Navigating Polarities: The Power of “AND”
That ability to hold multiple perspectives and experience seemingly unresolvable tensions as interdependent pairs may be one of the most powerful tools we have in navigating an increasingly complex and polarized world.
Rethinking Time Management
Oliver Burkeman wrote for the Guardian until a couple of years ago. In that capacity he wrote about, among other things, productivity tools. In 4000 Weeks, he challenges the notion that these tools will help us live better and richer lives. Here are a few of the things that were particularly meaningful for me in the book.
THE PROBLEM WITH PROBLEM-SOLVING
The challenges we are collectively facing are profound and highly complex. I believe that learning to shift from problem-solving to being truly present in the complexity of those challenges is critical capacity for our society and world.
The Doing and Being of Difficult Conversations
“To successfully transform a conversation from just plain difficult to productive and constructive, we needed to genuinely be able to hear the other person.”
Learning from Head to Toe: Embodying Leadership
“One of the main reasons that change doesn’t stick, or feels hard, is that we typically try to do the work only in our heads”.
Practicing Leadership
“Awareness creates choice, practice creates capacity.” - Amanda Blake
Creating Psychological Safety from the Inside Out
“Creating the conditions for psychological safety is an intentional act of leadership.”
Best of 2018: Books, Podcasts, and Blogs
As 2018 comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the things I’ve read and learned this year. Here’s my “best of” list. It includes the books, podcasts and blogs that enriched, expanded and challenge my thinking this year. I hope you find one or two things that appeal to you and that you can learn from in 2019.
Slow Down, Do Less, Observe More: A Leadership Journey
“I didn’t know how to do less and could not recognize when less was more than enough. I was paying too high a price for being all-in, all the time.”
A Tribute to My Teacher
“Doug Silsbee’s work combined many of the things I was already exploring (mindfulness, neuroscience, adult development) with other domains I’d never heard of (somatic work, polarity management, and more) in a way that was both fresh and familiar.”
Leadership for Complex Times
When we talk about complex, there is more than one solution or maybe none at all. How are we going to grow our business? Stay innovative? Avoid commoditization? Maintain an engaged workforce? All of these are questions that take us into the land of the complex.