The paradox of e-mail communication
E-mail offered the hope of instant communications. It also offered the advantage of asynchronous communications – the sender and receiver don’t have to be directly
2016-03-18
A Journal of Discovery and Transition
More Thoughts on Millennials and Internships
In my previous article I argued that from a societal perspective (and that’s pretty broad!) there is a need to facilitate and promote Stage 4
2016-01-18
Millennials in the Workplace
Admittedly my perspective may be skewed by my location – I’m in Ottawa, surrounded by abstract public servants, or self-important technology (especially software) companies. They
2015-10-07
Millennials
Much has been written, or talked about, when it comes to the latest generational cohort, much of it misplaced, in my view. Still we generally
2015-10-01
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 9d: Balancing Politeness and Honesty – Getting the Balance Right
As with many things in life we all have to manage a balance between politeness and honesty. Such balances will be personal to us and
2015-09-09
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 9: Balancing Politeness and Honesty
The reason for using tact and diplomacy in communications – being polite so as not to offend – is to avoid adverse social consequences. But
2015-06-24
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 7: Faux Pas and Humour
A ‘faux pas’ (from French meaning ‘false step’) is usually an accidental, or unintentional, breach of socially accepted norms, manners or etiquette. Naturally, communicating with
2015-05-28
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 5: Getting your Message Across
Most people prefer to talk than to listen – which is why listening is so hard. Even so, getting your message across is about getting
2015-04-28
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 4: Common Listening Misconceptions
We are all capable of listening effectively in different situations and to different people. Listening effectively is, however, an active process – something we have
2015-04-21
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 3b: Two Components of Attentive Listening
Attentive listening requires both cognitive and emotional processing: active listening and empathetic listening. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t very good at either one! Active Listening
2015-04-14
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 3: Attentive Listening
There are two components to effective communications: Listening and Messaging. Just as there are two parties to every communications event, both are necessary for a
2015-04-08
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 2: Four Facets
“Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.” – Isaac Newton “Diplomacy is the art of letting somebody else have your
2015-03-31
Communicating with Tact & Diplomacy, Part 1 in a 9 part series
Effective communication, especially listening, is something everybody knows is important. Amazing how ‘everybody’ doesn’t do it. This series of articles is about the obvious; so
2015-03-23
Job loss – other losses – and a few surprises
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying brought into the modern lexicon the notion that when people are first told that they have
2015-02-28
In defence of ground hogs
It’s not their fault. They never claimed to have e.s.p. and the ability to forecast spring, or anything else. They were forced into it by
2015-02-21
On Procrastination: Summary
This series has hardly been the last word on overcoming procrastination but maybe it gave you a couple of insights, and more importantly some inspiration.
2015-01-02
On Procrastination Part 7: The Value of Positive Self-Talk
Despite my earlier diatribe against positive self-talk in the shallow Anthony Robbins style, it has its place if framed properly. Cognitive Therapy can help us
2014-12-31
On Procrastination Part 6: Using Cognitive Therapy to Overcome a Negative Explanatory Style
Procrastination can be defined as one’s voluntary delay of an intended course of action despite being worse off as a result of that delay. A
2014-12-31
On Procrastination Part 4: What can we Learn from the Optimistic Explanatory Style
There are a lot of ‘motivational speakers’ out there from the Anthony Robbins School of Positive Self-Talk – Awaken the Giant Within – who first
2014-12-15
On Procrastination Part 5: Negative Explanatory Style – Chief Cause of Procrastination
Being an optimist – or more accurately perhaps, having an optimistic thinking style when things are going alright – is one thing. Learning how to
2014-12-15
On Procrastination Part 3: Self-Efficacy, Self-Leadership, Self-Reinforcing
Turns out people who have high levels of Self-Efficacy and Self-Leadership (which includes Personal Goal Setting, Positive Self-talk, Self-Monitoring, and Self-reinforcement) have much less difficulty
2014-12-04
On Procrastination, Part 2: The Role of Self-Esteem
I said in On Procrastination Part 1 that people are concerned with self-esteem and so worry about being judged, and in particular about being judged
2014-11-15
On Procrastination
I’m not a psychologist, but … As an executive coach many of my clients raise this issue of procrastination as one of 2 – 3
2014-10-31
Career Satisfaction and Management 2
Drive Theory of motivation (Lawrence and Nohria) provides a lot of insight into what ultimately affects a satisfactory career.
2010-12-02
Career Satisfaction and Management
Career satisfaction is highly related to the notion of utilizing our best talents in the pursuit of authentic happiness (Martin Seligman)
2010-11-18
The Luck Factor and Doug Jordan
In my earlier blog review of his book, The Luck Factor, Richard Wiseman said that you too can train yourself to be a luckier person.
2010-07-19
The Luck Factor
A summary of Richard Wiseman’s book, The Luck Factor with some commentary by Doug Jordan.
2010-06-18
