This week I had my skills acknowledged in a new way. My name was put forward for an assignment because I could “bird dog” the issue. My colleague and I had quite a chuckle googling the term and sharing images of hunting dogs and yoga poses. (This image is Dennis my favourite bird dog and my favourite Toad!)

The Oxford Dictionary defines the verb bird-dogging as “search out or pursue with dogged determination”. I think that is a pretty fair description of my skills and work ethic. I do like mining data and information from across a system, research comparative information with a broad lens and then integrating data and ideas towards actions or solutions. My generalist foundation supports information being bridged between disparate industries or jurisdictions. I do not consider myself visionary, but I am a pretty good puzzler. (just not jigsaw puzzles – they drive me crazy!)

Bird-dogger is now my second favourite unorthodox description of my work. The first? “She gets sh*t done!”