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
It’s As Easy As 1, 2…Eh?Whether you get your news from CNN | Fox | The Daily Show (circle one), last week...
The One Thing That Stopped Me Getting Scammed
During a special on PBS (which doesn’t only stand for Poor British Sitcoms) author...
The Success Myth – A Dangerous Lie
I know nothing about American Football. (I’m with the rest of the world in...
Here’s How To Make Mental Math Much Easier
As we’re nearing the holidays, I’m going to keep it light this week....
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Emotional Intelligence
When Emotions Make Us DumbDo you ever get so frustrated that you’re at risk of acting against your own best...
The Magic Phrase
Seeing 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...
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Change Management
New Year Resolutions|Don’t Fall Off The Willpower WagonDr. Roy Baumeister Here’s something to think about when you make your New Year resolutions: Self-control is a limited resource. This observation comes from Dr. Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist at Florida State and world authority on willpower. In one of his experiments, Baumeister set chocolate in front of adult participants and asked them to... [Read more of this post]
Finding a Simple Way…
Here – right at the top – is the bottom line: People crave simplicity, transformation and control. This week, let’s talk about simplicity… When you over complicate your approach to what you do, you spend way too much time working on the system and not enough time working the system itself. This is the difference between reading a... [Read more of this post]
Leadership Lessons At The YMCA
Psychologist Richard Wiseman and fitness expert Sam Murphy recently asked a group of women: Which sporting activities would make a man more attractive? The most frequent answers were climbing, extreme sports and soccer. (Unless you play for Manchester United.) And the least flattering exercise? Here’s a clue… …Yeah, aerobics. (According to the... [Read more of this post]
Being Disorganized Might Boost Your Productivity
(Quick Request: If you find this blog post useful (and have a Facebook account), please click the “Like” button at the top of this post and share it with your friends…Thanks, Steve.) This week the always amusing (and sometimes hilarious) Time magazine columnist Joel Stein wrote a very funny article about the downside of being hyper-organized.... [Read more of this post]
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