There was a great post yesterday on the HBR Blog about how leaders can become chemically addicted to being right, and the dangers that poses.  When we’re in a tense meeting and trying to make a decision, or deal with opposing points of view in some way, our higher...

In an article out today in the MIT Sloan Management Review (subscription required), authors Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux discuss the importance of self-awareness among business leaders.    The article cites a survey of 75 members of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council that rated self-awareness as...

I read a fascinating piece in the New York Times magazine section yesterday about research into why some kids handle academic pressure well, and others crumble.  The article had all kinds of fascinating nuggets about genetic testing, and the two variants of the gene responsible for the enzyme that...

So my team lost in the Super Bowl on Sunday, but I’m not disappointed.  Thanks to the blackout, the 49ers took a breath, regrouped, and came back and made it a close game, led by a young quarterback starting only his tenth NFL game.  I’m often not a big...

Yesterday I attended one of my favorite annual events in San Francisco – the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards Luncheon of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the...

What is action?  That question was posed at last week’s gathering of the San Francisco Bay Area Coaches   chapter of the International Coach Federation, where we were privileged to hear from Bob Dunham, who leads the Coaching Excellence in Organizations program at Newfield Network. So what’s the answer...

I’m down in Marco Island, Florida, for the American Bar Association Litigation Section’s Winter Leadership meeting, one of 275 attorneys here that have been appointed to various leadership positions within the 60,000 member section. The ABA is one of the largest voluntary professional membership associations in the world, with...

Inc. magazine’s got an interesting list of 9 daily habits to make you happier.  One of them is to let go of your results, as worrying about what’s going to happen based on what you’ve already done is unproductive.  Another suggestion is to end each day with gratitude.  I’d...

Back in the mid-80’s, I was restless in my work at Procter & Gamble, and enrolled in a ten day “career development” course for professionals through the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.    Outward Bound is a hands-on learning organization whose participants develop self-esteem, a recognition of internal strengths...

The long dark evenings of winter are when I most enjoy going to the movies or curling up on the couch in front of the fire with a good book.   I’m ordinarily an outdoors person, biased toward active pursuits, but when it’s cold and dark outside, and some of...