Paul’s blog
Thoughts at the intersection of business strategy & customer insight, leadership development & organizational change, collaboration & innovation, branding & communications.
What is your positivity ratio?
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 · Topics: positive-emotions, positive-psychology, positivity-ratio, videos
In a 2005 article in American Psychologist, Barbara Fredrickson and Marcial Losada suggest that ratios of positive to negative emotions above about 3-to-1 and below about 11-to-1 are what humans need to flourish. In separate research studies — Fredrickson on positive emotions and Losada on characteristics of high-performing business teams — each found a 3.0 tipping-point. · Read more →
Improving self-awareness with the Johari Window
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 · Topics: emotional-intelligence, interpersonal-communication, personal-growth, personal-transformation, self-awareness
The Johari Window describes a fundamental process for improving emotional intelligence. Developed in the 1950s by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, the model is especially relevant with today’s emphasis on improving ‘soft’ skills — behavior, empathy, cooperation, collaboration, inter-group development and interpersonal development. · Read more →
Key learnings from Daniel Kahneman: Thinking, fast and slow
Monday, November 7, 2011 · Topics: decision-making, emotional-intelligence, neuroscience, self-awareness, thinking
From a lecture by Daniel Kahneman, presented by Skeptics Society at CalTech, Sunday, November 6, 2011. In Thinking, fast and slow (2011), Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative and more logical. · Read more →
Key learnings from Steven Pinker: The better angels of our nature
Thursday, November 3, 2011 · Topics: population-growth, violence
Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species’s existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations, pogroms, gruesome punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life. But today, Pinker shows (with the help of more than a hundred graphs and maps) all these forms of violence have dwindled and are widely condemned. How has this happened? · Read more →
Steve Jobs: Inspiring us to be extraordinary
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 · Topics: apple, courage, creativity, extraordinary, innovation, life-purpose
Since the passing of Steve Jobs, I’ve been wondering, what does it take to be extraordinary? Extraordinary may be easier to achieve when the focus is creating and delivering products that delight customers. Two former Apple employees give us a glimpse into creating extraordinary products. · Read more →
Redefining “best,” part 2
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 · Topics: ambiguity, command-and-control, creativity, fear, uncertainty
I just completed a second music composition project for 2011 after a 30-year hiatus from writing. Learning to live with ambiguity shows up again, plus more shifting my identity from what I do to who I am, as in “I am enough.” Ah, the saga continues. · Read more →
Presenting a rarely seen work? Tell your audience why
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 · Topics: event-marketing, intentions, transparency
Understand your real intentions and state them. This transparency works for any project when others are involved to produce the project or to purchase the project. · Read more →
Reading fan mail in life’s “down cycles”
Friday, August 5, 2011 · Topics: all-or-nothing-thinking, ambiguity, appreciative-inquiry, feedback, positive-psychology, right-wrong
A friend keeps his fan mail to read when he’s in one of life’s down cycles. He reminded me when I was discouraged during a recent project we worked on together. · Read more →
