September 16, 2019

Creating a WE vs. ME Workplace

“The power of an organization is the capacity generated by relationships. Positive or negative organizational energy is determined by the quality of relationships. Those who relate through coercion, or in disregard of others, create negative energy. Those who are open to others and who see others in their fullness create positive energy.”  Margaret Wheatley, Leadership from the New Science Do […]
September 1, 2019

Cynicism – The Price We All Pay

“Cynicism is an unproductive reaction to disappointment. It springs from the helplessness people feel when they are disappointed by others and allow themselves to become detached observers rather than active participants.”     Jamie & Maren Showkeir  Have you become a cynic?  If so, you’ve got plenty of company. Some might call this the era of cynicism. Some might even say, that’s […]
June 24, 2019

Is Self-Deception Keeping You in the Box?

Have you ever wondered if there was a missing ingredient that could improve your relationships – in the workplace and beyond? Well, it wasn’t until we came across the book, Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box, written by The Arbinger Institute, that we were able to put our finger on an important part of the puzzle.  – Self […]
June 11, 2019

Self Talk – Are You Judging or Coaching?

I once heard someone say that if we overheard a conversation at the next table in a restaurant with people talking to each other the way we talk to ourselves – we’d get up and leave.  Know what I mean?  This statement has stayed with me for a long time, especially when I am judging myself harshly or listening to […]
March 11, 2019

The Starting Point for Empathy is You

In a series of articles,  we’ve explored some reasons to consciously act on developing our empathic skills.  We cannot expect to extend our empathy to others in the fullest sense unless we are capable of giving it to ourselves first. The reality is that we are often as hard on ourselves as we are on others.  We’ve often joked that if we sat […]
January 11, 2019

11 Ways to Be More Mindful in Your Work Relationships

Do you know about the marshmallow test? No, it’s not about seeing how many marshmallows you can toast and eat by the fire. It’s the classic Marshmallow Study conducted in 1968 at Stanford University by clinical psychologist Walter Mischel that became one of the longest running experiments in psychology. The initial study examined 600 children to see how they would […]
October 7, 2018

Why is Conflict So Hard? How to Manage it More Productively

Despite the worn-out demands that the workplace is no place for “”personal feelings,” people bring all of their unresolved emotional baggage to work – and there is little we can do about that. Outmoded collective beliefs that endure like – work life and personal life should be separate – speak to a lack of knowledge about the new science  of emotions […]
February 4, 2016

Can I Trust You?

Trust is a fragile and complex thing. It’s a dynamic process  made up of our thoughts, beliefs, values, feelings and most important – our actions. It is often indefinable, highly personal and mostly an unconscious process that governs the why and how of what we do. Although trust, at all levels, appears to be at an all time low – […]
August 11, 2015

Vulnerability is our Common Bond

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”  Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times   The problem is – we suffer alone. There isn’t a human being that does […]