Showing Post from: Essays
The Man Who Taught Me How to Unlearn
One of the greatest learning experiences in my life came from a man named Phil Cohen. I reached out to him yesterday after many years. Phil is the Artistic Director of Concordia University’s Leonardo Project. I met him in my late 20’s when I was devoted to becoming a jazz […]
The Astonishing Tenure of Trader Joe’s Cashiers
Did you know that the average tenure of a Trader Joe’s cashier is 18 years? Every other week, we drive from the beach to make our Trader Joe’s run. Saturday was the date. As we neared our favorite cashier, she flashed her signature grin and called out, “Hi, it’s […]
Why You Are the Average of the Five People You Spend the Most Time With
Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you. -Misty Copeland Inside each and every one of us, there is the DNA of highest good, of optimum living and our greatest giving, How do […]
The Skill Crisis That Undermines Adults and Our Children
In our culture, we have a growing challenge and dare I imply “crisis” around a variety of life skill deficits that impact many adults and will undermine the careers of our growing children. For many years, I have observed many of our participants wake up and attain the work […]
I DON’T HAVE TIME: The Newest Killer of Change
It takes a certain degree of courage to change one’s life. I know this because I have observed thousands of people make life-changing decisions and all the themes that become part of the journey from dissatisfaction to fulfilling their deepest career ambitions. In 1990, I designed The Inspired Work […]
Kill Off Change? Why Bother?
4th in a series – “How We Routinely Kill Off Change.” We use five filters to kill off change. Thus far, I’ve shared three: Cynicism Contempt Aimlessness My point is that change, especially self-change usually inspires various types of filters to become active and block the way […]
The Shocking Reason Many Stand at the Sidelines
3rd in a series in How We Kill Off Change & Engagement: Welcome to Aimlessness. In today’s world, there is an epic to-the-death fight taking place between many of our people and change. Thus far, change is winning every round. One of the reasons average organizations have such dismal […]
How To Kill Change On-The-Spot
Yesterday, we published an introduction regarding how we use four “filters” to kill off change. All of these filters are driven by fear of change. The first one is cynicism. I’m sure we can find that in our culture. It is the filter we use to slowly talk us out […]
Five Filters That Kill Personal Change
Successful people take more risks, they usually have had more failures than others and most of them are used to the experience of fear. The biological point of fear is to take action. Only a small percentage of us have been properly trained in how to respond to fear in […]
This Book is Cooked!
13% global work engagement isn’t a business problem, it is a tragedy that impacts our families, our customers and virtually every aspect of our lives. The vast majority of employee engagement initiatives produce mediocre results or fail altogether. In 2008, we began working with University of Southern California […]