Make Stress Your Friend

Stress has become a buzzword, but most of us don’t really know what it is. According to my friend Dr. Heidi Hanna, the word itself can cause stress just because it’s difficult to define. We use it as a catchall for anything that feels off in our lives, and by dumping problems into a bucket… Continue Reading Make Stress Your Friend

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Culture is an Outcome

Organizations confront opportunities to change on a regular basis. Whether it is an update to a long-held policy or procedure, an improvement in how leaders provide feedback to others or an increase on the part of managers to speak truth to power, one retort is heard more often than any other. This most common theme… Continue Reading Culture is an Outcome

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"To Be" or Not "To Be"

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"

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Putting a Saddle on a Duck

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

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Play Your Way to Innovation

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

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