‘A team of scientists heated a pan of water to a high temperature. Then they tried to put a live frog into it. The frog jumped out immediately. A second frog was put in a pan of cold water that was gradually heated to boiling. That frog never tried to jump. It was boiled to death.’

Taking on new tasks or responsibilities may sometimes be challenging, as they require us go beyond the familiar or ‘comfort zone’ and expose ourselves to scrutiny in an area where we are not immediately at ease.

I’m just back from the annual conference of the International Ombudsman Association, and this time the keynote presentation was focused on the role of the ‘bystander’ or the person who witnesses an unacceptable or potentially harmful situation and does nothing.

Last month, CERN hosted a meeting of the European Ombuds and Mediator group, which brought together some 25 Ombuds from both the public and private sectors in Europe.

When I started working at CERN in 1976, women were a relatively rare sight. The few women who did work here generally held administrative roles, many having started with the incongruous job title of “scanning girls”, regardless of the age at which they had been recruited.

Have you ever found yourself listening to someone and, although all the words make absolute sense, you have the feeling that something is not quite the way it sounds?

Labelling colleagues – either in negative (“horns”) or positive (“halos”) terms – is like looking at them through a lens that colours all our perceptions, as well as those of others around us.

The “Gender in Physics” conference hosted by CERN last week showed that our Organization has been at the forefront of the drive towards gender equality in science over the last 20 years, with the launch of its Equal Opportunities Programme in 1996 leading the way.

The beginning of a new year is traditionally a time for us, as individuals, to take stock of things past and to set ourselves goals for the future.

When one is leading a project that is part of the activities of a team within a larger group that, in turn, consists of many sections, there is a real risk that information about who actually did what gets lost in the multiple layers of hierarchy.