October 11, 2015

There is Nothing Soft about "Soft Skills"

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 […]
August 25, 2015

The Voice In Your Head – What’s Your Workplace Narrative?

You have a mental dialogue going on in your head that never stops. It just keeps going and going. Have you ever wondered why it talks in there? How does it decide what to say and when to say it? How much of it turns out to be true?                          […]
August 18, 2015

Anxiety & the Quest for Certainty

 “The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition that impels us to unfold our powers.”    Erich Fromm Most of us would agree that whatever we do, we cannot predict the future. Yet, many of us spend an inordinate amount of time trying to control the uncontrollable.  This is a waste of our time and although […]
July 14, 2015

Be Here NOW – Getting Off Auto-Pilot

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.” ~ The Buddha (maybe) While the Buddha may have said that over 2,500 years ago, today’s neuroscience is helping us to understand the mind’s complex hard-wired mechanisms with stunning speed. A study, conducted […]
June 11, 2015

Self Talk – Are You Judging or Coaching?

I once heard someone say that if we overheard a conversation at the next table in a restaurant with people talking to each other the way we talk to ourselves – we’d get up and leave.  Know what I mean?  This statement has stayed with me for a long time, especially when I am judging myself harshly or listening to […]
June 11, 2015

Workplace Relationships – You Have to Care

“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 […]
June 11, 2015

How Emotions Shape Decision Making

Since this piece was first published, it’s been in the top 5 of viewed articles every day. Clearly – the head vs. heart conflict is very much alive.  There is little disagreement that effective decision-making is one of the most important tasks we have in every part of life. If we were to take a survey in the average workplace […]
May 22, 2015

Renewing Our Belief in the Power of People

“I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance.” Pablo Casals   The more I see others from my heart and not my judgment, the more compassion I have for my fellow human beings.  Admittedly, this is a work in progress. There’s something poignant about pilots reporting their final passenger count as having a […]
April 28, 2015

Why Do We Have To “Promote” Kindness at Work?

 “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 […]