“We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.” –Anais Nin The health and efficiency of an organization can often be judged by how often triangulation occurs and whether or not it is tolerated by leaders. Here’s how triangulation starts: Victims approach Rescuers with information about what a Persecutor [...]
At a Global 100 company, a new senior executive sat down with his division heads a week ago and told them to WAIT. His mentor, who ran and built this company, shared that same advice with him. At that time, the senior executive was confused. “Wait for what?” he wondered. WAIT, he learned, is an [...]
Big ideas are terrific. There’s no harm in thinking big. Acting prematurely on these ideas is the problem. Many visionaries move from start to finish in their minds quickly and skip many of the steps in between necessary for execution. That’s how they wind up trying to boil the ocean. Are you trying to boil [...]
Dan Pink asks us to look past the outmoded view of what motivates people, like the carrot and stick, to more cutting edge research about personal growth and development. Recently, when working with clients to bring the strategic planning process out of the board room and into mail room, we brought to life Motivation 2.0.
According to Harvard University social scientist Nicholas Christakis and University of California, San Diego professor James Fowler published their groundbreaking study about the contagion of obesity in 2007. It turns out that becoming the center of your social network pays dividends. In the negative it can spread obesity and virus but it can also spread ideas and healthy habits.
”The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust As an executive coach you are parachuted into different organizations to work with leaders. One of the first questions I ask an organizational leader is what is your vision. Many have to think about that [...]
Leaders in all spheres–education, business, politics, sports–feel compelled to address short-term concerns, now more than ever. The pressure to show results quickly is so very strong. If positive results don’t come soon enough, leaders are sent packing and roundly criticized. And yet we also want leaders to be mindful of long-term stewardship and to act [...]
Amygdala hijacking occurs when a stimulus causes an unusual and excessive emotional reaction. The term was coined by Daniel Goleman, who wrote Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Neurologically speaking, rather than routing a stimulus through your neocortex (the “thinking brain”), this message goes directly from your thalamus to your amydala (the [...]
The more you lead, the more you may be accustomed to hearing and believing your own voice. And the more you may tune out other voices. Successful leaders, in particular, have the propensity to believe in themselves and their opinions to a great and perhaps dangerous degree. They turn the contrast dial up and up–toward [...]
Most leaders believe it is better to give than it is to receive, but they may not pay attention to giving and receiving patterns, as well as psychological motivations behind these patterns. Ben Franklin said, “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you [...]
By Jonathan Bennett In this paper I shall present not just the conscience of Huckleberry Finn but two others as well. One of them is the conscience of Heinrich Himmler. He became a Nazi in 1923; he served drably and quietly, but well, and was rewarded with increasing responsibility and power. At the peak of his career he held [...]
by Leo Tolstoy I An elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of town life: saying how comfortably [...]
by Ursula K. Le Guin With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea. The rigging of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags. In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and under [...]
As organizations grow larger and more complex, leaders are often surprised by the unintended consequences of their decisions. Leaders can’ t anticipate everything. They must make the best decisions they can with the information they have. But they also should anticipate unintended consequences and be prepared to reassess changes they’ve implemented. As a leader you [...]
If you want to escape from the pull of earth’s gravity, you need to jettison away at 7 miles per second. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the greater the gravitational pull, the greater speed you must go to escape. When you’re looking to change your life and escape [...]
High-performing leaders who want to go from great to greater often believe that executive coaches will require them to do a lot of heavy lifting. Some worry that in trying to fix their weaknesses, they’ll sap some of their strengths. Executive coaches don’t want you to do heavy lifting. They also don’t want you to [...]
David Whyte asks the question, would you rather fail at your life or succeed at someone else’s? Our lives have porous boundaries. Often, it’s unclear if what we do and value are chosen, suggested, or implanted. Maybe your dad, mom, sibling, or friend played hockey or danced or debated or painted or studied law. Before [...]
Asking questions is critical to great leadership. Remembering to ask questions can be difficult for new leaders. If you are struggling with asking questions, try this acronym, APPLE! Ask the right question. Right questions are open-ended and encouraging. They help others imagine new solutions. Pause after you ask the question. Accept silence, even if it’s [...]
Asking questions often brings to mind Socrates and the Socratic method. Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher who used questions to test the logic of opposing viewpoints during dialogues with his students. He would often begin by defining key terms. His questions usually pointed out the contradictions or weaknesses of his students’ hypotheses before revealing an [...]
“Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.” – Soren Kierkegaard
In his book, Why Smart Executives Fail, Sydney Finkelstein identified Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Leaders. It may not surprise you to learn that ego is at the root of many of these poor habits. When leaders get too enamored with success, themselves, or their organizations–or all three–they underestimate their vulnerability, obstacles, and competitors, and [...]
Pulse Meme Feed
Minneapolis Web Development Firm - First Scribe
Bad Behavior has blocked 453 access attempts in the last 7 days.
