Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Stress and Leadership

88% of leaders report that work is a primary source of stress in their lives and that having a leadership role increases their level of stress.

Over 60% of leaders surveyed felt as though their work fails to provide them with the appropriate tools to manage stress.

More than 2/3 of leaders surveyed believe their stress level has increased over the past five years.

Nearly 80% state they would benefit from a coach to help them manage stress.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

Above is a crude example of mindfulness in everyday life. While Louis CK may lack the gravitas, of say, a Dalai Lama, he does make some excellent points about how we overlook amazing things every day. Our collective failure to be content, to be excited with the mundane, and appreciate the little things has led to many of the problems fueling our current recession. Silly as this little diatribe is, there's a lot of truth in there.

Basic Mindfulness Theory

Mindfulness is a practice gaining greater and greater popularity in the field of clinical(see Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy) and corporate psychology. Originally sprung from Buddhist thought, mindfulness has a simplicity and ease that makes it applicable to a variety of settings, including the workplace. Simply put, mindfulness is a mental state, characterized by calm awareness of one's body, feelings, and consciousness. Mindfulness, as I understand it and apply it, rests on four basic principles that I will include below. Later posts will deal with the "how" of mindfulness, but I thought that an introduction to the "why" would be an appropriate starting point. My very simple understanding of these concepts is this: There is a world of beauty that we miss every day in our drive to be doing. There is a pervasive sense of "always seeking never finding" in corporate America, and this is one simple way to stop and appreciate the greatness we've been ignoring all along. Far from the robes and other trappings traditionally associated with Buddhism, mindfulness provides a practical way to slow life down in a way that has observable, positive impact on our decision-making as well as our quality of life. Without any further editorializing:

Basic Theory:

Excessive rumination – We cannot control the past or the future, only the present. Worrying about things out of our control decreases our sense of empowerment and contributes to feelings of depression, anxiety and helplessness. Keeping life present-focused gives us a sense of control and autonomy.

Impoverished lived experience – Life is full of pleasures that we are not aware of, given the frenetic pace of modern life. Each day is filled with myriad opportunities to be mindful and find goodness, often in places we race past on our way to the next event. A fuller consideration of day-to-day wonders increases our sense of fulfillment and enriches our life experience.

Thought fusion – Our internal process of thinking and experiencing often occurs outside of our awareness, but contributes greatly to the way we view the world. Too often, we fuse our thoughts to our selves, creating a reality and a value system that has not been consciously chosen or thoroughly examined. Mindfulness allows us to become more fully aware of our internal processes, en route to more conscious choices regarding our actions and our worldview.

Physiological Implications – Often, we are unaware of the way our breath, posture, and other bodily considerations impact our mental state. Mindfulness promotes closer consideration of bodily sensations, which can have the effect of returning our bodies and our breath to a state more conducive to calm.

Mindfulness Quotes

Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life. – Thich Nhat Hanh

The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Quote of the Day

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

-Soren Kierkegaard-

Personality Decided at Birth?

www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10566320

The article is a little too long to post in its' entirety. An interesting read to be sure, I'll have to chew on some of this.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Multi-tasking or multi-ignoring?

By Steven T. Hunt

I’m not sure if it is true, but someone told me that the most dangerous group of drivers recently changed. It used to be teenage boys. Putting young men into overpowered cars is a good formula for creating accidents and high insurance premiums. But another group of drivers has become even more frightening behind the wheel than impulsive, testosterone-laden, inexperienced young males recreating Grand Theft Auto in the family sedan (when I was a teenager, we did the same thing, only we imitated James Garner driving his gold Camaro in the TV show “Rockford Files”).

So what is the new “most dangerous driver”?

Teenage girls, and in particular teenage girls driving while texting on cell phones. This confirms something most of us have known for a long time: driving while talking or texting on a cell phone is not a good idea. But the larger question is, if we all know how dangerous this is then why do so many people do it? I would argue that it is due in part to a mythical belief in our ability to “multi-task.”

If you remember one thing from this post, remember this:

When it comes to processing information, whether in the context of listening to someone, driving, reading, or any other task that involves some level of thinking and awareness, WE DO NOT MULTI-TASK, WE DIVIDE OUR ATTENTION!

There is a lot of psychological research that supports this. When you try to do more than one mental activity at a time, you do not actually pay attention to several things simultaneously in a literal sense. What you do is rapidly switch attention between tasks, doing one task for a short period of time before moving to the next task. This leads to a lot of wasted mental energy since every time you switch activities your brain has to re-orient to the new task. You end up paying less attention to every task and often do the tasks at much poorer levels than if you did each task by itself. Although people may perform at a high level on different tasks, this basic process of switching between tasks and the problems it creates applies to all people. Attempting to multi-task hurts task performance regardless of how good people may think they are at doing several things at once.

Despite popular beliefs about the “next generation” having the ability to text while talking on the phone while surfing the Web while driving, people are not getting better at multi-tasking. What people are getting better at is ignoring how poorly they are doing certain tasks while they focus their attention on something else. For example, the teenage girl on the cell phone may think she is driving well while texting her friend. But this is because she didn’t even notice running through the red light in the last intersection! If she put down the phone and actually paid attention to her driving then she might notice just how bad a job she is doing.

I frequently see the same thing in meetings. As soon as the meeting starts everyone opens up their laptops and starts answering e-mails while supposedly “multi-tasking” to the conversation. People wrongly assume that since they are in the room they are paying attention to what is being said in the meeting. In reality, they are totally unaware of many verbal and non-verbal cues that they would notice if they were fully listening to the person doing the talking. They participate in the meeting with a false sense of comfort that they are hearing what is being said, when in reality they are only hearing a small portion of the conversation.

Next time you are talking to someone and have the urge to check your e-mail, remember that teenage girl happily texting her friend while driving through a stop light. This could be you. There is no such thing as multi-tasking, there is only choosing not to pay full attention to what you are doing. Now excuse me while I get back to the conference call I’ve been participating in while writing this blog.

Steven T. Hunt, Ph.D., SPHR is Director of Business Transformation for SuccessFactors Inc. Dr. Hunt is an industrial-organizational psychologist with over 15 years of talent management experience assisting companies in leveraging systematic tools and technologies to assess, develop, manage, and retain talent. He is author of multiple articles as well as the book “Hiring Success” (Pfeiffer, June 2007) which provides guidance on the use of workforce assessment and staffing selection tools.

Source: http://siopexchange.typepad.com

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Frankl Quote (first of many)

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.

-Viktor Frankl-

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Most Admired Companies

Companies with strong leadership development programs are 1.5 times as likely to be found atop Fortune's "Most Admired Companies" list.

Source: Bridging the Leadership Gap (1997), L. Csoka

Character-based leadership



I know, I know, Stephen Covey is so 1989. Covey-esque buzzwords ("Sharpen the saw" anyone?) have become ubiquitous enough to have lost some of their initial punch. But, there's a reason he gave rise to an entire industry and remains one of the most respected people in management psychology to this day. His reaction against shallow behavioral change and advocacy of deep personal commitment to timeless principles remains a powerful and vibrant message. Go ahead, shut your door, and see what the old guy has to say, I won't tell.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoZ3rXjbbWM


Quote of the Day

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

-Theodore Roosevelt-

Outliers



Not only does he have awesome hair, Malcolm Gladwell knows a thing or two about what makes people successful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRu6CaJd_g&NR=1


Survey Says...

A 2007 study in Harvard Business Review showed a strong link between leadership skills and the bottom line. The study examined the stock prices of 11 publicly-traded financial services firms. Companies with high scores for their investments in human capital delivered stock market returns that were five times higher than that of companies with less emphasis on human capital.

Source: http://www.ccl.org/

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (sort of)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people see the world and make decisions. Extrapolated from the typological theories put forth by Carl Jung, the MBTI is meant for use in non-clinical populations and emphasizes the value of naturally occuring differences. The MBTI is used in a number of setting including team building, executive coaching, personnel selection, career counseling and leadership development. The test yields results expressed as a four letter "type" that touches on preferences in lifestyle, attitudes and decision-making style. I'm including a link below to an assessment that approximates the MBTI. While it is not the "genuine article" it does provide a decent ballpark guess as to your type (and it's free). Explanations of the various types are plentiful on the internet, and I'd also welcome any "type" questions you may have at doctordanielcrosby@gmail.com.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

Quote of the Day

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.

-John Quincy Adams-