Is it possible that the words we use prevent us from seeing the world and the people in it as they really are? Our words directly shape how we see the world and how we engage with others. Benjamin Lee Whorf, a linguist, suggests that “by altering our use of language, we also revise how… Continue Reading "To Be" or Not "To Be"
In our interactions with others, it is all too common to get frustrated with what people aren’t. Rather than celebrating and leveraging the strengths of those we work with, we can easily end up communicating an expectation that everyone must be good at everything. Have you ever tried putting a saddle on a duck? How… Continue Reading Putting a Saddle on a Duck
Innovation is serious business, and yet sometimes we are just too serious about innovation. Throughout history, we can see that play actually has served as a reliable gateway to innovation. In Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, Steven Johnson illustrates how playfulness has fueled a remarkable amount of innovation and new discovery. Consider Charles Babbage,… Continue Reading Play Your Way to Innovation
In a recent New York Times article, Laszlo Bock, former senior vice president of people operations at Google, reveals what some might refer to as surprising. After synthesizing 10,000 data points including performance reviews done on managers, employee engagement surveys and even nomination forms for top-manager awards, the Google analysts found that technical expertise paled… Continue Reading Building Better Leaders
How many of us spend too much time, day in and day out, attending to the “7 fires of the day”? Many of my clients bemoan the fact that the big projects never seem to get the attention they require for meaningful accomplishment. Other newsletters and time-management gurus offer tons of advice, including: Don’t start… Continue Reading The 7 Fires of the Day
When it comes to predicting who will succeed in life and business, we often are “distracted by talent”. We tend to place way too much faith in SAT scores, GPAs and other measures of aptitude, even when these standard metrics have been shown to fail as guarantors of achievement. Whether it’s who will survive Beast… Continue Reading Effort Counts Twice