Resilience, long thought to be the ability to bounce back from a failure or tough situation is now moving proactively into a component of one's success. “More than education, more than experience, more than training, a person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That’s true in the cancer ward, it’s true in the Olympics, and [...]
What's cycling through your mind without an end in sight? Worrying is based on the illusion that by expending negative mental energy you will somehow (magic?) make the situation turn out all right or prevent a catastrophe. We anticipate that something will go wrong or not turn out the way we want it to and doubt that we [...]
Today I met 20 wonderful children at Nira Orphanage and Youth Home on the outskirts of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Like many nations they are futeboll (soccer crazy). I brought a ball with me and thanks to a pump supplied by the Button family in Calgary we were ready for a game. We played behind the orphanage on the packed, dusty earth. [...]
How often do we find ourselves in a communication debacle from the misuse of a single word? After a few rounds, clarifying back and forth we usually sort it out. In the business world, this is not a life or death matter and I sometimes use the expression “no one will die from this” or “this isn't open heart surgery”, to help [...]
The pace of change we are all subjected to is still accelerating, producing seismic shifts in business and society. One of these shifts is the growing importance of people. HR is facing challenges like never before including: Talent and leadership are becoming even scarcer resources than ever before. The work force, on average, is growing older, and people are having [...]
According to Dr. A. J. Schuler, author of Negotiate Your Way to Success, there are 10 common reasons why people resist change. Common Reasons Why People Resist Change Risk of change is seen as greater than risk of status quo Connections to people disturbed - "tribal bonding" No role models for new environment Fear of incompetence or looking incompetent Feeling [...]
Almost anything is easier to get into than out of. ~Agnes Allen Not so fast says William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, who contends the single biggest reason why changes fail is that no one thought about endings or how to manage their impact on people. Bridges distinguishes a change, which is situational (e.g. [...]
My Football Inspiration - Jesse Williams As leaders, how can you motivate others to achieve goals and objectives? Some people say you can't! That motivation only comes from the inside. Well if that's the case, then look inside to what's important to those you are "trying" to motivate. That's what one football coach, Lou Tice, did. Lou Tice, [...]
In Nepal, the government MINIMUM student teacher ratio is 55:1. While touring the country side I spoke with many teachers that had class sizes less than this but also a few that had many more than 55, up to a 105 students. With few resources, how is a teacher suppose to manage the classroom behaviour of so many students and still achieve learning [...]
We all live busy lives but how much time does it take to ask a simple question that may change the life of another FOREVER. While volunteering on behalf of Health Reach Canada, I met Vani Thangpuii, in Pokhara (a city of 1 million people), Nepal. Vani has many projects underway including, literacy, health education in the schools, water storage [...]
