The Positive Power Of Negative Thinking
Sure, positive people are more likely to make friends, form successful business relationships and brighten a room when they walk through the door. But what about the negative thinkers? The pessimists who stand ready to slap the half-full glass from the happy-go-lucky optimist's outstretched hand. According to traditional thinking optimists are peak performers. People - I suspect mostly optimists - quote classic studies on insurance salesmen (carried out by Dr. Martin Seligman) which suggest that a positive outlook is predictive of higher performance. More recent studies suggest that happiness is also "catching". Optimists (presumably the ones who don't use a handkerchief) are ...
Adding Emotion To A Sales Presentation
Whenever I give presentation skills workshops to high-tech folks (such as software salespeople) I'm constantly reminding them to add an emotional component to their dry-as-dust technical demos. Engaging the emotions is an important part of capturing your audience's attention and changing their perspective. And, if you fail to change your audience's point of view, they won't be moved to rally behind your idea or purchase your offering. That said Google - about as high-tech as you can get - nailed this important strategy during their Super Bowl commercial. If you didn't see it, check out the video below... Wonderful stuff! Did you see the ...
Change Management: Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
So, it's mid January. How are you doing with your New Year Resolutions? Here's a reality check: Regardless of the change you're trying to make, if you've acquired a track record, it’s highly likely you’ll continue down the same road. Even if this particular change in your behavior were desperately required to save your life - and I mean literally save your life - chances are you wouldn't make it. Decades of research has made it abundantly clear, the odds are most definitely stacked against you. Why is it so tough to achieve the goals we set for ourselves? How can we ...
Critical Thinking: The Raw Power Of A Simple Idea
I discovered something at London's Heathrow airport last week that provides support (and scientific validation) for the ping-pong ball story from my motivational speech. The ping-pong ball story is short and simple yet has a vital, and often overlooked, message. You can hear all about Tom and the ping-pong ball by clicking the video below… The story illustrates the raw power of a simple idea. We have a love/hate relationship with ‘simple’. Don’t have time for ‘complex’ and are, at the same time, disappointed with ‘simple’. The message behind my simple story is that ideas don’t have to be complex to be ...
Change Management: Mistakes Executives Make Managing Change – Part 2
In the last change management blog post, I talked about encountering unexpected gridlock when trying to implement an organizational change which—on paper—is “plain as day” mission-critical. I also described specific day-to-day errors executives make which intensify this passive-aggressive foot dragging. Finally, I pointed out that many of these mistakes arise because leaders wildly underestimate—if they consider it at all—Emotion Brain. A raw, primal brain region with the power to resist any kind of transition until you, your staff and your organization die! Today, I’m going to talk step-by-step (do this…then that) solutions and put them into a simple framework. Listen carefully: Your ...
Critical Thinking: Three People Puzzle
Robin Cervantes commented today on a puzzle I posted a while back: Critical Thinking - Bus Puzzle. Here’s another puzzle I came across recently which demonstrates a specific error we make when trying to solve a problem. (It’s adapted from the work of a computer scientist at the University of Toronto called Hector Levesque): John is staring at Jill, but Jill is staring at Jack. John is married, but Jack is not. Question: Is a married person staring at an unmarried person? Multiple Choice Answer: A. No B. Yes. C. Can’t be solved with the limited information given. Hint: Don't get distracted by the ...
Problem Solving: Insights From A Sailing Lesson
I just returned from a week’s sailing instruction, where I was reminded of a crucial insight into effective problem solving. To put this story in context: Right off, here’s something you should know...
Emotional Intelligence – A Crucial Element
If you don't understand and implement this essential step, no amount of counting-to-ten will help you handle your overly emotional states. I'm immensely proud to say that Krys (my superstar wife) was emotional intelligence in motion this week. Her management of an infuriating situation provides an excellent example of this crucial element in action. Monday Our Internet service crashed...
The Two Questions
Your perspective on any situation can only be mistaken in one of two ways...You miss stuff and you make stuff up... Yin And Yang As I began researching these two fundamental misperceptions—the yin and yang of perceptual errors—I noticed that, in general, the stuff you miss cripples your thinking. Conversely, the stuff you make up fuels toxic emotions...
Change Management: Mistakes Executives Make Managing Change
It’s every leader’s nightmare! A vital organizational restructuring, work-flow redesign or productivity mandate encounters jaw-dropping resistance. Even though the changes are unquestionably justified, it seems like half your staff are busy polishing their resume while the others keep watch and plot ways to sabotage the new initiative. Rather than forging a bright new future as a unified, peak-performance team, it’s depressingly clear that old problems have resurfaced, anxiety levels are through the roof and staff motivation has plummeted. What blunders produced this impasse? And what concrete steps can be taken to fix them? Crucial Mistakes 1. During organizational change, sweeping any discussion of ...
Critical Thinking
The Positive Power Of Negative ThinkingSure, positive people are more likely to make friends, form successful business relationships...
Critical Thinking: The Raw Power Of A Simple Idea
I discovered something at London’s Heathrow airport last week that provides...
Critical Thinking: Actively Seeking A Fresh Perspective
This wonderful optical illusion – sent to me by Perspective Power subscriber...
Critical Thinking: Why We Miss Obvious Solutions To Our Problems
As I was re-reading the third part of my series on change management, well…well,...
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Emotional Intelligence
The Magic PhraseSeeing someone else’s point of view is vital in all areas of your life; regardless...
Emotional Intelligence: Turn Off Your TV!
Have you ever sat in a doctor’s waiting room that didn’t have a TV? It...
Emotional Intelligence – A Crucial Element
If you don’t understand and implement this essential step, no amount of counting-to-ten...
Emotional Intelligence: Managing Your Emotions In “Real-Life”
I got an email from a student called Lori which raised an important issue about the...
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Change Management
Conserving Your Cognitive CashDo you ever get to the end of your work day exhausted? Would you like to know how to conserve some of that mental energy? Would you like to be able to tap a payload of mental muscle you’ve been squandering your entire life? Yes. Then let’s talk about context… Context Is Vital… It defines the meaning of our experience. That’s why we... [Read more of this post]
How To Conquer The Curse of Self-Distraction
The biggest barrier to your success isn’t lack of opportunity, it’s perpetual distraction. I’m not talking about the advertising fire hose that blasts pressurized jets of “buy now” BS at your head all day long. That’s easy to plug—dump cable and add ad-blocking software to your internet browser; piece of cake! And... [Read more of this post]
Actionable Value, A Vital Change Management Concept
Sometimes I suffer from night cramps. (Apparently, I’m so unfit, my muscles ache in anticipation of exercise.) And so, in an effort to keep the lactic acid trip going on inside my muscles to a minimum, I do step aerobics three times a week. Just me—the only guy—and rows, and rows of women. And we’re all doing exactly the same thing,... [Read more of this post]
Change Management: Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
So, it’s mid January. How are you doing with your New Year Resolutions? Here’s a reality check: Regardless of the change you’re trying to make, if you’ve acquired a track record, it’s highly likely you’ll continue down the same road. Even if this particular change in your behavior were desperately required to save your life... [Read more of this post]
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