Ariadne's Threads
Stories of personal
pathways through the Labyrinth from two previous
students
“If you unravel it you
find in your hands a kind of tree,
a structure with roots with many blind alleys.
There is only one exit, but you can get it wrong.
You need an Ariadne’s thread to keep from getting lost.
This labyrinth is a model of the trial and error process.”
Umberto Eco: Reflections on the Name of
the Rose, 1986
Vicky: Now, you’ll have the
chance to meet two people, prviously students on the same
MSc course that you are now on, who made, and followed
their own Ariadne's thread through their personal labyrinth
of hopes, fears and unfolding pathways.
Marc
Hi, my name is Marc Vinson. I was a
student on the MSc Organisational Psychology in 1996/97. I
joined a company in 2001. I did the PhD until then and went
of and did another PhD that I submitted in 2005. I’m
working now as organisational specialist. I’ll looking at
organisations, diagnose them and how to try to change
organisations. A little bit about the story, as I look
around the room, I think a lot of you have a good view, the
draw of the junction and where you have to make decisions.
That’s part of being in the labyrinth. Sometimes it feels
you’re going forwards or backwards. Some times you can’t
see the exit, you’re lost in it. How do you make choice
when you reach these junctions? How do you find support?
This program is really confronting a world were people give
you more choices and open up situation instead of closing
them down. The dissertation is about finding a question
that is not answered enough, formulating it and answering
this specific question.
Andrea
Hi, I’m Andrea, part time PhD student and
full time as career adviser at the LSE career service. I
did the MSc Organizational and Social Psychology about 5
years ago and was working on my PhD. I’ve done a thematic
study on how advisers perceive entrepreneur. It took me
month to figure it out. The timeline here looks very linear
but for me it was not like that, there were some urgencies,
I was busy for exams or other things, so don’t worry if it
is not linear. In terms of choice and opportunities, do you
see it more as an opportunity? This is what it is. The LSE
gave me the opportunities to talk to a lot of people and to
see a lot of different organisations. This is the main
advantage. Looking at it now, it was a good study but I
think you need some distance to see that. You can access
previous MSc dissertation, which this is really helpful.
Also, talk to each other,
meet!
View the video