Category: Choices

The Connection Between Thinking and Behavior

It isn’t always so clear how our think­ing dri­ves our behav­ior.  Some time ago I found myself work­ing with a lead­er­ship client who I’ll give the fic­ti­tious name, Michael. I asked him dur­ing one of our con­ver­sa­tions: “Michael, how do you feel about work­ing with your col­league, Jeff?” “Oh, Jef­f’s okay,” he said to me,… Con­tin­ue read­ing The Con­nec­tion Between Think­ing and Behavior

The Opposites of Empathy

Look­ing at nov­el­ist and essay­ist Leslie Jamison’s def­i­n­i­tions of empa­thy in the epi­graph to this post, some oppo­sites of empa­thy are eas­i­ly iden­ti­fied: not bring­ing and espe­cial­ly refus­ing to bring the dif­fi­cul­ties of oth­ers into the light; not inquir­ing, not both­er­ing to inquire or both­er­ing to tru­ly lis­ten or act; not being able to or… Con­tin­ue read­ing The Oppo­sites of Empathy

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Categorized as Choices

Defensiveness is the Problem of Our Time

At a deep lev­el, self-reflec­­tion can be a bridge across trou­bled waters, a way to lib­er­ate our­selves from that most dam­ag­ing dis­ease to which lead­ers are prone – which is defen­sive­ness.  Defen­sive­ness is the instinct to pro­tect who and what we are.  While it is impor­tant to be able to defend one­self from unfair attacks, false nar­ra­tives, and… Con­tin­ue read­ing Defen­sive­ness is the Prob­lem of Our Time

The Practice of Reflective Leadership

For more than thir­ty years I’ve been fas­ci­nat­ed by how as lead­ers we increase our self-knowl­­edge through reflec­tion and how in turn this helps us: • gain insight into our beliefs, val­ues and moti­va­tions • chal­lenge unhelp­ful thought pat­terns and behav­iors • increase sen­si­tiv­i­ty to the needs and emo­tions of oth­ers • stay ground­ed and resilient… Con­tin­ue read­ing The Prac­tice of Reflec­tive Leadership