Working coaches, mentors, supervisors; mid-career
It’s said that “growing old is compulsory; growing up is not”. Our notions of adulthood and maturity are vague and often contradictory. The legal age of becoming an adult has nothing to do with the development of an adult brain. Our brain continues to reshape itself until the late twenties and then continues to change,...
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It’s one of those showstopper questions that people typically avoid asking themselves. Being busy doesn’t mean being productive. Technology often doesn’t help, because it creates distractions that make us lose focus on what’s important rather than what’s urgent. Here’s a routine to help you be self-honest about it. What’s the primary purpose of you being...
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When someone feels they belong in an environment, what they sense around them makes them feel at home. This can involve a wide variety of stimuli. Among these are: The visual environment: for example, how spacious or confined it is, the general decor, pictures and objects; or how people dress; or the amount of order...
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One of the reasons teams struggle to define their purpose is that they can’t work out at which level of aspiration the purpose should be. At a very basic level, pragmatic purpose is about relatively short-term accomplishments and survival. For example: “We’ve got to attract enough customers to stay in business”. Grounded purpose takes a (more…)
When domestic couples are too busy to spend quality time together, it’s a recipe for discontent and perhaps divorce. Relationships at work are different in many ways, of course, but if interactions are overwhelmingly transactional, the same mechanisms of disconnection, misunderstanding of motives and disaffection can easily occur. We spend roughly the same amount of...
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Cultures differ in how much people instinctively gesture, but gesturing is a key part of how humans communicate with each other. They are also, according to studies by Susan Goldin-Meadow, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, key to how we learn. It turns out that the movement associated gestures reinforce learning. Children taught...
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What do you stand for? If you were asked this question out of the blue, how would you answer? If you can’t articulate what you stand for, then how do you expect other people to recognise it? It’s a constant challenge for leaders in every environment. It’s easy to explain strategies and plans, and perhaps...
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A recent study by PWC and The Conference Board reveals some worrying deficits in core competencies, as perceived by senior executives. In particular: Only one third believe that board members ask probing questions Only 29% rate the performance of their board as good 57% think their boards don’t understand key stakeholders, such as employees or...
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After several years absence from Hong Kong in the aftermath of Covid, it was a delight to be able to revisit and also engage with coaches in mainland China. Last time I was in Shenzhen, it was just a village. Now, it’s a thriving modern city of 18 million people. The level of technology in (more…)
As a question to stimulate reflection, this can be quite powerful. It’s not about narcissistic self-congratulation. It’s about being realistic in the narrative we tell ourselves about ourselves. Good friends are authentic towards each other. They are not afraid to give critical feedback when it is needed; but they care enough about us to be...
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