September 1, 2019
“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 […]
December 12, 2017
Photo by Ali Kazal on Unsplash The Intentional Workplace blog began with this post. What could be more basic than to understand the nature of communication? But more important, how we communicate and why. The message was simple but seems to grow more important every day – everything comes down to how we communicate. All the things that we want and need start […]
June 11, 2016
How we respond to others is largely a function of habit. Many small, repetitive, automatic responses that grow over a long period of time form habits. Mostly, these reactions are outside of our conscious awareness. They’re built on foundations formed by our beliefs, and in most cases, they stayed fixed, usually reinforcing old beliefs and naturally – old habits. Charles […]
February 4, 2016
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 – […]
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 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 […]
May 13, 2015
Underneath every communication is a feeling. This feeling drives your communication. How conscious are you of the subtext of your communication and the impact it has on others? Every time we do a seminar or facilitate a meeting, people say they want better communication in the workplace. What most people are hungry for is communication that is real, honest, clear, concise […]
April 28, 2015
“I now realize I have been working with my eyes closed. I appreciate even more a professor with whom I work occasionally: he always makes the point that leaders, managers — everyone in fact — should never underestimate the importance of kindness at work.” Gill Corkindale, Harvard Business Review An article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) by author Gill Corkindale, “The […]