April 21, 2016
“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.” Anthony Brandt We all bring it – we all have it. It is a matter of degree – and awareness. In every interaction we have at work, we bring the dynamics of our families, culture, generation and gender with us. The first problem is that most of us […]
January 11, 2016
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 […]
December 3, 2015
If we are living in a so-called Age of Empathy – what does that mean? What does it mean for an individual, a co-worker, an employer, a neighbor, a city or a world society to live with empathy in the face of such harsh daily realities? What will we do differently in our personal and social lives? What kind of […]
December 2, 2015
“But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.” ~George Gordon Byron Words are powerful. What we say reflects what we think. Our spoken word originates in our thought. Typically, most people don’t think consciously. Long established habits that have formed hard wired neural networks […]
November 17, 2015
We’re watching it happen before our very eyes. Much of the world is experiencing profound collective introspection. For some it’s a slow bubbling – for others; a fast boil. Our beliefs, practices, institutions and our leaders – especially our leaders, are undergoing intense scrutiny and criticism. The effects are often disorienting and feel chaotic. Ever since 1939, when psychologist Kurt […]
October 31, 2015
I’ve often written about the slow death of the authoritarian leader – envisioning the demise of command and control thinking as the prevailing force in organizational life. It is slow going – isn’t it? At least it feels that way to me – even as an “observer” in my role as a consultant. The power issue hangs over us. Although […]
October 20, 2015
“The fantasy about organizational life is that people will behave in logical, unemotional and well-organized ways. It’s as though the boxes on the organizational charts are designed to keep the messiness of reality, people and emotions away from work.” Dan Oestrich and Kathleen Ryan, co-authors, Driving Fear from The Workplace. How is it that with so-called flattened hierarchies, employee engagement […]
October 11, 2015
Ever since I began to work in the business world, the term “soft skills” always felt off to me. The more I come to appreciate the complexity of human dynamics, the more off it feels. In my experience, there is nothing soft or easy about mastering people skills. In fact, when I look around, especially in the workplace, clear and effective […]
June 11, 2015
“The question in an imperfect competitive reality is: how do we move forward together? Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi This post is written out of concern. I’m alarmed by the amount of people in the workplace who admit (some without a hint of regret) that they just “don’t care” about many of the people they […]