Every decision is a statement. Some are statements to the masses. Some are statements to the few. But all are statements to and about yourself. – Hap Klopp, founder of The North Face I’ve been learning a lot from Hap Klopp lately. I met, and interviewed Hap, the founder and former CEO of The North […]
Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don’t swallow it. – Hank Ketchum It’s almost a cliché but it happens all the time. Your colleague walks in, says something smarmy and ingratiating, and then asks you to do something. We know from research, people react positively to those who consistently deliver positive news. Flattery, […]
“I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.” – Marilyn Monroe Few things are as disruptive as repetitive and negative emotional cycles. To find new results, we need to also find new ways of interacting with each other. According to psychologist Stephen Karpman, there are three distinct roles, or personas, that we […]
Deborah Gruenfeld is a professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford. For years, she and her colleagues have been studying the effects of power – particularly the effect of power disparities in the workplace. In one small, but powerful, example of her work, they brought together students in groups of three. Of the three students, one was chosen […]
On July 17, 1981 in a Hyatt Regency in Kansas City MO, two skywalks weighing over 70 tons collapsed on a party below, killing 114, injuring 216, and trapping many others for up to seven hours while rescuers tried to reach them under the rubble. The skywalk collapsed because there was a flaw in how […]
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell In Bronnie Ware’s book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying she describes her years of experience working with patients in […]
The promotion you just got? A beautiful sunset with your family? That’s amateur stuff to be grateful for. The waiter just refilled your coffee? Oh, how considerate. You thank him. Now you feel warm and thoughtful. Step up people. Try being grateful for losing a big contract, or your U12 soccer team getting crushed on […]
Expressing appreciation for someone in your life can change your whole outlook. That’s right. Simply telling someone else how much you appreciate them will improve how you feel. Jeffrey Froh, professor at Hofstra University, did this cool study in which he and his colleagues tracked students in eleven different classrooms, and divided them into three groups. For just a […]
I had several different bosses during the early years of writing ‘Dilbert.’ They were all pretty sure I was mocking someone else. – Scott Adams Every evening, all around the world, we come home from work, greet our partners, our kids, and have discussions. Discussions in the kitchen, at the dinner table, and before we […]
Most people don’t have that willingness to break bad habits. They have a lot of excuses and they talk like victims. – Carlos Santana Last week I heard the most amazing behavioral science story. I goes like this: Several years ago researchers working with monkeys confined five into a single enclosure. Each day they placed a […]