I listened to Marcus Blankenship’s podcast Finding Career Opportunities Through Experimentation with Josh Doody. During the podcast, Marcus said something like this (I’m paraphrasing): “I wonder which was the problem: the decision or the outcome?” I thought that was a wonderful frame for how we might think about decisions. I don’t always differentiate between the …
What’s the Problem: the Decision or the Outcome? Read More »
I’ve seen many people say, “We need to reopen the economy, now. We can’t afford more people out of work. We need to get the economy moving.” I’ve also seen many people say, “We must not sacrifice the health of people to reopen the economy. If we do and many people die, we won’t have …
How Can You Prevent Your Fear From Limiting Your Options? Read More »
I was at a conference recently. The theme was about games (simulations) that would help create psychological safety. Psychological safety matters both at home and at work. I bet you’ve seen people who live with psychologically unsafe families. Their lack of safety makes everything about their lives much more difficult. How can you gain emotional …
How Can You Use Your Fear or Vulnerability to Create Courage? Read More »
The more I learn about adaptability, the more I realize I need to generate several options. The options help me select a new response to the altered situation. And, every so often, I find that too many options confuse me. I want to find the One Real Possibility that will solve the problem. Instead, I …
I meet a number of people who have great ideas. And, in order to “push” the ideas through the organization, they tell me that the ends justify the means. I don’t buy that. That’s not congruent behavior. These people are thinking about themselves. They’re thinking about the context. However, the way they treat the other …
Too often, I hear the word “just” when modifying a feeling. “Can’t you just shake it off?” Or, “Can’t you just move on?” Or, “Can you just go along with what I want?” Every single one of those “justs” are about ignoring what the other person feels. If you’re on the receiving end of these …
One of my clients had been quite successful in a particular role. She’d decided it was time to look for a new job doing the same thing. She wanted my opinion about several organizations. Instead of offering her an opinion on the organizations, I asked this question, “Do you want to do the same thing …
Many people use the terms adaptable and resilience interchangeably. However, they mean different things and we live and use them differently. When we are adaptable, we see that reality has changed. We don’t deny that reality. Because we admit that we have a new reality, we can find new approaches to manage our responses to …
What’s the Difference Between Resilience and Adaptability? Read More »
We encounter a problem somewhere, at work, at home. We often reflect, to discover the root cause(s). That might be useful, especially if we discover a common cause, something within our system of work (or home) that creates problems. However, if we have a special cause—especially a random event—we don’t need to reflect. We can …
You encounter a setback or a loss. Someone, a well-meaning someone, tells you to “just get over it.” How can you? The quick answer is you don’t. (Well, I don’t.) What we do instead is move through the change model. Let me unpack that well-meaning, albeit wrong, sentence. “Just” is not a useful word to describe any …