Last week I wrote about generosity and success – how givers are at both the top and bottom of the success charts. I mentioned that the successful givers differentiate themselves by taking a win-win attitude: they consider their own interests as well as the interests of the people they’re giving to.There’s more to say on […]
Does Generosity Create Success?
There are takers, matchers, and givers. Takers are people who are always out for their own gain. Matchers like to evenly match their giving and taking. Givers just give. How do you think they compare?According to Adam Grant, in his book Give and Take, the least successful are givers. Studies in the fields of engineering, medicine, […]
Is Mindfulness changing Politics?
Mindfulness is really catching on the UK – even at government level. Last week I found myself in the Houses of Parliament, at a “round table” meeting on the future of Mindfulness in the workplace. We heard evidence, case studies and success stories from Cranfield University, CaptialOne, GlaxoSmithKline and others. I was particularly pleased to hear about the […]
Burnout – back from the brink
Stewart had been pushing himself for years – achieving great results, but at a price. He’d got used to being stressed, but now something very strange was happening. He felt like he’d gone into a vague cloudy world in which nothing really mattered. He’d completely lost his edge. Then he came for coaching – just […]
Double (or halve) People’s Creativity
When you’re leading, the way you communicate can make a huge difference to people’s creativity. In one mode, they can be twice as creative as the other. How so? Fleeing an Owl or Seeking out Cheese? In an experiment at the University of Maryland (Friedman & Forster 2001), students were asked to solve a simple puzzle. […]
Listening to Life
Have you ever been talking to someone, and had the experience that they’re not really listening to you? Maybe they’re busy thinking their own thoughts, or distracted and daydreaming. How do you feel when that happens? The weird thing is, we do this to ourselves all the time. We’re doing one thing, but thinking of […]
Before the Cabaret: Emma’s Experience of Rapid Stress Reduction
Emma woke in a state of panic. That evening she was to give her first ever live poetry performance. It was high profile too – tickets to the “Cambridge Creative Cabaret,” cost £18, and Emma was on the programme next to Britain’s Funniest Woman of 2012. No pressure! Emma was also starting to realise that her […]
The Power of a Positive No
What do you do when you’ve got too much to do? You can work your tail off and get it all done (but at a cost to health, relationships and happiness in general). Or you can fall behind (and let people down). Its not a great choice, is it? So let’s step back and see […]