This is Johanna Rothman’s April 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. The world is in chaos. In the past, I’ve tried some small probes to find a transforming idea and then see if that idea will work. Those probes are one way of gathering more […]
How Can We Change Our Bias for Action to Gathering More Information? Read More »
(Warning: This post contains a discussion of US politics.) When was the most recent time you had to choose between doing what was right instead of what was easy? At work, people—not just leaders—make these decisions all the time. Too often those decisions disappoint the people with the most power. What happens? Sometimes, the powerful
How Can We Find the Courage to Do What’s Right, Not What’s Easy? Read More »
(Warning: this post discusses the upcoming US Presidential election.) Our identities mean we identify with many possible different tribes. By tribe, I mean a particular affinity group. I have professional tribes, such as software people, managers, and consultants. Personally, I have my family tribe and my position in that tribe. I also have social tribes,
How Much of a Hold Do Your Various Tribes Have on You? Read More »
In general, I’m willing to extend a fair amount of trust to other people. For example, when driving, I trust other drivers to stay in their lane. However, when drivers swerve all over the road, I stop extending that trust in an instant—those drivers broke trust with me. That’s because they broke the social contract
How Can We Clarify the Social Contract, Trust, and Betrayal? Read More »
Professionally, I work in the tech sector. Right now, when tech is making money hand over fist, many companies are laying people off. Not one here and one there, but significant percentages of people. In my experience, companies do need to make rapid-enough decisions about when to lay some people off to save the company
Who Benefits and Who Loses from Other People’s Actions or Decisions? Read More »
Long ago, in a company that no longer exists, my managers asked me to “stretch the truth” to a customer. I refused. One of them threatened me with the loss of my job. They didn’t fire me that day, and I left soon thereafter. I didn’t have trouble doing the right thing because I’d already
How Can We Make it Easy to do the Right Thing? Read More »
When you were a child, your parents made all the decisions for how you lived. I distinctly remember thinking it was “so unfair” that I had to go to bed and not read more. Yes, I was one of those kids who read under the covers with a flashlight. Even as adults, we live in
How Do We Balance the Power to Make Decisions with Who Feels the Outcomes? Read More »
CAL Newsletter: Which Kind of Power Do You Need to Avoid Triangulation? A Beloved Family Member (BFM) refuses all kinds of social media. Just refuses. However, BFM has friends on several sites. These Friends know I am related to BFM and message me to get to BFM. That’s triangulation. The first time this occurred, I
Which Kind of Power Do You Need to Avoid Triangulation? Read More »
Asking for help is key to living an adaptable life, and boy, it’s a tough one for me. I’m getting a lot better at it. I was in Belgium last week, transferring through Heathrow to and from Brussels. On a good vertigo day, I can do slow-to-medium speed up-escalators. Down-escalators are difficult under almost any
Learn How to Ask for Help Read More »