It’s hard to know when you’re inside the hurricane if the storm is passing over, or stalled out. In either case, preparation, intentionality, and awareness will save your house. But only if you act and work before the hurricane comes along.
The closer we get to the truth of an issue, which typically lies at the center of a universe of distortions, fabrications, and sometimes outright lies, the more difficult our conversations with all the other parties involved, become. The way to resolve this tension is not through avoiding difficult conversations Read more…
No matter how rationally argued, if what the presenter, lecturer, teacher, trainer, or interpreter is saying doesn’t resonate with you at an emotional level, you will reject it out of hand. And you’ll do it in microseconds of microseconds. Resonance in storytelling is something we know happens with impact at Read more…
I’m typing this and you’re probably reading it on a mobile device. One of the things rarely commented on is how reading comprehension—that is understanding and integrating a concept that you have read about into your overall life experience—has changed since the rise of the Internet as well as the Read more…
Here’s the thing: The only person at work who can change the culture of where you work, is you. The only person who can manage adults as if they are adults, are other adults acting like adults. The only person who can ensure that products, ideas, and innovations ship on Read more…
The thing about anxiety in conflict is that it’s part biological and part psychological. And one part washes the other part. Which is where people have choices: We can either narcotize the anxiety (through the use of distractions) or we can medicate our biology (through the use of drugs). This Read more…
Being “on the bubble” is about how much value you add to the situation, the resolution, or the conflict before the bubble bursts, all over you and all over the other party. Being “on the bubble” is about being in a place where you are neither advancing nor retreating, merely Read more…
Ignorance. Distractedness. Forgetfulness. Prejudice. Lack of perspective. Intellectual weariness. Inconsistency. Missing the mark, either emotionally or logically. Intellectual apathy. Close-mindedness. Emotional pride. Intellectual pride. Vanity. Miscommunication. Half-knowledge, partial knowledge, or no knowledge at all. Our thinking (yours, mine, and everyone else’s who you know) are impacted by all of the Read more…
When thinking about conflict, the lock-in effect controls our reactions and responses. We become accustomed to the reactions and responses that we have integrated into our lives on a regular basis. And the people to whom we are responding become locked-in to their responses and reactions to us as well. Read more…
Sometimes a presentation doesn’t “work.” Sometimes there’s no connection with the audience. Sometimes the presenter talks more to themselves than they listen to the crowd. Sometimes questions aren’t asked (or answered) by the audience or the presenter. Sometimes there is no active listening on the part of the audience. Sometimes Read more…