One of Carl Jung’s favorite words was “synchronicity”, that unexplainable convergence of unplanned events that offer insights and opportunities. When I agreed to join a trekking expedition through two remote provinces of the Indian Himalayas, I had no way of knowing that this adventure would coincide with the publication of my latest book, Gifts from the Mountain- Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities. Ah, synchronicity!
One of the benefits of being a continual learner is that we are constantly overtaken by ah-hah moments that serve to not only whack us on the side of the head, but also hold lessons that can have universal application for anyone in leadership. The following are but some of the principles gleaned as our group drove along the highest roads in the world and wound up in the regions of Lahual and Spiti which are often closed to the outside world for seven frozen months. They come from trekking with tribesmen herding sheep and goats at elevations up to 16,000 feet and from crossing white water rivers on foot and encountering the Dalia Lama in a remote monastery near the China/Tibet border. Continue reading » »
The value women place on relationships has increasing marketplace value. Changes in the nature of technology have made relationships — with customers, clients, suppliers, competitors, shareholders, and the community as well as within the organization itself — a far more vital resource for organizations than in years past. Twenty years ago, relationships were considered the soft stuff, dismissed as the province of “human resource weenies” by those who valued strategic toughness. Today, they are more likely to be seen as essential to innovation, teamwork, customer satisfaction, talent retention, and the transmission of embodied wisdom. Continue reading » »
What makes the difference between an average presentation and one that rocks your world? What makes the difference between a memorable speech and one that fades into oblivion as soon as the presenter steps off the stage? The answer sits in four building blocks that are essential for crafting a speech into a work of art rather than hum-drum blather.
Building Block Number One: Add context to your content
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Why do women place so much value on relationships?
Recent advances in neuroscience suggest some answers. A UCLA lab team using functional MRIs found that humans register the social pain of isolation and rejection in the same areas of the brain and with the same intensity as they register physical pain. Further investigation revealed that women experience social pain more acutely than men and in more parts of the brain simultaneously. Another study using similar methodology revealed that the hippocampus, which constitutes the major memory center in the brain, is more active in women when they are interacting with others. This makes women more likely to remember the details of emotional exchanges and personal conversations. Continue reading » »
On June 10, 2010, we hosted a webinar with Dr. Andrew Thorn on peer coaching. The webinar was titled - Symphony™: The Future of Leadership Development and was based on his formal research study titled: The Impact of Peer Coaching on Leadership Effectiveness. The study took place over a five year period and included very well know participants from the banking, pharmaceutical and power generation industries.
The goal of the study was to determine if the results from peer coaching could measure up to the results of executive coaching. The findings of the study demonstrated peer coaching to meet and even exceed the results of executive coaching. The process proved to be an innovative, cost effective leadership development strategy that creates greater employee engagement by broadening the reach of coaching and establishing a vibrant culture of accountability.
During the webinar session, the number of questions received greatly exceeded our time and capacity to get through them all, so we asked Andrew to answer some of the most critical of those we had in this Q&A document. We appreciate his willingness to do so and to let us make this information available to you all.
Your Questions From The Webinar Continue reading » »
