One of the things I’ve learned from my acting clientele concerns the notion of “suspending disbelief” to increase one’s engagement with a film or theatrical performance. As I understand it, “suspending disbelief” involves consciously accepting premises of a storyline that may not be realistic or pragmatically possible, and in so doing, entering a world where anything can
Imagine that when you arrive at work today, you learn that a big change has occurred–perhaps a big decision has been made, a promotion or demotion has been announced, or a new direction has been forged. And now imagine that you don’t like this change, and that this change is already a “done deal.” What
Recently, a client of mine made a sizable mistake, one that was causing a major setback for himself and for his team. Anguished, he asked, “Please, can you fix this? Or better yet, can you fix ME??” Later that day, another client was complaining bitterly about one of her direct reports, whose behavior was extremely
If you are employed in the US or Japan, it is likely that you spend most of your waking hours at work. It follows that if you hate your job, or the people you are working with, or the clients you serve, your life can feel pretty miserable. Sure, we don’t always love our work,
Happy New Year! As a coach, I love this time of year because no one is still living in 2013–everyone on the globe has turned a page. Whether we individually have made New Year’s resolutions or not, collectively we acknowledge that the reset button has been pressed and that things are beginning afresh. The New
I’m writing this blog post while on vacation, which may provoke you to ask, “What kind of vacation is THAT? You are not relaxing, you’re working!” Or, more than likely, you didn’t even notice the irony–the lines between work time and “down time” are blurred (or gone) for many of us. Research shows that over half
One of the most enjoyable aspects of my work is assisting teams and organizations with culture change. Culture–“the way we do things around here”–is arguably the most important aspect of any workplace. The difference between, for example, a “collaborative” culture and a “punishing” culture is huge, touching all aspects of an organization and the
A few years ago, a “40-something” client told me that she was irritated by change in the organization because “I had really planned to coast to retirement, and now I have to ramp up.” Um, WOW. A Japanese client recently described the phenomenon of bringing one’s body to work, but not one’s intellect or spirit,
In a typical working day, I hear a dozen stories about work interactions gone terribly awry. Whether it be the drama queen who exhausts her colleagues with her latest antics, the arrogant guy who condescends to his peers one too many times, or the person who drops an F-bomb in front of the boss, these
In John Maeda’s book, “Redesigning Leadership,” he challenges the reader with his opinion that “difference drives deliciousness.” Although theoretically we may agree that “variety is the spice of life,” when it comes to the workplace, I often hear my clients wishing for more similarity with colleagues than difference. In fact, whether a potential job candidate