On The Blog

It’s like flossing twice per day or changing your vehicle’s oil every 3,000 miles.

It’s like thanking your spouse for taking care of a mundane chore.

Workforce planning is one of those activities that we know we should do, take seriously and acknowledge the strong business case for, but is easily ...

Twice in the very recent past, I sat down with members of management teams at very different types of organizations sharing one common denominator: the member of the management team (and, as was reported, the rest of the team as well) felt motivated by the prospect of identifying business goals, mea...

“Psychologists who wanted to study emotion had to pick one, and fear is the easiest to study in a human or animal. It’s difficult to know how to make a rabbit happy. It’s easier to know how to make organisms afraid.”

Here is a fast-paced, almost funny interview unpacking THE REAL AMYGDALA. 

Let’...

Ah, the sandwich method. Good or bad?

We used to be taught as supervisors and managers to deliver a bit of positive news or feedback, then slide that slice of criticism in quickly before adding the second positive comment. This was intended to leave the employee’s self-concept and motivation in tac...

Innovation is not – contrary to the list of ‘skills’ on some performance review forms – a skill that one can turn off and on at will or read about and BE better at. Though creativity is a large piece of innovation, piloting and actual implementation and evaluation of results are part of the innovati...

Thanksgiving is a time when even the most begrudging among us stops to name those things for which he is grateful. Gratitude and appreciation are two weapons we can use against depression and anxiety. In fact, Dan Baker writes in his book, “What Happy People Know” that it is impossible to be in a st...

You’ve heard of them, most likely . . . many of us took the [then] “Strong Interest Inventory” as juniors or seniors in high school. It gave us job families that might suit us well. Also widely used is the “Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)”, given to many college freshmen hoping to focus in on a p...

Emotional First Aid: 4 Steps to Overcome Rejection

by Therese Borchard

In his book “Emotional First Aid,” psy...

Tomorrow, I have the fantastic opportunity to talk with 300+ IT folks about every manager’s favorite topic, “performance management.” Yawn?? Not this talk . . . tomorrow, I will be showing this management group how knowing a little bit of brain science can help them:

• get the highest performance
...

Bryan Kramer is a Social Business Strategist and CEO of PureMattera social media and marketing firm in Silicon Valley (and one of the fastest growing companies in that area). Bryan is also the world’s43rd most talked about marketer, a Global Top CEO Influencer on Social Media, and one of The Top 50 ...

Earlier today, the Twin Cities NeuroLeadership Institute Local Interest Group met as we do quarterly. The group is usually a mix of psychologists, organization development consultants, coaches, and managers. Today, our learning focused on a particular person – Dr. Matt Lieberman, Professor of Psycho...

THE SEED

You have an idea, a spark that drives you to pursue bringing that idea to fruition. What’s the very next thing you’re likely turning over in your mind, oh entrepreneur? The design of benefit packages that you could offer your future employees? Doubtful. The most logical and effective super...