The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg has written a powerful book that is a must read for anyone serious about leadership and success.
In The Power of Habit, he documents how our everyday actions are governed by habits and how changing even one habit can have a massive domino effect. One case study worth mentioning concerns how Alcoa, a US Aluminum manufacturing company turned around the company culture with just one small change.
In 1987, at a time when people were more focused on maximising profits than ...
Google and Goldman—Think Fast!
Companies take note: in the social media age, your dirty laundry is fast becoming everyone’s business.
First Greg Smith of Goldman Sachs, now ex-Google’s James Whittaker is sharing his reasons for leaving, reaching a global audience fast. In each case they are offering us a window into cultural issues and actions taken from false logic that should serve as a warning to the companies.
Unfortunately, it is too late for Goldman to avoid the current meltdown. Clients have voted with ...
Brain Brushing
This was one of the most viewed blogs I’ve ever written so I thought it deserved a second run.
Daniel Siegel makes an excellent case for the benefits of mindfulness and integration.
For an organisational system to work at its best, there needs to be an open flow of energy and information promoting engagement, creativity and receptiveness. When there is this flow of energy and information between independent and integrated parts of the system, you have harmonic balance.
This is ...
Free to move forward
We’re in Jerusalem right now amidst incredbile history at the epicentre of the three major religions of the world.
Besides the historical significance and beauty of the city, we have experienced many perspectives on everything from the current conflict, to religion and life in general.
The other evening, we had dinner at the home of friends who are very religious orthodox Jews and I learned something quite interesting and important that can be applied to leadership, ...
Why People Do (and Don’t) Take Action – Part Three
While there are serious implications and repercussions when people fail to take action, the real problem is when they are acting in the lower right quadrant, the one I refer to as corruption.
Not corruption in a moral sense. More like a pipe corroding. But, it can also lead to corruption in the moral and legal sense.
At it’s most benign, when people take action without integrity they may be dysfunctional. Their actions may disrupt the company’s workability, relationships, ...
The importance of a growth mindset
At the Neuroleadership Summit in San Francisco last week, neuroscientists and business leaders connected to share ideas around the theme “Adaptive Organisations.”
Carol Dweck’s conversation on the beliefs organisations should hold was particularly important as it illuminated one of the essential components of success: a growth mindset.
Organisations that are willing to learn will be more adaptive and innovative, making them more ready to deal with the increasing ...
Anyone can be great
Jeroen’s answer to my serve last week was quite bold. “Dare to fire people that do not fit your company culture.“
Permit me to contradict myself as I answer his challenge.
People do not engage in fixed behaviours and have an unlimited potential waiting to be tapped.
Given the right future, one that is congruent to their own personal values, talents and interests, they will rise to a new level of performance and become a valuable asset to their company.
If they are ...
Leaders must be role models
Jeroen De Flander of the Performance Factory has returned my serve beautifully with a challenging question “What do you do when people know that non-integer behaviour got them – or their boss or CEO – the corner office?“
Non-integer behaviours result in short-term or immediate benefits to only one or a few involved. But the long-term repercussions are far greater for the larger population. Our current world economy painfully illustrates the impact of this short-term ...
Are you a beast or an eagle?
While most of us aren’t crazy, we all have an incessant internal dialogue running in our mind. At best, we can attain a sense of inner calm that enables us to manage the voice and choose our dialogue. In calming ourselves, we become more aware of external events of the moment and less caught up in our own thoughts.
Why is this so important? Because, in essence, we are two different selves or forces – our irrational, reactive self and our logical, responsive self. I’ll call ...
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
A young woman was lamenting to her mother about how hard life was for her. It seemed as soon as one problem was solved, a new one arose. She was so overwhelmed that she didn’t know how she was going to continue.
Without saying a word, her mother filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire until they came to a boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.
In about twenty minutes she turned ...
