A baker suspected that the farmer who was supplying his butter was giving him short weight. He carefully checked the weight, and his suspicions were confirmed. Highly indignant, he had the farmer arrested. At the trial the judge was satisfied and the baker chagrined at the farmer’s explanation. He (the farmer) had no scales so […]
Read post »“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” Robert Albert Bloch, American screenwriter, “Psycho,” “Psycho II” “We usually learn faster from pain than from pleasure. Strong dislikes are acquired faster than strong likes. In relationships, trust is easy […]
Read post »That we are drawn by the future rather than just driven by the past is extremely important and directly contrary to the heritage of social science and the history of psychology. It is, nevertheless, a basic and implicit premise of positive psychology. Martin Seligman, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being When I […]
Read post »Bill Gates calls this “my new favorite book of all time.” Read my review here. Here’s a small taste of Steven Pinker’s forceful case for reframing where the world is today: “…although the world remains highly unequal, every region has been improving, and the worst-off parts of the world today are better off than the […]
Read post »One of my favorite bedtime stories as a kid was the story of Chicken Little. It’s a very old folk tale about a little chick who was hit on the head by a falling acorn. The chick believed the world was coming to an end, and set out to warn the King. “Despair springs eternal,” […]
Read post »This week marked celebrations of the creation of two countries. Canada Day was July 1 and Americans celebrated Independence Day on July 4. Both countries broke away from British rule. Canada was formed by evolution and America by revolution. It’s a good time to look at a few thoughts on the role of change champions […]
Read post »Leadership is fast resembling the famous Mark Twain quote about the weather – everybody’s always talking about it but nobody does anything about it. Based on their ongoing research, The Conference Board of Canada concludes, “Building leadership capacity has been a top priority for several years, at least on paper. The problem is that, while […]
Read post »I used to love the sharp, fresh smell of ink and paper as I opened a new book and heard the creak of the spine cracking. Old, musty, and worn school readers gave off a sweet, warm odor that promised hours of entertainment and adventure. Books don’t seem to smell that way anymore. That’s probably […]
Read post »There’s an epidemic of frantic busyness, multi-tasking, project overload, way too many goals, and tyranny of the urgent. An old folk saying reminds us “the hurrier I go the behinder I get.” A theme running through many recent blog postings has been the critical need to be more focused, disciplined, and strategic with our personal, […]
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