, P. F. (1954). The Practice of Management. Harper & Row.

Drucker, P. F. (1959). Landmarks of Tomorrow (reprint of 1957). Harper & Row.

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