Most of my communities feel as if the world is in disarray. The agile community wants to “go back” to when Scrum ruled the world. Too many politicians want to “go back” to a supposedly simpler time. When I hear, “go back,” I am pretty sure we are in a time of cultural change. While […]
How Can You Solve Problems When the Real Problems Are Cultural Changes? (Part 1) Read More »
There are two parallel ideas going on in my world right now. First, the news is full of “us” vs. “other.” We don’t believe “them.” They don’t trust “us.” Second, tonight is the start of Yom Kippur, where we pray as a community to make our lives—and the world—a better place. (The specifics are repentance,
How Can We Manage to See the “Other” Perspective to Create a Greater Good? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s September 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. Do you like uncertainty? I don’t, and I’m not alone. That’s because uncertainty feels as if it’s an unmanageable risk. We even have sayings such as, “Don’t rock the boat,” to explain why we
How Would You Act if You Optimized for Uncertainty to Gain More Resilience? Read More »
I’ve had several interesting conversations with people over the past few weeks about how useful they feel at work. They feel as if their management treats them as commodities: “You do this work and we will pay you and give you health insurance.” That’s a transactional way to think about work. However, useful work requires
How Can We Know if We’re Doing Useful Work? Read More »
We’ve all heard that freedom isn’t free. We have to work and fight for it. But too often, we hear the “fight” part and not the “work” part. That means we start to choose just one of two alternatives (yours vs mine) instead of looking for more options. Worse, we might think that freedom is
Which Freedoms Will You Work and Fight For? Read More »
Every day, my inbox is overflowing with people who want to sell me something. I suspect you have the same problem. These sellers do not realize that the relationship comes first, then the sale. Worse, without the relationship, I will never buy from them. Do they realize that? I suspect not. Regardless of what you
How Early in a New Relationship Can You Offer Useful Value? Read More »
By the time we start school, most of us have heard the word “no” a lot. Parents tell children not to do unsafe things—a form of rejection. Most of us learn from these rejections and decide what to do next. In school, we experience a ton of rejection. As a short child with zero athletic
When Can Rejection Help Us Create a Better Life? Read More »
This is Johanna Rothman’s May 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email. A few weeks ago, I met a friend, Dave, for lunch. We’d had to cancel that lunch two weeks in a row. The first time was because I was sick. While I selfishly decided
How Do You Know When a Selfish or Generous Decision is Best? Read More »
I feel as if I’m living the Satir Change model. I’ve had “Monday” every day this week. My computer keeps rebooting itself (sigh). My website hosting provider had a snafu, so my website needed some changes. Then, this morning, I screwed things up with my (other) site. (It’s all fixed now.) My car died on
How Can More Adaptable Thinking Create More Success for You? Read More »
We often hear “strength” used to describe leaders in our communities, at work, and certainly in politics. Often, those who talk about being “strong” equate that strength to “power.” While I do think there is a power component to strength, I don’t agree with literal power, where the “strong” leader uses/abuses his or her power
What Does Leadership Strength Mean to You? Read More »