Asking good questions may be the most important, yet least developed, skill for personal and professional success. One popular belief holds that we win friends and new business by being clever and quick on our feet, and that our brilliance—saying just the right thing—is what attracts others. But … [Read more...] about Add Meaning to Conversations with Power Questions
Personal Development
Making and Breaking Habits
Many people believe it takes 21 days to master a new habit. Wishful thinking! Self-help books and motivational gurus have promoted the 21-day myth for at least 50 years, with little research to validate the claim. In a 2009 European study, participants took a full 66 days to adopt a new habit. As … [Read more...] about Making and Breaking Habits
Become More Mindful: Are You Living on Autopilot?
Are You Living on Autopilot? A pattern of behavior can become so habitual that one barely notices anymore what it prompts one to do. One feels automatically, thinks automatically and acts automatically. ~ Martine Batchelor, Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits (Wisdom Publications, … [Read more...] about Become More Mindful: Are You Living on Autopilot?
Choose To Be Well
As modern brain scientists study human behavior, they find that we operate more unconsciously than previously assumed. It’s not that we’re automatons without free will or that we lack rationality and refined decision-making skills. Our brains (specifically, the frontal cortex) simply drive us to … [Read more...] about Choose To Be Well
How to Sabotage Your Success
Never let the fear of striking out get in your way. ~ George Herman “Babe” Ruth As an executive coach, I am privy to clients’ stories of success and failure. I’ve noticed over the years that they commonly share one highly destructive behavior: self-sabotage. Few of us realize how frequently … [Read more...] about How to Sabotage Your Success
How to Get the Most Out of Meetings
Meetings, like death and taxes, are an inevitable fact of business life. Many, unfortunately, turn out to be a huge waste of time. Instead of generating ideas, engagement and commitment, meetings often zap team members’ energy, replacing it with apathy and boredom. (photo courtesy … [Read more...] about How to Get the Most Out of Meetings
Power Listening: 4 Steps to Conversation Success
I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions. ~ Lee Iacocca, former CEO Ford Motor Co. Listening may be the most … [Read more...] about Power Listening: 4 Steps to Conversation Success
The Truth About Dishonesty
"Morality, like art, means drawing a line somewhere." ~ Oscar Wilde Forbes Magazine calls a recent financial scandal "the shocking indictment of the culture of banks." This time it involves unethical, illegal fixing of financial markets by the great names of banking. Barclays has admitted guilt … [Read more...] about The Truth About Dishonesty
Self-Management:
Do the Right Things
Reducing your forward momentum is the first step to freeing yourself from the beliefs, habits, feelings and busyness that may be limiting you. ~ Peter Bregman
We start each day knowing we're not going to get everything done. Every year, we reflect on our progress and wonder where the time went. Why … [Read more...] about Self-Management:
Do the Right Things
The Amazing Power of Habits
Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steadily gains in strength. At first it may be but as a spider's web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel. ~ American theologian Tryon Edwards (1809–1894) How much of what you do is wise? Most … [Read more...] about The Amazing Power of Habits