Fresh Thoughts
And some old favourites
Confronting the Thief of Time.
“Procrastination is the thief of time.” - Edward Young (1683-1765) We all do it. But for some, the practice of procrastination - delay without good reason, can become a chronic habit. Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird , tells this poignant story of the consequences of...
What’s the flip side? How to create another point of view when you’re stumped.
We all like to think we're instinctively creative thinkers but we're not. Overcoming the constraints our existing mental maps impose and the unconscious pattern-matching that filters our senses and thoughts makes the process of thinking of and assessing new ideas hard...
Brainwriting – Brainstorming Introvert-style
Have you ever encountered a group meeting; brainstorming, retrospective or other variety that was simply dominated by an outspoken minority? This often happens despite the best intentions and efforts of the meeting chairperson or facilitator. The result can be a...
Closing the intention-action gap
The number one killer of great outcomes is being stuck between "saying" and "doing." Because I've been prone to this particular dysfunction, I've collected a vast assortment of observations that addresses the painfully obvious gap between intention and outcome. There...
Useful or Interesting?
Attention, focused and conscious thought, is a scarce resource. It requires effort and consumes energy - something our brains strive to minimize. It's further constrained by the number of waking hours we have. We only have so much time in which to express ourselves...
Why Does Coaching Work?
If you're like me, at least a little bit, you want to know why stuff works. I've a long history of pulling things apart to see what makes them tick. It's just something I need to do. I can appreciate magic but I can't help thinking of an explanation for the effect....
Digital journalism a conversation? I don’t think so
I don’t see too many signals that there’s a real “conversation” going on. It’s more like a bar fight.
Real Conversation – Part 2
Here's Part 2 of the condensed version of the arguments supporting giving face-to-face communication more attention. They are extracted from Real Conversation - the most powerful business tool your organization will ever use, my presentation at the recent Ragan...
Real Conversation – Part 1
Earlier this month, I spoke at the excellent Ragan Corporate Communications Conference, in Chicago. My topic? Real Conversation - the most powerful business tool your organization will ever use. One of the topics I tackled was how to convince leaders and managers to...