Consolations By David Whyte Since I was a teenager, I’ve had a small pile of books that are my ‘bedside books’. They live in my bedside table or my book-bag when I travel, and they are my go-to's when I want to read something light, nourishing or inspiring. Currently the pile includes the Sufi Book of Life, The Pilgrim of Tinker Creek by Annie ... [Read On]
How to really get the juice out of gratitude
I’ll never forget the first time I saw the beautiful images of frozen water crystals in Masaru Emoto’s book, The Hidden Messages in Water. The one for ‘love and appreciation’ was so stunning I think it’s been etched on my visual cortex forever. Anytime I think of this it reminds me how powerful the act of doing gratitude is. It has an energy and ... [Read On]
The Power of Small Words: And vs. But
As I have shared about before, I’m a lover of language and words and meaning, and I particularly adore the power just one word can have. Today the word I want to rave about is using ‘And’ over ‘But’. This may not be a new concept to you if you’ve engaged in any leadership or professional development training in the last ten years or so, as ... [Read On]
The Power of Small Words: Yet
I’m a lover of language and words and meaning, and I particularly adore the power just one word can have. Today the word I want to rave about is ‘yet’. I’ve used the word ‘yet’ quite strategically for a long time, but a song popped into my Spotify Daily Mix the other day called, “The Power of Yet” by C J Luckey. Listening to this song really ... [Read On]
The Mechanics of Rapport: We’re Wired to Connect
If you're talking rapport building and what the research says, John Gottman is one of the kinkier researcher’s around. He has a ‘Big Brother’ type set up in his lab which involves couples staying in an apartment for a few days, wired up to measure their heart rate and so on, and with cameras all over the place tracking their every move. ... [Read On]
Giving feedback and understanding performance
Giving feedback: the task of a manager that most managers most detest! Oh, how easy it is to put it off and never quite get around to it (even though we all know that one of the golden rules of giving feedback is to make it timely). It doesn’t have to be that way. The trick is to be clear about what you want the conversation to achieve and to know ... [Read On]
Do your people get out of bed to do a shitty job?
Do your people really get out of bed to do a shitty job at work? Employee performance is something that has interested me for over 20 years and this is a conversation I’ve had hundreds of times over the years with managers at all levels and across numerous industries. What is going on when someone isn’t performing? When they’re not stepping up, ... [Read On]